nder
American colours, up the river Nun, and that from her appearance and
movements there could be no doubt that she was a slaver. The promise of
a reward induced them, with negro eagerness, to undertake all Captain
Tucker proposed,--to act as spies, and to bring further information
about the vessel, and then to perform the part of pilots in conducting
her, when captured, down the river. This information, which it was
hoped was correct, hurried the departure of the boats. Lieutenant
Dumaresq took charge of the pinnace, as commanding officer of the
expedition; Mr Arthur B. Kingston, then a mate, had the cutter; and
Mr Thorburn, another mate of the _Wolverine_, went in the gig. Water,
provisions, and arms having been placed in the boats, and all being
ready, they shoved off from the ship at half-past ten in the morning.
Lieutenant Dumaresq had one of the black pilots in his boat, and Mr
Kingston had the other with him. Sometimes sailing when there was a
breeze, and at others, when it fell light, the crews, eager for work of
some sort, pulling away with a will, they soon reached the mouth of the
river Brass. The river is here pretty broad; its banks, as far as the
eye can reach, covered with tall mangroves, their dark foliage imparting
a sombre and almost funereal aspect to the scenery. After the boats had
pulled about ten miles up the Brass, they reached a sort of natural
canal which connects the Brass with the Nun. On passing through this,
they entered the Nun, when they hove to for dinner,--a meal not at all
unwelcome after their long pull. The crews being refreshed, they again
bent to their oars, and proceeded about 30 miles up the Nun. Darkness
now rapidly came on, and they were no longer able to see ahead, nor had
they been able to discover anything of their looked-for prize. On
questioning their black volunteer pilots, the worthy gentlemen seemed
very uncertain, not only whether the slaver had sailed, but where she
had been and where they then were. One declared that they had come much
higher up than where she was last seen, and that she had probably been
sheltered from their observation in one of the numerous creeks which run
through the banks of the river. In this dilemma a council of war was
held, and at first it was proposed to retrace their steps, till the
elder of the black pilots offered to take a small canoe they had with
them higher up the river, to ascertain whether or not the slaver was
there