I want for my patient. Come on deck, my lad;
come on deck."

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

"NIGGAH, SAH."

A month passed swiftly away, during which the _Seafowl_ sighted and
chased vessel after vessel, each of which had been forced to lie to in
response to a shot fired across her bows, but only with a disappointing
result--one which sent the captain into a temper which made him
dangerous to approach for a full half-hour after the strangers' papers
had been examined, to prove that she had nothing whatever to do with the
slave-trade.

Then the captain would calm down, and something like the following would
take place:

"Did I speak rather sharply to you when the boat returned, Mr
Anderson?"

"Oh! Well, rather hastily, sir," said the chief officer drily. "But
that's nothing, sir. I'm afraid I was not very polite to you. I was
horribly disappointed, sir."

"Naturally," the captain cried excitedly. "Here we are, getting well
within range of the islands where we know this wretched traffic is
carried on, where the plantations are cultivated by the unfortunate
blacks, and we seem bound to encounter a slaver, and yet the days pass
on and we prove to be hunting a will-o'-the-wisp."

"Yes, sir, it is maddening," replied the lieutenant. "Day after day I
have swept the offing, feeling certain that fate would favour us by
letting the sloop come up with that Yankee, or with one of his kidney;
but disappointment is always the result."

"Yes, Mr Anderson," cried the captain; "always the result. Never
mind," he continued, speaking through his closely set teeth; "our turn
will come one of these days." And then with his telescope tightly
nipped beneath his arm he would tramp up and down the quarter-deck,
pausing now and then to focus his glass, take a peep through, close it
again with a snap and renew his march.

"Look at him," said Roberts, one bright morning, as the two lads stood
together well forward, where they fondly hoped that they were quite out
of their chief's way.

"No, thank you, Dick," was the response; "it isn't safe. He's just in
one of his fits, ready to pounce upon any one who gives him a chance.
Every one is getting afraid of him. I wish to goodness we could
overtake something and have a chance of a prize."

"Well, we must find something to do soon, lad. We're right in amongst
the islands, and we shall have to land and hunt out some nigger driver's
nest."

"But we can't do anything if we do. W