poor wretches. He quickly lays his hand on four of them, and
turns away his head with sorrow from the rest. Orlo is among those he
has claimed. They show but little pleasure or gratitude as they are
released, and, being stripped of their sacrificial garments, are placed
under charge of his attendants. The rest of the miserable captives are
held up, some by men, others by the Amazonian warriors, to the gaze of
the expectant multitude, who shriek and shout horribly, and then they
are cast forward into the midst of the crowd, when the executioners set
on them with their clubs and speedily terminate their sufferings. For
several successive days is the same horrible scene enacted, the Fetish
men declaring that the spirit of the late king is not yet satisfied.

Orlo by degrees recovered from the stupor into which his sufferings,
mental and bodily, and the anticipation of a cruel death had thrown him.
He then found that the white chief, whose slave he considered himself,
was no other than the captain of a British man-of-war, cruising off the
coast for the suppression of the slave trade--not that he understood
very clearly much about the matter, but he had heard of the sea, and
that big canoes floated on it which carried his countrymen across it to
a land from which none ever came back. Still, as this captain had
certainly saved his life, he felt an affection for him, and hoped that
he should be allowed to remain his slave, and not be sold to a stranger.
As to asking to be liberated to be sent back to Era, he did not for a
moment suppose that such a request would be granted, and he therefore
did not make it. At last the coast was reached, and a ship appeared,
and a boat came and took them on board. The captain had seen something
in Orlo's countenance which especially pleased him, so he asked whether
he would like to remain with him; and Orlo, very much surprised that the
option should be given him, said, "Yes, certainly."

So Orlo was entered on the ship's books, and soon learned not only to
attend on the captain, but to be a sailor. His affection for his patron
and preserver was remarkable. Whatever Captain Fisher wished he
attempted to perform to the best of his ability, while he was attentive
and faithful in the extreme. He soon acquired enough English to make
himself understood, while he could comprehend everything that was said
to him.

The _Sea Sprite_ was a very fast sailing corvette, and had already, by
he