th her crew," interposed Murray impatiently.

The grizzly-headed, red-faced old boatswain turned upon the lad with an
offended air and said with dignity--

"If you'd only had a little patience, Mr Murray, I was going to tell
you all that."

He grunted audibly as he walked away, and as soon as he was out of
hearing Murray cried impatiently--

"What did he want to bore us with all that for? Tiresome old fogey!
But I say, Dick, you take my advice--don't you get anywhere near the
skipper if you can help it to-day. He took things very smoothly before
breakfast, but you'll see now that he will be as savage as a bear with a
sore head, as they say, and lead every one a terrible life."

"Oh, if you are going to deal out old saws, young man," replied Roberts,
"you go and teach your grandmother how to suck eggs. Just as if I was
likely to go near him until he has got the sloop well afloat!"

But what proved to have been every one's opinion turned out entirely
wrong, for the captain had never shown himself to better advantage.

As soon as breakfast was over, and had been partaken of in the most
deliberate way as far as he was concerned, he turned to the officers,
all smiles, and began giving orders in the coolest of fashions and all
guided by so much judgment that by carefully laying out anchors, the use
of the capstan, haulage, and taking advantage of the wind, the sloop
soon rose upon an even keel and rested at last in a safe position. The
tide that ran up as far as the black king's city did the rest, and the
next day the sloop lay at anchor just where the schooner had been the
previous morning, that is to say, in a position where she could easily
gain access to the sea.

Once the sloop was in safety and the officers had pretty well mastered
the intricacies of the river's course, and the tidal and other currents
which protected the slaver's lair, a couple of armed boats pulled ashore
to examine the place with caution, lest they should encounter some other
trap.

"There's no knowing, Mr Anderson," said the captain, "so at the
slightest sign of danger draw back. I don't want a man to be even
wounded at the expense of capturing a score of the black scum, even if
one of them proves to be the king."

The captain's orders were carefully carried out, while once more the two
midshipmen succeeded in accompanying the landing parties, to find that
the king's town of palm-thatched hovels was completely deserted. It had
evid