lting downpour of rain. The boats could reach her in forty minutes,
when their crews would take possession, shorten sail, and wait for us to
join. I'll be bound there is sufficient `black ivory' aboard there to
spare me the necessity to return to the coast and to make good all my
losses."

In my turn I too looked at the sky intently.

"I hardly know what to make of it," I answered at length. "It may be,
as you say, that there is nothing worse than thunder brewing up there;
yet there is something in the look of those clouds that I do not
altogether like; their colour, for instance, is too livid a purple for
thunder alone, according to my idea, and I do not like the way in which
they are working; why, they are as busy as a barrel of yeast; depend on
it, senor, there is wind, and plenty of it, up there. As to how long it
may be before the outburst comes, you have had more experience than I of
this part of the world, and ought to know the weather better than I do."

"Well, I dare say I do," he assented, with apparent relief, and again
raised his eyes and anxiously scrutinised the clouds. "I'll risk it,"
he at length exclaimed, decisively, and forthwith turned and issued the
necessary orders to his chief mate, who trundled away forward, bawling
to the men as he went; and in a few minutes all was bustle and activity
about our decks, the arm-chests being brought on deck, and the selected
boats' crews coming aft and receiving their weapons from Mendouca
himself, while the gunner served out the ammunition. The rascals were a
smart, active lot--I will give them credit for so much--and in less than
ten minutes from the announcement of Mendouca's decision, the boats, two
of them, with ten men in each, were in the glassy water, and their crews
stretching out lustily for the brig.

It was perfectly evident to me that Mendouca was possessed by a feeling
that his eagerness to acquire the brig's cargo of negroes had warped his
judgment and egged him on to an unduly risky course of action in sending
his boats and so many of his people away in the face of that threatening
sky; the boats had no sooner shoved off than he became consumed by
anxiety, and, oblivious of the suffocating heat and closeness of the
atmosphere, proceeded to pace the deck to and fro with hasty, impatient
strides, halting abruptly at frequent intervals to scrutinise the aspect
of the sky, and, anon, to watch the progress of the boats. The crews of
the latter