or so from the Gold-coast, the
probability was that the vessel that had so boldly headed towards us was
a cruiser, and consequently, the very sort of craft that the _Pandora's_
people did not desire to fall in with. Indeed, this point was soon
settled beyond dispute; for the behaviour of the strange vessel, and her
peculiar rig--which was that of a cutter--combined with the fact of so
small a craft sailing boldly towards a barque so large as the _Pandora_,
all went to prove that she was either a war-cruiser in search of
slave-ships, or a pirate,--in either case, a vessel much better manned
and armed than the _Pandora_.

It was hardly probable that the cutter was a pirate; though, had it been
upon a different part of the ocean it would have been probable enough,
for at that time pirates were by no means as scarce as they are at
present. But it was not a favourite locality with pirates. The
merchant-craft that traded along this part of the coast were usually
small vessels with insignificant cargoes, and, when outward bound,
carried only such bulky articles as salt, iron, and rum, with toys and
trinkets; which, though sufficiently attractive to the black savages of
Dahomey and Ashantee, were not the sort of merchandise that pirates
cared to pick up. They were sometimes more richly freighted in their
homeward trip, with gold-dust and elephants' teeth, and pirates could
find a market for these. There were still some of these freebooters
upon the African coast, for there they could find many a secure
rendezvous, but they were never so numerous there as in the West Indies
and elsewhere. Had the cutter been met with at an earlier period--that
is, while we were further out on the Atlantic, and upon the track of the
Cape traders and Indiamen--then the people of the _Pandora_ might have
taken her for a pirate, and very probably would have taken less trouble
to get out of her way--for these gentry were far less afraid of a pirate
than of an honest warship. They knew that the pirates looked upon
traders of their kind as kindred spirits--almost birds of the same
feather; and that, therefore, they would have but little to fear from
their brother outlaws. They knew, moreover, that they had nothing to
lose but a few casks of brandy and rum; the iron, salt, and toys which
formed the remainder of the _Pandora's_ cargo, being goods that a pirate
would not be bothered with. The brandy and rum would be all he would be
likely to rob