ll
make out the brig with her white canvas loose, not far ahead. I was
somewhat surprised as we approached to observe no sign of life aboard
her; not a man could I make out on her deck, no boat alongside. We had
got almost up to her when we observed a large schooner lying close in
shore on the farther side of a high point which had hitherto concealed
her from us. Almost at the same instant a shot came flying from the
schooner towards us, so well aimed that, as it struck the surface, it
threw the water right over us. The splash of our oars must have shown
the schooner's people where we were, for, although we could see her,
they could not have made out in the dark such small objects as our
boats.

"The first shot was followed by a second, which very nearly did for the
jollyboat, as, after striking the water, it bounded over her, smashing
one of her oars, and knocking in her gunwale, happily hitting no one.
Not wishing to be exposed to this sort of peppering, as shot after shot
came in quick succession, giving us not a most agreeable kind of
shower-bath, we at once dashed at the brig, I boarding on the starboard
side, and Norris on the port. We fully expected to have some hot work,
but on reaching the deck, not a soul appeared, and we found ourselves
masters and, as we supposed, possessors of as fine a brig as I have ever
seen engaged in the slave-trade.

"I could not help feeling, however, a little uncomfortable on
recollecting the tricks the rascals are apt to play, and I half expected
to find myself and my men hoisted into the air by the explosion of the
magazine, when, as I was about to send below to examine the vessel, I
heard voices in the after-cabin, and presently a Spanish officer in full
rig appeared, followed by half a dozen men-of-war's men. He announced
himself as a midshipman belonging to the Spanish man-of-war schooner
which lay at anchor in shore, the same craft which had fired at us, and
said that he had been put in charge of the brig, which had been captured
by his vessel.

"`And pray, then, why did your schooner fire at our boats?' I asked,
eyeing the young fellow narrowly, for I much doubted that he was really
a midshipman.

"`Your boats were seen approaching our prize under suspicious
circumstances in the dusk of evening, and you probably were taken for
pirates,' he answered, quite coolly.

"`There was light enough when we were first seen to make out our
ensign,' I answered. `If that sch