would be
so ungrateful as to permit any such thing. I am a British officer, and
should, of course, make a point of seeing that, in such a case, you were
held exempt from capture. My representations would be quite sufficient
to secure that for you."

"Well, monsieur, we will see, we will see," answered Lemaitre; and
therewith he took the empty soup bowl from my hand, and retired from the
cabin, slamming the door, as usual, behind him.

For the next three days I continued to occupy my bunk, my strength
returning slowly; but on the fourth I made shift, with Lemaitre's
assistance, to get into my clothes, and crawl on deck; and from that
moment my progress toward recovery was rapid. Meanwhile, the "hazing"
of which I have spoken continued at regular intervals, day and night,
and I soon ascertained that the individual responsible for it was none
other than the Francois who so kindly suggested that I should be hove
overboard to the sharks. This fellow was evidently a born bully; he
never opened his mouth to deliver an order without abusing and insulting
the men, and as often as not the abuse was accentuated with blows, the
sounds of which, and the accompanying cries of the men, I could
distinctly hear in my cabin. That, however, was hardly the worst of it;
for I soon discovered that Lemaitre, the skipper of this precious craft
in which such doings were permitted, was a drunkard; for every night, at
about nine o'clock, I used to hear him come below, and order out the rum
and water; after which he and Francois, or the second mate,--according
to whose watch below it happened to be,--would sit for about an hour,
drinking one against the other, until the language of both became
incoherent, when the pair of them would stagger and stumble off to their
respective staterooms.

This was my first experience of a slaver, and a most unpleasant
experience it was. The vessel herself,--a schooner of one hundred and
twenty tons register,--although superbly modelled, a magnificent sea-
boat, and sailing like a witch, was rendered uncomfortable in the
extreme as an abode by her filthy condition. Cleanliness seemed to be
regarded by Lemaitre as a wholly unnecessary luxury, with the result
that no effort was made to keep in check the steady accumulation of dirt
from day to day, much less to remove that which already existed. Even
the daily washing down of the decks--which, with the British sailor, has
assumed the importance and imperat