of life."

"Well, then, I'll leave you to do my duty on board, and volunteer to
command the first expedition sent away," said Adair; "you'll take good
care of the ship in the meantime."

"Ah, yes!--though I have never aspired to the post of first
lieutenant,--to oblige you," said Mildmay.

"Thank you," answered Adair, laughing.

In the afternoon the captain and lieutenants went to pay their respects
to the Portuguese governor, and Desmond and Archie were invited to
accompany them. Landing on the stone pier before described, they made
their way along the narrow, dirty streets, which literally swarmed with
slaves. There were faces of every form, if not of colour, for all were
black as jet; their faces disfigured in every variety of manner, some
with lip-rings, others with rings in their noses, and some with pieces
of bone stuck spritsail fashion through the cartilage. Some, instead of
bone, wore brass-headed nails, while many had pieces of bone through
their ears. The faces of others were fearfully gashed, a yellow dust
filling up the grooves.

Mozambique, indeed, is the chief slave-mart of the Portuguese, and
thousands of unhappy beings are kidnapped and brought there from all
parts of the interior, ready to be shipped to any country where
slave-labour is in demand.

The English officers found the Portuguese governor seated in a broad
verandah, in an easy chair, smoking a cigar, and enjoying the
sea-breeze, while sheltered from the hot sun. He received them
courteously, begging them to be seated, and ordering coffee and
cigarettes, which were immediately brought by his slaves, the latter
accompanied by a plate of hot charcoal, from which to light them. He
expressed himself gratified by their visit, and assured them that his
great desire was to put down the slave-trade; but, shrugging his
shoulders, he acknowledged that it was no easy matter. "In spite of all
I can do," he added, sighing, "my subordinates will indulge in it. What
can be expected? They do not like the country, and are naturally in a
hurry to make their fortunes and get away again. It is a second nature
to the Arabs, and their chief mode of existing; and as long as the
French and Brazilians and Cubans will buy slaves, what can prevent it?
The former, to be sure, ship them as emigrants and free Africans, though
not a negro would leave his country if he could help it."

The governor was so frank, and apparently so sincere in his offers of
a