e _Barracouta_
remaining hove-to until we had placed a sufficient distance between her
and ourselves. But although we carried on day and night--the Indiaman
proving such a flyer that the _Barracouta's_ people had their hands full
to keep us in sight--nothing more was seen of the _Francesca_, and we
were at length driven to the conclusion that, failing to find us,
Mendouca had resumed his voyage at a much earlier period than we had
anticipated. We reached Sierra Leone on the afternoon of the third day
after falling in with the _Barracouta_; and there I left the Indiaman,
which, after a detention of four days, sailed for England with a full
complement, made up of the officers and men of a large barque that had
been wrecked upon the coast only a week or two before, supplemented by a
few out of the many white seamen who had been left behind in hospital
when their ships were ready to sail for home, and who, contrary to the
general rule, had recovered from, instead of succumbing to, the deadly
malaria of the coast.

As for me, I found that I had arrived most opportunely, so far as the
_Felicidad_ was concerned, for the repairs to that small hooker were
completed, as it happened, on the very day of our arrival; and Captain
Stopford very generously offered me the command of her, asserting that
my conduct with regard to the Indiaman had conclusively demonstrated my
entire fitness for the post, and that if I chose to accept it he should
have no anxiety whatever, either on the score of my courage or my
discretion. Ryan, poor fellow, was, contrary to expectation, still
alive, and hopes were now entertained that he might ultimately recover;
but he was still so weak that when I went to the hospital to see him, he
was so overcome with emotion at the sight of me--although he had been
carefully prepared for the meeting--that he burst into tears and was
seized with a fit of hysterical sobbing so violent that I had to retire
again at once without exchanging a word with him; and, to my very deep
regret, I had not another opportunity to see him. I grieve to say that
although, when I paid him that unfortunate visit, he appeared to be
making slow but sure progress toward recovery, he suffered a relapse a
few days afterwards, from which he never rallied; and his ashes now
repose, with those of many another gallant spirit, in the spot that is
known throughout the world as "The White Man's Grave."

The repairs to the _Felicidad_ being compl