game's up, I can see, so
I s'pose it's no use kickin'. There's the keys, stranger. But I'd give
a good deal to know who let ye into the secret."

"No doubt," returned I, with a laugh. "Adams and Markham, just mount
guard over these two men, and do not let them stir off the poop until I
return."

So saying, I descended the poop ladder and, entering the cabin, made my
way to the skipper's state-room, and, opening a desk which I found
there, soon discovered the genuine set of papers declaring the ship's
name to be the _Preciosa_, her port of registry Havana, and her
ownership Spanish. Her Spanish crew we soon found snugly hidden away in
spacious quarters beneath the lazaret; and, as to the name on her stern,
we found that the piece of wood on which it was carved and painted was
reversible, having Virginia, New Orleans, carved on one side of it and
Preciosa, Havana, on the other, and that it could be unbolted and
reversed in a few minutes by lifting a couple of movable planks in the
after cabin. I called a couple of hands into the cabin and had this
done forthwith, much to the relief of Captain Perry, as I afterward
learned. She had a full cargo, consisting of seven hundred and thirty
negroes, all young males, on board; and as she was a remarkably fast and
well-built ship she was a prize worth having, to say nothing of the
credit that we should win by putting a stop to her vagaries. We
transferred her double crew to the _Eros_, where they were carefully
secured in the hold on top of the ballast, and, a strong prize crew
being put on board by Captain Perry, we were not long in clearing away
the wreck and putting everything back into place again, being ready to
make sail by one bell in the first watch.

Being a prize of such exceptional value, Captain Perry decided to
accompany her in the _Eros_ to Sierra Leone, where we arrived without
adventure five days later. In due course she was adjudicated upon and
condemned by the Mixed Commission; but I did not remain at Sierra Leone
for that to take place; for upon our arrival we found that a packet had
come in from England a few days previously bringing letters for me,
acquainting me with the sad news of my father's death and urging me to
proceed home immediately to supervise the winding up of his affairs, and
to assume the management of the very important property that he had left
behind him. I therefore at once applied for leave, and, having obtained
it, secured a pa