openings in the side into the
interior, to observe, apparently, if any of the prisoners were trying to
escape.

"Why, these poor beings must be slaves; and, Andrew, the schooner must
be a slaver," exclaimed my cousin.

"There is no doubt about the matter," I answered. "I have for some time
suspected it; nay, I was almost certain of the fact when she ran away
from the English man-of-war. What do you advise, Stanley?"

"That we leave her immediately," he answered.

"But where are we to go?" I asked.

"Anywhere, rather than remain on board so abominable a craft," he
replied.

"That may be very difficult, if not impossible," I remarked. "We cannot
leave her in this place, and I am afraid that the captain would not
venture near any English settlement to land us."

"We must try him, however," he said. "We must bribe him. I would pay
any amount I can command to be quit of her."

We agreed to keep Kate in ignorance as long as possible. Just then two
white men appeared on horseback, swarthy, ill-looking fellows, one tall
and thin, and the other short and paunchy, both dressed alike in
wide-brimmed straw hats and nankeen jackets and trousers. We found that
they were the principal slave-dealers on the coast, having, as we
afterwards discovered, several barracoons at numerous other stations,
and parties constantly engaged in capturing and purchasing slaves. The
party of slaves who had just arrived were made to halt, and sit down on
the ground under the shade of the barracoons. After this several men
opened the front of the building, and led out the slaves, linking them
together as the others had been. In this state they were marched down
to the water's edge, where two dozen or more large canoes had collected.
As soon as these were filled they pulled away towards the schooner. I
counted the blacks as they passed, and at least two hundred human
beings, including several small children, were carried on board the
vessel. The captain of the slaver touched me on the shoulder and
pointed to the boat, signifying that we were to return on board. We of
course obeyed--indeed, what else could we do!--though we intended to beg
Senhor Silva to request him to land us at the nearest European
settlement, either Portuguese or French, if he would not take us to an
English one, which, of course, we could scarcely expect him to do.

As soon as we reached the vessel the anchor was hove up, and, towed by
several boats and canoes