they succeeded in reaching the bulwarks, when the vessel recovering herself, rolled over to port. "Starboard side," roared Row, and back again they ran, and thus for nearly two hours were they kept exercising their limbs at the risk of losing them, until the tornado had passed over, and the commotion of the waters had subsided. The vessel then regained her steadiness, and Row, worn out with the excitement of the last few hours, once more appealed to his brandy flask. The heaviest head will swim, the lightest sink, when overplied with liquor; yielding to the balmy influence of the rosy and dozy gods, he reclined his wearied limbs upon the deck, and hugged himself to sleep. During this commotion, the awakened men imagined every horror; some that the natives had attacked and carried off the boats; others, that the Spaniards, burning with revenge, had waited until midnight, and now were slaughtering all they laid their hands on. In the scramble, Wea-some folks have the luck of it-had been rescued from an awkward position, heels up amongst some casks which were jammed together; he, fancying that his goose was cooked," had resigned himself to his fate, and was faintly murmuring the name of Arabella. When dragged out, he mistook his rescuers for naked niggers going to eat him, and consequently was about to show fight, when a flash of lightning revealed the forms and faces of his shipmates. It is questionable whether his annoyance or gratitude preponderated; however, he gave them each a dollar and told them not to talk about it, but it was too good a joke not to get whispered about, and the sacred name of Arabella became a bye-word ever after.

The daylight dawned upon a dismal scene; a drizzling rain, cold and uncomfortable, which hid, as a fog would hide, the land; and the unwholesome vapours from the shore gave to the air a feeling of infection, inhaling which was as a gulp of dysentery, or a mouthful of fever and ague; and if to this is added a make-shift billet, disturbed as we have seen it, it may be supposed that sprightliness to a fault was not the most remarkable feature of the morning faces. Row was the first to wake, and call the men together; by ones and twos their crumpled craniums appeared peering above the casks which lumbered the deck, their

eyes but yet half open. Gladly they'd dive again to rub them; but no, his eye detects, and his "Halloa there, Jenkins, Crampton, Russell," compels them to an effort, increasing their confusion. But half awake, to scramble up, and then along these casks, so cursed slippery, without a growl, required more humility of spirit, more patience philosophical than they were then possessed of-so growl they did. Bruin, with pimply pimple, the growling palm had yielded.

Without a word at parting with the Skipper, an angry scowl alone betokening the feeling which existed, the boats shoved off, and made for up the river. As they progressed, the shores appeared even more thickly wooded than at the entrance, which screened them from the rays of the sun, that a little before noon blazed out and dispersed the mists and vapours of the morning. The solitude of the woods was enlivened by the notes of a variety of birds, welcoming the return of sunshine. Parrots and parroquets, with their shrill and odious screams, flying high over head, or perched upon the loftiest trees, diversified with their brilliant plumage the shades and colours of the scenery. Monkeys might be discovered leaping from bough to bough, or staring

at the intruders with chattering wonder. A note of introduction was occasionally forwarded to them in the shape of a musket-ball, without effect-the men and monkeys remained strangers to each other. The woods, however, took up the reports, and carried them with endless echoes and never tiring reverberations to startled ears unconscious of their meaning. Pulling and sailing alternately, singing as they went, the boats continued to ascend till dusk. Many canoes had been noticed towards the close of the day, although one only had been boarded; the people who belonged to her, on the boats approaching, jumped overboard, and swam ashore, dreading the distended jaws of an alligator less than close contact with a Christian. A supply of yams, bananas, and roasted corn was obtained from the deserted canoe, and some beef and biscuits, and a bottle of rum, deposited as payment.

Row now determined upon seeking some snug creek for a day or two, where he could lie undiscovered, and from whence he could pounce upon the Spaniard as she shipped her slaves. The boats accordingly dropped down with the stream, the oars were muffled, and the men having had their suppers, the fires were put out, and Rush, in the Kroo canoe, which accompanied them to act as scout, was sent ahead to reconnoitre. The skill with which these things are handled, their amazing buoyancy and fleetness, render them peculiarly adapted for such service. Their crankness, however, make them rather an unsafe mode of transit for Europeans, who, encumbered with clothing, stand a poor chance when they capsize-not at all an unusual occurrence, even with the Kroomen alone in them; the latter, however, suffer no inconvenience from such an accident, being naked and nearly amphibious. No sooner is the canoe capsized than they, swimming at the time, turn her again, and by launching her first one way, then the other, send the water rushing over either end, until very little is remaining in her, when they tumble themselves in, and bale out the remainder with their feet, kicking away until she is quite dry; and this occupies very little time. The canoe was painted white, a dark spot being more easily distinguished on water at night than an object which is white, except in the wake of the moon. They soon found a creek, and the boats hauled in, and secured themselves till daylight. All night long the river seemed alive with canoes passing down, the meaning of which was a mystery.

At daylight, look-outs were established on little eminences, in the neighbourhood of the creek, where they could see without being seen. Boughs were cut, and distributed to form a screen for the boats, and every precaution taken to prevent discovery, such as not spreading the awning, lest its glare should betray; cooking only by dusk, that the smoke should not be seen, and keeping the men within bounds, and forbidding the use of fire-arms. However, amusements were not wanting; there was bathing, the number of bathers being a security against attack from alligators, who, themselves frightened, were too glad to get out of the way.

Gymnastics of every description, even the Kroo canoe afforded its mite towards the general hilarity, by turning turtle with the awkward aspirants for paddling fame. Among others, Wea was induced to try his luck, and despite the ducking each attempt led to, the raillery of the spectators urged him again and again to essay the management of

this ricketty and slippery contrivance, till, like a half-drowned rat, he was forced to acknowledge it was more than he could master. It had, however, one good result, it convinced the lookers-on that neither courage nor perseverance were wanting, however effeminate his outward appearance, and pluck in the estimation of sailors covers a multitude of sins. They succeeded with tomahawks and boarding-pikes in getting a supply of yams from the adjoining swamps, also in taking a few fish, which were cooked for the officers, it being an invariable act of courtesy, when there is only a small quantity of anything, for the officers to have the option of using or refusing such. On the evening of the third day, Rush was again dispatched with two Kroomen in the canoe, armed with a musket, and wrapped in his blanket frock and trowsers; silently they sped over the flood and eddies till they approached the schooner, lying on the broad bosom of the stream like a sleeping infant on the breast of its mother. Noiselessly they glided round her; just then one large canoe left her side, and went paddling to the shore. To return without some definite information would be pleasing to neither Row nor Rush, consequently the canoe was urged under the slaver's stern; as they drew near, voices could be heard in the cabin; the canoe was now cheek by jowl with the rudder. Rush stood up and could with upstretched hands just reach the sills of the cabin window; telling the men to keep the canoe steady, he raised himself by his hands till he could see into the cabin. There sat the Captain and his first and second officers, with pistols before them; also several natives, the most conspicuous of which wore a cocked hat, a marine officer's dingy dress coat and epaulettes, a cavalry sword, and a white shirt, which reached half-way to his knees, his legs and feet were bare. This was evidently the redoubtable King Jacket, and the other natives, his court; some had striped shirts on, some only a waistcoat, but none wore trowsers. They were full of importance, and by the earnestness of their conversation, it was evident they were concluding a bargain. Quietly Rush lowered himself again into the canoe and hastened to rejoin the boats. Το say that this little manoeuvre caused no nervous sensation, would be tasking credulity; can it be supposed any mortal, under such circumstances, could be as internally calm as he would have been in his hammock? Although his outward man gave no evidence of anything particular, although his breathing was silent, his heart was not; the palpitations might have been heard by any one at his elbow, and the pulsation did not recover its natural action until he had nearly reached the creek where the boats lay. The canoe had been more than two hours away, and Row was getting anxious at her long absence, running over in his mind the various accidents which might have befallen her; every moment increased his anxiety, and he was about hauling out to go in quest of her, when the little wanderer shot under the boughs which screened the entrance, and ranged up alongside.

In few words Rush related all the delay was occasioned by the difficulty of finding the creek, having passed and re-passed several times without discovering it. From what Rush had communicated, it was concluded the slaves would be embarked about midnight, and consequently Row determined to pay his old acquaintance another visit. The boats were not long preparing; but, for some unexplained reason, How was ordered to remain in the creek until two muskets were fired

to join

in quick succession, and then he was to make the best of his way the pinnace. Whether it would be possible to discover such signal at the distance the schooner was off, or whether Row only wished to gain a start, to insure his own arrival alongside first, is hard to say; but, with her oars muffled, the pinnace pushed out, leaving the cutter behind. How long they had been pulling it is not said, but evidently How and the cutter were forgotten, until a light, which they had been a few minutes steering for, was intercepted by a dark body, which proved to be the schooner.

They were now too close to think of the promised signal, so Row gave the word, "Give way alongside, and five dollars for the first man who boards." The boat sheered under the fore-chains; the promised reward had done more to create confusion than an 18-pound shot would have accomplished; instead of the oars being tossed, and laid in properly, they were jerked in any how; the bow-man, instead of holding on with the boat-hook until the boat was made fast, satisfied with holding till she was fairly alongside, let go his staff, and scrambled into the schooner's chains: the efforts of the others to get up the side pushed the boat off, and the current hurried her astern. Row was at no time famed for command of temper, now he was perfectly outrageous; by the time the oars were out, and the boat under control, she had dropped so far astern that it was a full quarter of an hour before she again got alongside. The boat-hook was still hanging to the chainplates, and by its side was the unfortunate bow-man, nearly exhausted, holding on, endeavouring to hide himself from the slaver's people, who were assembled on the deck in apparently the utmost consternation. On boarding, many of the English swore they could smell the Niggers. The hold was, however, ransacked, hoops knocked off from empty casks, to no purpose-no Niggers could be found. The slave-deck was laid, the platform was rigged over the side, even the tubs, which are only used in slave ships, were on deck; still, as there were no Africans on board, it would be useless seizing her; she would not be condemned, and an action for damages might be brought and sustained against the captors. This was the more mortifying, as the time which elapsed from the first alarm to the actual boarding was sufficient to have enabled the Spaniards to send them on shore, if there were any on board at the time, or provide them a more permanent home.

It now occurred to Row the signal for the cutter had not yet been given; he therefore ordered the two muskets to be fired, and shortly after told his men to discharge their pieces. This was fine fun; for, in the absence of a bona fide fight, a sham one was the next best thing, and they kept it up, loading and firing, till Row, suspecting this, stopped the firing, and threatened to stop their grog. Once more they left the astonished Spaniard to his reflections, and re-entering the boat, pushed off, and anchored about a hundred yards from her, to wait the arrival of How. Row wrapped himself in his boat-cloak, and telling Rush to keep a good look-out, fell into a sound sleep.

More than an hour elapsed from the signal being made for the cutter before any sound reached the ears of the anxious listeners, when they fancied they heard voices down the stream, but not in the direction How was expected to arrive from; a blue-light was burned to shew them were to steer. For more than half-an-hour after nothing was heard, U. S. MAG., No. 223, JUNE, 1847.

when suddenly voices in a high state of excitement broke the stillness. Still nothing could be made out; another blue light was burned, and the look-out hailed, but no answer was returned. Again all was silent, and hour after hour passed, no sound, save the breathing of the boat's crew, and the rippling of the tide, as it rushed past the boat, broke the stillness of the night.

The approach of day was heralded by that peculiar light which is immediately followed by darkness, and acts as an usher to sunrise. Gradually the darkened gloom gained the ascendancy. Rush, who was sitting on the gunwale of the boat, wondering at the strange delay of the cutter, suddenly started, for the sound of oars fell on his ear, and the regular and steady stroke of a man-of-war's boat convinced him the cutter was approaching; still his hails were unanswered, and his efforts to awaken Row were ineffectual. The sounds grew plainer as the day dawned, and a dark spot could be seen, which gradually assumed the form of a boat, and now in reply to "Is that the cutter?" a faint "Yes!" was heard. Looking through the glass it seemed there was but one sitter; whether that were How or Wea could not be ascertained, for he was wrapped in a large boat-cloak. Hailing them to ask questions was no use no answer was returned; and but for the rattling of the oars in the rollocks, she might have been mistaken for a spectre-boat. As it was, some of the pinnace's crew felt a little queer, which the greyness and chilliness of the morning tended to increase, and tales of the Flying Dutchman, Phantom Ships, and other supernatural visitations were recalled to memory with an effort to call them stuff; but at the same time an acknowledgement that there might be more things in heaven and earth than are generally admitted by philosophy. Slowly she drew near, and a line thrown to her, enabled her to lay her oars in, and haul up alongside.

"Who is that?" asked Rush.

"Where is Mr. Row?" inquired Wea.

"Good Heaven, where is How?" responded Rush, at the same time violently shaking Row.

The story was soon told. How, wondering at the lapse of time before the promised signal, had moved out and dropped down with the tide, forgetting he would have to cross the stream to reach the schooner; when the signal was given, he had drifted so low down, that he had to stem it. This, from the strength of the tide, he was unable to do, and make way across, and just after, the discharge of the fire-arms led him to believe a fierce engagement was taking place. He urged the men to exertion, he begged, he swore at them, called them cowards, and growing desperate at their ineffectual efforts, which he ascribed to want of will, unshipped the tiller, and struck one of them. In an instant the man grasped his throat, and swore he would heave him overboard. How's dirk was hanging in beckets in the stern-sheets, ready to his hand; snatching it from the sheath, he buried in in the sailor's heart, who fell at his feet a lifeless corpse. No drop of blood flowed from the wound, not a sigh escaped the unfortunate victim, but in an instant, like a thought, he passed into eternity. For awhile How remained stupefied, the men too were paralysed, and ceasing to pull, the boat drifted at the mercy of the tide.

How sat, with the dirk in his hand, staring at the corpse, scarcely