emselves with every comfort, and grown
rich producing sugar, coffee, cotton and rum by means of a large staff
of slaves. We have fallen upon one of these estates, but in this case
the Yankee overseer seems to be the master, and the real master the
slave."

"It seems strange, sir, doesn't it?" said Roberts, who was standing by
one of the first floor windows keeping a sharp look out for danger.

"To a certain extent, my lad," said the officer, "but I have made a
shrewd guess at what has been going on, and it strikes me that our
friend Mr Allen has been dabbling largely in the trade that we are here
to suppress."

"You think that, sir?"

"Yes, my lad--and repented of it when too late, and found himself, after
growing disgusted with it, unable to draw back on account of this man,
who has committed him deeply."

"Yes, I see, sir," cried Roberts eagerly. "That would account for the
American's overbearing insolence to this Mr Allen and to you, sir. But
surely he cannot be right about the island here being under the American
Government?"

"Certainly not, I think, Mr Roberts," said the lieutenant decisively;
"but I do think this, that he might have kept up the assertion that he
was correct and made complaints to the Americans and called our visit
here a trespass. This would have caused an enormous amount of trouble
to the captain, and so much official correspondence that we should have
bitterly repented coming here in search of a newly-run cargo of slaves."

"Do you think we shall find one here, sir?" asked Roberts.

"I feel pretty certain, my lad, as certain as that we should not have
dared to prosecute our search in face of the scoundrel's defiance and
bravado. But now the tide has completely set in our favour."

"In our favour, sir?" said Roberts wonderingly.

"Why, of course, my lad. If our visit here had been aggression, all the
rascal had to do was to call upon us, after his declaration, to
withdraw; and that was what he meant to do, although the fellow's
natural insolence induced him to do so in that bullying way."

"And instead of keeping to what he had a right to do, sir," cried the
middy eagerly, "he let his blackguardly followers attack us as they
did."

"That's right, Mr Roberts," said the lieutenant; "though I must give
him the credit of saying that I am sure he never intended that attack.
He has evidently such a loose rough lot of followers that they became
out of control, and the result is tha