to
attempt to capture one entirely by himself. He had seized a good large
turtle by the flapper, and was trying to haul it away from the water,
which it was doing its best to reach. Now, as the turtle weighed nearly
one hundred and fifty pounds, Solon would have had very little chance of
victory if he had trusted only to his strength; so sometimes he would
let go and leap round to the other side of the turtle, and would bite
away at its flapper. This made it retreat once more up the beach.
Solon, discovering the good effect of his tactics, would continue them
till the turtle refused to go further, and then he would seize the
former flapper and begin pulling away again. Though he stopped the
turtle's way, still she made progress towards the ocean, and I doubt
whether he would have let go till she had pulled him in. He was highly
delighted when at last we went to his assistance and turned the turtle
on her back. He still, however, seemed to consider it as his own
especial property, and sat sentry over it, barking whenever it moved its
flappers, as if he thought that it was going to get up and escape him.
At length we had turned as many turtles as we would possibly require on
board, or carry off; so we looked out for the ship, purposing at once to
return to her. It had, however, now become very dark, and she was
nowhere to be seen.

"Never mind, lads," observed Mr Henley, "we will light a fire and make
ourselves comfortable. They will see the light on board, and know that
we are all right."

We did not want the fire to keep ourselves warm or to scare off wild
beasts, as there were not likely to be any in that small island, but the
smoke kept off the insects, and we hoped that our shipmates would
understand, by seeing the fire continually blazing, that we were waiting
till the morning to return on board. We sat round our fire talking and
spinning yarns. Mr Henley encouraged the men to speak of themselves,
and to tell their adventures. Nothing so much induces the men to place
confidence in their officers as to show them that an interest is taken
in their welfare. The blacks told us how they had been kidnapped in
their youth from the interior of Africa, carried down to the coast,
confined in barracoons for some weeks till they were shipped on board a
Spanish schooner. They pictured vividly the horrors of the middle
passage, shut up in a hold three feet only between decks, where, with
nearly four hundred of thei