en, when it
moderated and fell calm. The schooner was then observed to float much
deeper than before, and on sounding, nearly three feet of water were
found in the hold. The pump was immediately set to work, but it had
hardly fetched when it broke and became useless. This was repaired by
about sunset, and in two hours afterwards the vessel was cleared.

They then made sail and tacked, steering for Sierra Leone, till, on the
morning of the 14th of September, they sighted land just below the river
Sestos. Finding that they had but three days' provisions left, the
commander determined to make them last six, and stood on, in the hope of
weathering Cape Palmas. This was baffled by a tide that set down along
shore; but, on the 20th of September, they anchored off Cape Coast
Castle. They had no provisions remaining, but the governor supplied
them with sufficient for forty days; and, having refitted the schooner,
they put to sea again on a close, sultry morning, which was succeeded by
a violent gale, lasting three days.

About two o'clock one afternoon, a rakish-looking brigantine was
perceived standing towards the _Dores_; and judging her to be a slaver,
the young officer called his crew together, and having loaded the
muskets and got the cutlasses ready, they silently awaited her coming
up, determined to defend themselves. To their great joy, when she got
within two miles and a half of them, a strong breeze sprang up, which
placed the schooner dead to windward, and in the morning the brigantine
was out of sight. Their sails were now so worn that they were obliged
to lower them, and drift about for a whole day to repair them. Having
neither chronometer nor sextant, and only a quadrant of antique date,
often ten and even twenty miles out of adjustment, the position of the
vessel could only be guessed. The men behaved admirably during this
weary time, employing themselves in cleaning their arms, fishing, or
mending their clothes. The rain generally fell in torrents till the 4th
October, when the day closed in with appearances threatening heavy
weather. All preparations were made for the coming gale; the sails were
lowered down with the exception of the fore-staysail, and everything
lashed and secured. The fore-staysail was kept up in order to put the
schooner dead before the wind.

At about five in the evening it became a dead calm, the atmosphere
close, and all around dark. After about half an hour, a sound like