a quarter of an hour.

My scheme, which, prior to my conversation with Simpson, had been of the
most vague and nebulous character, had now taken shape and wore so
promising an appearance that I felt sanguine of its ultimate success; so
without further ado I retired right aft to the wheel grating--that part
of the brigantine being now quite deserted, and wrapped in total
darkness save for the dim and diffused light that issued from the cabin
skylight--and there, unseen, shifted into the clothes that Simpson had
brought me. They were not particularly comfortable nor quite so
well-savoured as I could have wished; but it was no time for
ultra-squeamishness, and I was soon transformed into a very colourable
imitation of a fo'c's'le hand. This done, I went forward, past the open
hatchway down which the plunder from the _Bangalore_ was being struck,
noticing with bitter distress and anger the forlorn, dejected, worn-out,
and despairing attitudes of the unfortunate blacks closely huddled
together on the slave-deck, their forms faintly indicated in the yellow,
smoky light of the lanterns which the men were working by, and noticing
too, with keen satisfaction, that most of the crew had reached that
stage of intoxication wherein the victim's whole attention is required
for the conduct of his own affairs, with none to spare for those of
others. Many had gone considerably beyond this stage, and were
staggering about, pulling and hauling aimlessly at the first object that
they could lay their hands upon, and proving far more of a hindrance
than a help to their less intoxicated comrades; while there were some
who had reached the final stage of bestiality, and were lying about the
decks in a helpless condition of drunken stupor. Nothing more
favourable for our scheme than this condition of general intoxication
could possibly have happened, unless it were that Pedro was below, fully
occupied in attending to his father, and was therefore the less likely
to discover my absence from the brigantine until it should be too late
to take any steps toward the investigation of the phenomenon; I
therefore hurried to the rendezvous with a sudden feeling of elation and
joyousness and confidence in the conviction that the time of release
from my exceedingly uncongenial and disagreeable, if not absolutely
hopeless, situation had at length arrived.

Upon reaching the forecastle-head--the appointed spot of our
rendezvous--I found it tenantless; but