co. "Now, then, which way? Is
Mr Lindsay in the town jail?"

"No, sar, no; he am in de harbour lock-up," answered my guide. "Dis
way, sar; it am not so bery far."

"The _harbour_ lock-up?" queried I. "Where is that? I didn't know that
there was such a place."

"Oh yes, sar, dar am. You follow me, sar; I show you de way, sar,"
answered the negro.

"All right, heave ahead then," said I; and away we went a little way
down the main street, and then turned to the right, plunging into one of
the dark, narrow side streets which then intersected the town of
Kingston.

"Keep close to de wall, sar," cautioned my guide; "dere am a gutter in
de middle ob de road, and if you steps into dat you go in ober your
shoes in muck."

I could well believe this, for although it was too dark in this narrow
lane to see anything, the abominable odour of the place told me pretty
well what its condition must be. We plodded on for nearly ten minutes,
winding hither and thither, and penetrating deeper and deeper into the
labyrinth of dark, crooked lanes, but gradually edging nearer to the
harbour, while, as I thought, working our way a considerable distance to
the westward. Presently my guide, who had been humming some negro
melody to himself, lifted up his voice in a louder key and began to
chant the praises of a certain "lubly Chloe, whose eyes were like the
stars, and whose `breaf' was like the rose!" The fellow had a
wonderfully melodious voice, and in listening to him as he strode easily
along at a swinging pace, improvising verse after verse in honour of the
unknown Chloe, I lost my bearings as well as my count of time, and was
only brought back to a consciousness of the present by suddenly finding
my head closely enveloped in what seemed to be a blanket, while at the
same instant my feet were tripped from under me, so that I should have
fallen forward but for the restraining influence of the blanket and of a
pair of arms that gripped mine tightly behind my back, so that I was
instantly overpowered and effectually precluded from making the
slightest effort to free myself. Then, before I had time to realise
what was happening, I was lifted off my feet, and, despite my desperate
struggles and ineffectual efforts to shout for assistance, carried in
through an open doorway and flung upon my face upon the ground, where
someone at once knelt upon me and securely lashed my hands behind my
back, some other individual at the same inst