they were sailing on over the calm waters, rising and
falling slowly to the gentle Atlantic swell, it seemed hard to believe
that they had been so near wreck only a few hours before. But Mark had
only to turn his eyes eastward to where the great billows broke upon the
shore, making a chaos of foaming, tumbling waters, to be convinced of
the danger they had escaped.

The blacks soon forgot the scare, and lay basking about on deck
perfectly happy, and ready to smile at the crew; and, saving a few cuts
and bruises, which did not show, apparently very little the worse for
their encounters. The swellings, too, on board the prize crew, to use
Tom Fillot's way of expressing it, had diminished rapidly. A little too
rapidly, Tom said.

"You see if we've got no marks to show the officers and men, they won't
believe we've been in so much trouble, sir. My heye! wouldn't the
skipper have given it to you, Mr Vandean, if you'd took us back without
this craft."

Mark had plenty of anxieties to cope with. So long as the weather kept
fine, he had no great difficulty about the navigation. There was the
low-lying shore, two or three miles on their starboard bow, and as far
as was possible this distance was kept to. Provision on board was
ample; the water-casks had been well filled, and even if the store of
this prime necessity had failed there would have been no great
difficulty in running up one or other of the rivers for a fresh supply.

As to the blacks, the hours glided on, and there was very little to
disturb Mark's confidence. The two sailors--Soup and Taters--paraded
the deck forward with a great show of authority, to which their
unclothed fellow-countrymen submitted with a very excellent grace; and
it was evident that there was nothing to fear from them.

"They're rum sort of beggars, sir," Tom said.

"Why, Tom?"

"Well, sir, I ain't good at explaining what I mean, but it seems to me
like this:--Give them enough to eat and drink, and plenty of sunshine to
lie about in, that's about all they want."

"Yes, Tom, they're soon satisfied."

"That's so, sir, and they don't seem to have no memories. You'd think
they'd all be fretting to get away ashore, and back home; but look at
'em: they don't, and it seems to me that they're not troubling
themselves much about to-morrow or next day neither."

The young sailor appeared to be quite right, for hour by hour as the
horrors of the slaver's hold grew more remote, the littl