n with the _Fawn_,
which ship we had been sent out to relieve. Proceeding under easy
canvas, in the hope of picking up a prize by the way--in which hope, so
however, we were disappointed--we reached our destination in twenty-
three days from Sierra Leone; sighting the _Fawn_ at daybreak and
closing with her an hour afterwards. Her skipper came on board the
_Daphne_ and remained to breakfast with Captain Vernon, whom--our
skipper being a total stranger to the coast--he posted up pretty
thoroughly in the current news, as well as such of the "dodges" of the
slavers as he had happened to have picked up. He said that at the
moment there were no ships in the river, but that intelligence--whether
trustworthy or no, however, he could not state--had reached him of the
daily-expected arrival of three ships from Cuba. He also confirmed a
very extraordinary story which had been told our skipper by the governor
of Sierra Leone, to the effect that large cargoes of slaves, known to
have been collected on shore up the river, awaiting the arrival of the
slavers, had from time to time disappeared in a most mysterious manner,
at times when, as far as could be ascertained, no craft but men-o'-war
were anywhere near the neighbourhood. At noon the _Fawn_ filled away
and bore up for Jamaica--whither she was to proceed preparatory to
returning home to be paid off--her crew manning the rigging and giving
us a parting cheer as she did so; and two hours later her royals dipped
below the horizon, and we were left alone in our glory.

On parting from the _Fawn_ we filled away again upon the starboard tack,
the wind being off the shore, and at noon brought the ship to an anchor
in nine fathoms of water off Padron Point (the projecting headland on
the southern side of the river's mouth) at a distance of two miles only
from the shore. The order was then given for the men to go to dinner as
soon as that meal could be got ready; it being understood that,
notwithstanding the _Fawn's_ assurance as to there being no ships in the
river, our skipper intended to satisfy himself of that fact by actual
examination. Moreover, the deserted state of the river afforded us an
excellent opportunity for making an unmolested exploration of it--making
its acquaintance, so to speak, in order that at any future time, if
occasion should arise, we might be able to make a dash into it without
feeling that we were doing so absolutely blindfold.

At 1:30 p.m. the gig w