rticularly high-spirited, fiery-tempered young
fellow, strongly advocated our doing so. But Captain Vernon's orders to
us to avoid all collision with the natives had been most stringent, and
old Mildmay was far too experienced and seasoned a hand to engage in an
affray for the mere "fun" of the thing. He therefore sturdily refused
to aid or abet Saint Croix in any such unrighteous undertaking; and we
passed the night instead upon a small islet whereon there was nothing
more formidable than a few water-fowl and a flock of green parrots to
dispute our landing.

We had not been at work above an hour or so on the following morning
before we had reason to suspect that some at least of the unusual number
of canoes around us were suspiciously watching our movements, if not
actually following us up the river. This, however, for the time being
caused us little or no uneasiness, as we felt assured that, should their
attentions become inconveniently obtrusive, a bullet or two, or failing
that, a round-shot from our carronade, fired over their heads, would
promptly send them to the right-about. Later on in the day, however, I
must confess that I for one began to experience a slight qualm of
anxiety as I noticed the steadily increasing number of canoes, _some_ of
them carrying as many as ten or a dozen men, in our vicinity. They were
all ostensibly engaged in fishing, it is true; but that this was only a
pretence, or that they were meeting with unusually bad luck, was evident
from the small number of fish captured. Still, up to noon, though the
behaviour of the natives had been steadily growing more suspicious and
unsatisfactory, no actual hostile demonstration had been made; and we
landed upon a small bare, sandy islet to cook and despatch our dinner.

During all this time we had, of course, been carefully checking the
chart of the river copied by me from the one found on board the
_Virginia_, and comparing it with our own survey; the general result
being to prove that it was very fairly accurate, quite sufficiently so
at least to serve as a safe guide to any vessel of light draught, say up
to ten feet or so, making for the island on which was the alleged slave
depot. This chart told us that we had now arrived within a distance of
some six miles of the island in question, a statement verified to some
extent by the fact that on an island situate at about that distance from
us we could make out, with the aid of our glasses, an