und
bow and a wide flourish with his cocked-hat. Captain Lascelles, on
this, went forward to meet him, and, ordering up some cushions from the
cabin, begged him to be seated and to continue smoking his pipe, while
he ascertained from Hemming the particulars of the expedition. The
expedition had proceeded up the greater part of the way towards the fort
without meeting any one. When near it a canoe appeared approaching
them. In it were the stout pilot, Jack's friend, and three other blacks
rigged out in what they considered full fig. They came, they said, as
ambassadors from the king. He wished to inform the English that Don
Diogo and the rest of the Spanish slave-dealers had gone away overland,
to the south--he could not tell where--and that, as he wished to be
friends with everybody, he hoped that no further harm might be done to
his country. Hemming replied that he was very glad to hear this, but
that profession was not practice, and that he must have stronger proofs
of his sincerity. The pilot said the king hoped all the English would
visit his capital. Hemming answered, that half would go and half would
stay to look after the boats. Whether treachery was intended or not,
the idea was, it appeared, abandoned, and Hemming, with thirty of his
men well-armed, proceeded up the hill to the king's capital. They found
it to be a tolerably strong place, and though they might have taken it
by storm, not, perhaps, without difficulty and loss. The king received
them very courteously, and seemed to be really a sensible fellow,
perfectly alive to his own interests. During a long palaver, Hemming
explained to him that if he persisted in carrying on the slave-trade,
the English would destroy his barracoons, and injure and annoy him in
every possible way; but that if he abandoned it, and refused to have
anything to do with slave-dealers, but would engage in commerce,
encourage agriculture, well treat his people, and act like an honest
man, they would assist and encourage him in every possible way; that the
Queen of England would be friends with him, call him her well-beloved
brother, and send him presents of far greater value than any he got from
the Spaniards. So eloquently, indeed, did Hemming put the case before
him, that his negro majesty expressed his eagerness to come off to the
good queen's big ship and ratify the treaty, which he desired might
forthwith be drawn up. Captain Lascelles lost no time in clenching the