ass of the porthole, but now I heard her
captain's voice coming across the space of water, clear and strong:

"'Brig ahoy! What do you mean by keeping my mate?'

"To this no answer was returned. Again the captain hailed the brig;
but owing to the shift in the postures of the two vessels, and to my
having nothing but a circular hole to hear through, I could only dimly
and imperfectly catch what was shouted. The cries from the whaler grew
more and more threadlike. Indeed, I knew the brig must be a very poor
sailer if she did not speedily leave the _Swan_ far astern.

"And now, as I conjectured from the noise of the tread of feet and the
hum of voices, the brig on a sudden seemed full of men; not the eight
or ten whom I had beheld with my own eyes, but a big ship's company.
And the sight of the crowd, I reckoned, as I stood hearkening at the
open porthole--amazed, confounded, in the utmost distress of mind--was
probably the reason why the captain of the _Swan_ had not thought
proper to send boats to rescue me. Be this as it will I was
thunderstruck by the discovery--the discovery of my hearing, and of my
capacity as a sailor of interpreting shipboard sounds--that this
little brig, which I had supposed tenanted by two men only, had hidden
a whole freight of human souls somewhere away in the execution of this
diabolical stratagem. What was this vessel? Who were the people on
board her? What use did they design to put me to? And when I had
served them, what was to be my fate?

"Quite three hours passed, during which I was left unvisited.
Sometimes I heard men talking in the cabin; over my head there went a
regular swing of heavy feet, a pendulum tread, as of half-a-score of
burly ruffians marching abreast, and keeping a look-out all together.
The door of my berth was opened at last, and the villain who had
seduced me into the brig stepped in.

"'I was sorry,' said he, 'to be obliged to use threats. Threats aren't
in our way. We mean no mischief. Quite the contrary; we count upon you
handsomely serving us. Come into the cabin, sir, that I may make you
known to my mates.'

"His manner was as civil as a fellow with his looks could possibly
contrive, and an ugly smile sat upon his face whilst he addressed me,
and I observed that he held his great straw hat in his hand, as though
to show respect.

"About twenty men were assembled in the cabin. I came to a dead stand
on the threshold of the door of the berth, so astounded w