s to make every reparation in his
power to a son yet remaining of that prince, and would readily
re-establish him in the rank and possessions of his father, could he
only find him out. Completely duped by this wile, the unsuspecting
lad exultingly exclaimed, "I am the son of the prince!"--"Then,"
replied the Coke, with a hellish joy at having succeeded in his
object, "you are just the person we want." Upon which these
half-heads seized him, and began to bind his hands. Finding by this
time the real state of the case, which at first it was impossible to
comprehend, Mr. M'Leod strongly protested against their seizing a
slave whom he had regularly purchased, and complained loudly of the
insult offered to the company's fort; but all in vain. He then
earnestly entreated them to offer the king his own price, or
selection of goods, and to beg as a favour from Mr. M'Leod, that he
might be spared, strongly urging the plea also, that, when once
embarked, he would be as free from every apprehension, respecting
him, as if he had killed him.

The Coke coolly replied, that Mr. M'Leod need not give himself any
further trouble to make any proposals, for he dared not repeat one of
them to the king; and, after an ineffectual struggle, Mr. M'Leod was
at last compelled to witness, with the most painful emotion, this
ill-fated youth dragged off in a state of the gloomiest despair, a
despair rendered more dismal from the fallacious glimpse of returning
happiness, by which he had been so cruelly entrapped.

The party not being able to obtain the slightest information
respecting Mr. Dickson, retraced their steps, and rejoined Captain
Clapperton in the river Benin, where they met with an English
merchant, of the name of Houston, who advised them by no means to
think of proceeding by that river, a circuitous track, and covered
with pestilential swamps; and more particularly as the king bore a
particular hatred to the English for their exertions in putting an
end to the slave-trade, nor did he, Mr. Houston, know how far, or in
what direction, that river might lead them. He recommended Badagry as
the most convenient point on the coast to start from, and he offered
to accompany them across the mountains to Katunga, the capital of
Youriba. His offer was accepted, and Lander's journal commences with
their starting from Badagry, on the 7th December. They were also
attended by a Houssa black, of the name of Pascoe, who had been sent
from one of the