e exercise of a little patience we should soon be
rewarded by a clear and extensive view. So dismounting and lighting
our cigars we leaned upon the saddles of the horses and watched the
wreaths of the mist bank gradually dissolving. To the eastward there
jutted out a promontory with a considerable elevation, behind which
the sun began to show his florid countenance. Presently the indistinct
outline of a graceful tracery of spars and cordage greeted the eye
through the misty gauze, growing steadily more and more distinct and
gradually descending towards the sea level, until at last there lay
before us in full view, with a look of treacherous tranquillity, the
dark, low hull of a brigantine.

"A slaver!" was the mutual and simultaneous exclamation which burst
from our lips as we gazed intently on the small but symmetrical
vessel.

Don Herero looked particularly intelligent, but said nothing. There
could be no doubt as to the trade which engaged such a clipper craft.
No legitimate commerce was suggested by her appearance, no honest
trade demanded such manifest sacrifice of carrying capacity. It was
very natural that her guilty character should add interest to her
appearance and cause us to examine her very minutely. A short distance
from where we stood there was gathered a group of a dozen or more
persons, who silently regarded the brigantine, but they evinced no
surprise at her appearance there so close to the shore. She was of a
most graceful model, perfect in every line, with bows almost as sharp
as a knife. The rig was also quite unusual and entirely new to us. Her
deck was flush fore and aft. Not so much as an inch of rise was
allowed for a quarter-deck, a style which gave large stowage capacity
below deck, the level of which came up to within a couple of feet of
the cappings of the bulwarks. As we have before intimated, it required
no interpreter to indicate what business the brigantine was engaged
in. A single glance at her, lying in so unfrequented a place, was
enough. The rakish craft was of Baltimore build, of about two hundred
tons measurement, and, like many another vessel turned out by the
Maryland builders, was designed to make successfully the famous middle
passage to or from the coast of Cuba, loaded with kidnapped negroes
from the shores of Africa. The two requisites of these clippers were
great speed and large stowage capacity for a human freight.

At first it appeared as though Don Herero had purposel