Assistant; George How, a Mate, had the cutter, and with him was William Wea, Captain's Clerk.

Jack Row was what is termed a tar; delighting in low-quartered shoes and long shoe-strings, trowsers wide in the legs and taut round the loins, striped shirt with falling collar and loosely tied kerchief, broad-rimmed straw or tarpaulin hat, and a fancy cut jacket with slash sleeves. Having an unlimited supply of cash from an old uncle, these articles were always of the finest texture. He had an insatiable thirst for brandy and tobacco; the latter he indulged in to excess in the shape of cigars and quids. The apparent gusto with which he masticated his pig-tail entitled him to rank with our long-tailed antiquities of the old war for proficiency in this juicy and most enviable attainment. Active and athletic, he was a crack hand at a hornpipe or a bout at single-stick, and feared not to take his share in a spree, whether against dockyard maties (a favourite amusement of bygone nauticals) or any other equally natural antagonist of pugnacious reefers. Although scarcely four-and-twenty, his face was covered with pimples, commonly called "grog blotches;" but he was a general favourite, and universally recognised as a regular tar, and king of the "Keppel's Head."

How was about one-and-twenty, and had passed his examination nearly three years. His temper had been spoiled when a child by allowing him to have his own way in everything. Although naturally well-disposed, he was passionate; and disappointment at not getting promotion directly he passed, together with an incident which had happened in his childhood, had soured his temper, and made him anything but an agreeable companion. His grandfather, on his death-bed, indulging in the spirit of prophecy, had foretold that George would die no natural death, and shortly after expired. Although so many years had elapsed, and although this had never been alluded to by any who were present, it had made an indelible impression on the mind of How, and since his arrival on the coast the inertness of the service, together with the climate, gave time and food for gloomy forebodings, and he grew a disagreeable and an unhappy man.

Rush had for several years, prior to entering the Navy, served in merchant vessels. This service, together with his now being in the line of Master, made the more favoured class endeavour to stamp him an inferior however, when competing with such of his own age, he failed not to establish the well-known fact, that an initiation in the merchant service, with a finishing in the Navy (if not too long deferred), ensures to the country the most efficient and valuable officer. He was scarcely twenty; light-hearted and generous.

He had received a

Wea was an easy, simple, good-natured creature. good education, but his friends having no interest, he had gone into the Navy, on the chance of winning his way to a vacancy. He had gained it; but aware this was known, he was apparently never at his ease, and, being in the habit of blushing, he was considered a green-horn; and from his first joining the mess, was deemed a fit object for the youngsters to shoot their shafts at and try their range of wit upon. The Captain sent him with the boats, thinking a little such service would give him confidence, and wear away his bashfulness.

The morning of the third day after the boats left the ship, saw the

pinnace leading the way up a broad-mouthed river. The clothes of the boats' crews were stretched out in the sunshine to dry, as up to the time of making the land, only an hour previous to this, with the exception of a few hours, after parting company, they had been subjected to a continuance of wind and rain, and this sudden change to fine weather had had an agreeable effect upon them. Row was on board the cutter with How, and Wea was with Rush-an agreeable change to all. Rush took this opportunity of indulging in a little raillery, and a vessel coming in sight at the time gave him a cue. He talked of bullets and blood; of the chance Wea would have of distinguishing himself; winding up in the words of the Recruiting Serjeant, "You may have the luck to fall covered with wounds and honour, and then, should you chance to die, why then you will live for ever! Cheer up, my hearty, give me a lock of your hair, and tell me where your mother lives."

Wea taking it for granted that a scrimmage was about to follow, opened his heart, relaxed from his usual stiffness, and, laying his hand on the arm of Rush, told him a tale of despair. How he had loved, how he had been laughed at, how in sheer desperation he had determined to win death, or-what would alone make life worth having-wealth; possessed of that, he thought her obdurate heart would soften to his suit, and he might yet possess her. "But," said he, "if I am killed, promise me to see her, and tell her how I loved!"

Overcome with these outpourings, he bowed his head, and Rush, imagining that he wept, regretted he had tuned a chord whose vibration caused such pain. He therefore enlarged on the probabilities of prize-money, the likelihood of Wea's being received with kindness on his return; "for," said he, "depend upon this: a woman likes to boast that a man is dying for love of her; but, by repeatedly repeating this to herself and her acquaintances, she gradually identifies him, and then his interests with her own; and should he be exposed to more than ordinary risks or dangers, her anxiety increases in proportion to the uncertainties of seeing or hearing how he fares, his faults are gradually forgotten, his good qualities and devotedness alone are remembered, and, in the end, the biter, being bit, becomes the impassioned and disconsolate adorer. Cheer up! You'll be a hero yet; and nothing in the shape of woman will be able to resist such a dare-devil character as you promise to be. The girl disliked you only because she thought you had not pluck enough.'

Just at this moment the cutter closed, and Row and Wea again changed places. The river they were now in was broad, and evidently deep; the banks lay low, but were thickly studded with stupendous trees. There was no sign of inhabitants; not even a canoe could be seen; not a sound, save the occasional rustling of brushwood, or breaking of a bough, which led to the belief that some beast of prey was lurking in the neighbourhood; or the shrill cry of a parrot, as it flew high over head; or the rush of the tide past some rock, which, like a jealous spirit of the stream, was scowling ominously above the surface on the bold intruders who thus disturbed its solitude: save these, no other sounds broke the death-like quiet of the place, and only for the brightness of the sun, which gave a cheerful appearance to the different shades of green, the loneliness of the spot would have caused a corresponding lowness of spirits. How felt this, and despite of every effort

Row made to amuse him, remained miserable; a foreboding of evil mastered his desire to reciprocate attentions; and Row, annoyed at his apparent sulkiness, had consequently rejoined his own boat sooner than he had previously intended. However, on they went; but as the tide was ebbing, they had great difficulty in stemming the stream, which was running four or five knots the hour. By keeping in-shore, they succeeded in at length getting alongside the vessel before alluded to; she proved to be an English brig, the Tom of Liverpool, lading with palm oil.

They now learnt they were in the first of the five rivers of Bras; that a Spanish slaver was lying at anchor in a bight of the river, but would not embark her slaves for several days; that the natives were a savage race, inclined to all sorts of villany; that the boats were the first English vessels of war that had visited these waters; and the Master of the Tom fancied a demonstration, to show the power of England (!), would have a good effect upon the natives in favour of future traders. It so happened the boats were out of water, and How was at once dispatched with the empty breakers to fill them from the slaver's stock.

The brig was between two and three hundred tons' burthen, and in as complete a state of helplessness as can be imagined. She had a carronade or two; but even had they been worth anything, which they were not, they were so choked up they could not have been got ready in much less than a day. Her decks were crowded with empty casks on end; these casks were intended for the oil, and had already been smeared over in filling the few casks which were stowed in the hold; a rain awning, running the entire length of the hull, housed her in, and prevented the approach of fresh air. Row very quickly dived into the cabin; but he had not been there long before he imagined even the heads of the casks would be preferable to the Captain's "state-room." The stench was bad onough on deck, but down below it was tenfold, and the heat so oppressive, that, but for copious draughts of brandy, he must have completely evaporated. The place was also alive with mosquitoes, who, everlastingly dunning in the ears their relationship of "Cozen, cozen, cozen," confused the mind, and rendered thought impossible. However, he enveloped himself in a cloud of tobacco-smoke, which, together with his blazing features, screened or secured him from their affectionate caresses. Unenviable as was his position, he was doomed to abandon it sooner than he wished or expected. The cutter was reported returning, and pulling at full stretch, as though something unexpected had occurred. He was on deck in an instant, and ere she got alongside, the pinnace had been piped away, and was ready to start if anything required his presence.

How sprang up the side, and in few words told that in boarding the slaver, there was a slight demur to so much of their stock being taken; and one of the cutter's crew, who boasted a smattering of Spanish, reported that the slaver's people questioned why they came with cutlass and pistol for a supply of water; adding, if they chose, they could take these arms away, and do something with them, the bare mention of which had stirred up How in this extraordinary manner. Whether the sailor understood and believed what he stated, may be questioned; it was reported to How as having been said, and he, unable to ascertain

its truth or falsehood, hastened on board, and reported it to Row, who jumped into the pinnace, and, with the good wishes and exhortations of the Master of the Tom "to serve 'em out," started at once for the schooner at a rate which, to last long, would have tried the stamina of his men; luckily, however, the distance was short. On rounding the point, there was the schooner, and a beautiful specimen of naval architecture she was. Her low black hull contrasted with her tall raking spars and snow-white sails; and as she lay there in smooth water, her ropes taut, her yards squared, and a long sweeping pennant which nearly reached her taffrail, admiration was the irresistible feeling; this, however, was quickly followed by a burst of indignation that such a craft should belong to people who, in the opinion of her present admirers, were so totally unworthy to possess her. She was at anchor in a broad deep bay, and lay like a dark spot on a mirror. So extensive was this sheet of water, that a fleet of line of battle ships might have lain there without incommoding each other. The high land of Cameroons could be seen peering above the clouds, and, as it were, cutting off this place from the rest of the world.

They were fast nearing the schooner, and the men were told to look to their arms. In a few minutes after they dashed alongside as if resistance had been anticipated; but they were received with a stare of wonder by the slaver's crew, who numbered about forty. The first step was to drive these people forward, the next to ask the Captain and officers the meaning of their insulting threat; but owing to the difficulty of understanding each other, both parties were as much in the dark, after five or ten minutes of oaths and threats on one side, and shrugs and exclamations on the other, as they were at the commencement. Irritable men are always enraged in proportion to the difficulty they experience in making themselves understood; consequently, the patience of Row was soon exhausted, and pulling from his waistcoat pocket a Boatswain's call, he blew a shrill, clear note, and, in a stentorian tone, shouted, "All hands out gun!" In an instant the English were at work, reeving tackles, and fitting them aloft on the fore-yard and main-stay.

The object of this order was a beautiful brass long 18-pounder, mounted a-midships, on carriage and slide, traversing on a bull-ring, raised about six inches from the deck, to enable it to be fired over the bulwarks without damaging them; its fittings were complete, shot-racks round the combings of the hatchway, swabs and fire-buckets, in fact, nothing wanting that a man-of-war should have. In a short time the gun was slung, the tackle hooked on, the falls manned, and at the words "Haul taut," "Away she goes," she rose with the steady stamp of the boat's crew, and swang in mid-air. "Haul out the yard, ease away the stay," and she was swinging clear of the vessel's side. It seemed strange the little yard could bear so great a weight without preventer-lifts, but so it was. The next order was to "coil down the falls and stand clear!" When all was ready, "let go!" and then this splendid piece of ordnance disappeared in the depths below. There was an audible groan from the slaver's people as their "Long Tom" passed to the watery gods, and wretchedness was depicted on each countenance. The spirit of destruction was, however, at work; the bull-ring was then broken up, and with the slide and carriage, was

pitched overboard, even the side tackles, breeching, and handspikes, shared the same fate, and when there was nothing left on the upper deck, the order was given to "hand the small arms up." Muskets, pistols, cutlasses, boarding-pikes, and tomahawks went flying over the side; those which were sufficiently buoyant, such as the two latter, went away with the stream, bobbing up and down like anglers' floats, the remainder disappeared for ever; ten fathoms of water and two of mud made their recovery hopeless. After another squabble, arising from the Captain of the slaver having said a watch and some money had been stolen, the English re-entered their boats, and giving a cheer, returned on board the Tom. Up to this time they had seen nothing of the natives; now, however, the beach was lined with them, and by their gestulations, they evidently desired those in the boats to land. Row nevertheless kept on his way, and shortly after a large canoe was launched and followed the boats to the brig. It was the bearer of a message to the effect, that "King Jacket sends his compliments to King George's Captain and would like to see him on shore." Row, on consulting with the Master of the brig, returned for answer-" King George's Captain sends his compliments to King Jacket and will see him d-d first."

The evening had now set in, and heavy clouds gave promise of a gloomy night; the men had stowed themselves away as best they could, and all, save the look-out, were fast asleep. Row was keeping it up in the cabin with the Skipper, when, at a little before midnight, by the heightened tones, 'twas evident the two devoted bacchanals were growing argumentative, and sounds were heard which savoured not of moderation. Midnight arrived, a something like a scuffle in the cabin drew the look-out's attention from the weather, which as the glass ran out, burst with a crash; a startling flash of lightning, and a terrific peal of thunder told a tornado was upon them. The wind roared through the rigging, the rain fell by buckets-full in one continuous stream, and flash and peal came quick on one another. The glimmering of the cabin lamp was lost amidst the flaring of the lightning, which one moment lit up with the light of day, the next left a pitchy darkness. At the first flash, Row rushed to the ladder and scrambled to the deck; 'twas instinct then, to halloo for the watch. The empty casks on deck were, by the rolling of the vessel, all turned over, and like the waves of a troubled sea, were beating against each other, filling up the intervals between the peals of thunder with their own peculiar melody. The ideas of Row on reaching the deck were confused, and for the first five or six minutes he was hallooing for his pistols, his cutlass, and calling each of his officers by name, to no effect; gradually the reality dawned upon him, the freshes, similar to the bore in India, were roaring past, and the vessel groaned at her anchor. At every flash could be seen the startled stragglers endeavouring to scramble aft, at their wits' end, to avoid collision with their empty but noisy and dangerous companions; every minute increased the confusion; and now a new danger beset them, the brig being nearly empty, rolled so heavily, each instant it was feared she would turn keel up. In this emergency, the men who had collected aft, were kept staggering from side to side; as she heeled over to starboard, “Larboard side" was shouted, and away they went, at the imminent risk of being crushed. Scarcely had