esumed till hours had passed, and at last the chief
officer exclaimed--

"It's like chasing a will-o'-the-wisp, gentlemen, but I cannot help
feeling that we are on the highroad to the interior, and, in spite of
the utter loneliness of the place, I don't like to give up."

"Of course you don't, sir," said Murray, as the men rested upon their
oars, and he scanned the heavily wooded banks. "I wonder whether there
are any plantations worked by the slaves: I can see no sign of a house."

"No, I was thinking of that," said Roberts, who was sweeping the
distance with a glass; "but there is a bit of an opening yonder which
looks as if the river branched there, and--Hallo! I didn't see it at
first. There's some sort of a boat lying moored in that nook."

"Where?" cried Murray.

"Yonder among the trees. Take the glass, sir."

Mr Anderson took the telescope.

"To be sure: the river does branch there. Steer for that cove, Mr
Roberts, and let us see what the little vessel is like. At all events
here is some sign of the place being inhabited. Give way, my lads."

The men pulled hard, and as they progressed, instead of obtaining a
better view of the vessel, it seemed only to glide in behind the trees
until they were close in and passed up what proved to be the mouth of a
little creek, when Murray uttered an ejaculation.

"What is it, Mr Murray?" cried the lieutenant.

"The lugger, sir!"

"Well, I see it is, my lad. I dare say its owner's house is close at
hand."

"But don't you see, sir?" cried Murray excitedly.

"Of course I do, but there's no one aboard, apparently."

"Oh, I don't mean that, sir!" cried the lad. "It's the lugger we first
came upon off that African river."

"What!" cried the lieutenant. "Impossible! Run close in, Mr Roberts."
And the men pulled the cutter close alongside the swift-looking boat
with its raking masts and lowered lug sails.

"Humph!" said the lieutenant. "The same build, the same rig, the same
coloured canvas. Well, really, Mr Murray, it is a strange
resemblance."

"I'm almost sure it is the same boat, sir," cried Murray.

"That's as good as saying that the Yankee who tricked us so has sailed
right across the Atlantic with the slaving schooner, and we have had the
luck to follow in her track, and caught up to her."

"Yes, sir; I don't think there's any doubt of it," cried Murray.

"Then, if you are right, Mr Murray, the slaving schooner will be
somewhere close at ha