“A miss is as good as a mile,” cried Paddy, as he seized one of the oars; but they were not altogether out of the fire. Many of the people collected on the shore had muskets, and began blazing away at them, several of the shots striking the boat, and others coming uncomfortably near; this only made them pull the faster, however. While some of the slave-dealers’ people were firing, others ran along the bank, and launching several canoes, paddled off in pursuit. This was much worse than their shooting. The British boat, alight gig, pulled well, but the canoes would probably paddle faster. Nothing daunted, however, Jack and Murray set to work to reload all the muskets and pistols, to make as good a fight of it as they could, should they be overtaken. They could count the canoes as they appeared darting out from among the bushes on the banks—one, two, three, four, five, six, came out one after the other. There seemed now less chance than ever of escaping. The blacks’ canoes were evidently gaining on them. It was a long way down to the spot where Hemming had said he would await their return. Before they could reach it the blacks must have overtaken them, unless Jack and Murray could manage to pick off some of their chief men, and so perhaps frighten them back. The canoes had got well within range of their muskets; the sooner, therefore, they began to fire, the better chance they would have of stopping their pursuers. Old Brown Bess, however, was never celebrated for carrying straight, and neither Jack nor Alick did much execution.
The English boat pulled on, the canoes following. A long reach was before them. Surely and steadily the canoes were gaining on the boat. The greater portion of the distance to the end of the reach was got over, and now in another five minutes, perhaps less, the canoes would be up with her. “While there is life there is hope;” so thought Jack and his companions, and so they continued making every effort to escape. The voices of the negroes chattering away in the headmost canoe sounded very loud. Jack and Murray had ceased firing—for the best of reasons—they had come to the end of their ammunition. Perhaps it was fortunate; they could have done no good, and would only the more have enraged the negroes. The latter also had not fired for sometime, probably on the same account.
“You two in the bows, Johnson and Jones, keep pulling,” said Jack, “while all the rest lay about them to drive off the blacks. We are not going to be beat by a parcel of pirates and niggers.”
The men cheered at Jack’s address, and, grasping their cutlasses, stood ready to obey his directions. Now came the tug-of-war. The other canoes got up and crowded round them, but again the undaunted seamen cheered, and firing their pistols right and left among the pirates, laid about them most lustily with their well-sharpened cutlasses. As they cheered, what was their surprise to hear their cheers answered, and at the same moment five dark objects on the water were seen coming round the next point. Murray exclaimed that they were men-of-war boats. They must have made out that their presence was much needed. On they dashed towards the canoes. The pirates saw them coming, and dared not stand their onslaught. Before they turned to fly, they made a desperate attempt to capsize the boat, and to carry off some of the English as prisoners. They very nearly got hold of Paddy, whom, in spite of his costume and colour, they had discovered not to be a negro; but Jack and Alick hauled him back, with the loss only of part of his shirt. Poor Wasser was in the same manner saved by Needham; had they got him they would, to a certainty, have killed him. The other boats, now dashing on, put them to flight, and off they went at a great rate up the stream. Hemming himself had come to their rescue. He had felt some misgivings about them, and had returned, intending, if he did not meet them, to land and threaten to ravage the black king’s whole territory with fire and sword if they were not given up. Jack was received with warm congratulation by his friends; but there was not much time for compliments, as Hemming instantly went off in pursuit of the canoes. The canoes paddled fast, but the men-of-war boats pulled just then faster, and the negroes and their Spanish allies, finding escape problematical, ran the canoes in on the bank, and, leaping on shore, left them to their fate. As they were undoubtedly employed to assist, directly or indirectly, the nefarious slave trade, Hemming set fire to them all with the exception of one, which he carried off as a trophy. As it was important to get on board as soon as possible, Hemming pulled at once back to the place where the rest of the boats, with the prisoners and liberated slaves, had been left. They were all safe, and by noon the next day the expedition returned once more to the ship. Sad indeed was the loss they had to report—so many fine fellows cut down in a nameless fight with a band of rascally pirates. But such has been the fate of numbers of gallant seamen, especially on that coast of Africa; and surely when it is remembered that they expended their lives in the noblest cause for which men can fight—the cause of true humanity, to set the captive free, and to put a stop to barbarous wars carried on for capturing slaves, to introduce commerce and civilisation among the long-neglected children of Ham—their names deserve to be as much honoured and to live as long in the recollection of their countrymen, as those who fell in the day of victory at Trafalgar’s glorious fight. The captives not only exonerated Hemming of all blame, but assured him that they believed he had done all that a man could do under the circumstances of the case. Everybody on board both ships welcomed Jack, and poor Wasser was highly delighted with the way he was received and praised for the assistance he had afforded in rescuing him from the slave-dealers; nor did Murray and Adair fail to get their meed of applause.
“I am much obliged to you for all what you have to say,” answered Paddy, laughing, “but I wish some of you would tell me how to wash a blackamoor white; I have heard that it was a difficult operation. The burnt cork would have come off by itself, but Dick Needham rubbed in the oil and grease so hard that soap and water won’t do it.”
Dr McCan, when applied to, looked rather grave, and, after he had heard the circumstances of the case, delivered a long lecture to prove that black powder rubbed in in that way, in such a climate, when the pores were open, would take root and become ineradicable.
“What! must I remain a nigger all my life?” exclaimed Paddy in a doleful voice.
The doctor shook his head, and looked more and more serious. “It is a painful duty I often have to perform, to give disagreeable intelligence,” he answered. “But, Adair, my dear fellow, there is one piece of consolation I can afford you; it is not at all likely, if you marry, that your children will be black.”
“But what nice girl would like to become the wife of a blackamoor!” cried Paddy, not knowing exactly whether Dr McCan was serious or not.
“Oh, you can explain, you know, that it is only a somewhat wholesale system of tattooing you have undergone!” answered the doctor. “Really it will be only prejudice if you are objected to on that account; besides, as it will be some years before you ought to think of matrimony, you will have time to rub it down a little first.”
“Yes, but my family!” put in poor Terence. “I don’t think they hold me very high at present, and they will discard me altogether when they see me come home with a black skin.”
“Then, young gentleman, depend on it, you will get on much better without their assistance,” said Doctor McCan. “However, don’t be downhearted; I will do all I can for you, and perhaps, by a continued system of excoriating, phlebotomising, and puncturing, we may in time restore the outer pellicle to somewhat of its natural hue.”
Terence saw a twinkle in the doctor’s eye which made him suspect a quiz, and the laughter of Jack, Alick, and some of his other messmates who stood round confirmed this suspicion. At first he felt that he ought to be very indignant, but his good humour seldom kept away many seconds together, and he quickly joined in the laugh against himself. He then accompanied Alick into the hospital, where, in a tub with some hot water and soap, and some alkali the doctor gave them, they very soon got washed white, and returned on deck as spruce-looking midshipmen as they usually appeared. Theirs and Jack’s great regret was, that as Alick had to go back to the brig and they must join the frigate, they would again be separated. Rogers and Adair were once more on board the Ranger with Lieutenant Hemming and Needham, and the rest of the people who had escaped the various dangers to which they had been exposed since they quitted her. Captain Lascelles was of opinion that it would be necessary to inflict a severe punishment on the slave-dealing king and his white allies, and accordingly resolved to send another expedition up the river without delay, to burn his town and any other barracoons which might be in the neighbourhood; or to induce him to break off all intercourse with the Spanish slave-dealers. The Commodore was able to carry out his object even sooner than he expected, by the arrival of two other brigs, the Rambler and the Tattler. Jack and Terence were very much disappointed when they found that they were not to go. To their earnest request to be allowed to volunteer, Captain Lascelles replied, “I admire your spirit, my lads, but as you are not made of iron, and I cannot afford to expend my midshipmen, others must take their share of the work. You are both of you already as thin as threadpapers.”
Certainly by this time they had become very brown and wiry, and bore but a slight resemblance to the rosy jolly-looking midshipmen they were when they left England. Hemming, however, again went in command, and Wasser begged that he might accompany him as interpreter. With somewhat of an envious feeling the midshipmen saw a considerable flotilla of boats cross the bar and pull up the river.
“Ah, now you youngsters think yourselves very ill-used, because the captain won’t give you another chance of catching the coast fever, or getting knocked on the head by some of those villainous pirates!” observed Dr McCan, coming up to where they were standing gazing towards the shore. “Take my advice, just be thankful that your bodies are covered with whole skins, and wait till our friends come back before you expend any envy on them.”
The day passed away, and so did the greater part of the next, and still the boats did not reappear. Captain Lascelles became somewhat anxious. Hour after hour went by. “There they come, there they come!” was shouted by several who were on the look-out on deck. Not only were all the boats seen, but several large canoes were in their company. In one of the latter, as they drew near, Jack recognised his friend, the negro king, seated in the stern and dressed in the same magnificent uniform in which he had appeared in his own palace. He seemed perfectly happy, and was smoking a pipe with true regal dignity. The side was manned to receive him, and with a grand air he stepped on deck, making a profound bow and a wide flourish with his cocked-hat. Captain Lascelles, on this, went forward to meet him, and, ordering up some cushions from the cabin, begged him to be seated and to continue smoking his pipe, while he ascertained from Hemming the particulars of the expedition. The expedition had proceeded up the greater part of the way towards the fort without meeting anyone. When near it a canoe appeared approaching them. In it were the stout pilot, Jack’s friend, and three other blacks rigged out in what they considered full fig. They came, they said, as ambassadors from the king. He wished to inform the English that Don Diego and the rest of the Spanish slave-dealers had gone away overland, to the south—he could not tell where—and that as he wished to be friends with everybody, he hoped that no further harm might be done his country. Hemming replied that he was very glad to hear this, but that profession was not practice, and that he must have stronger proofs of his sincerity. The pilot said the king hoped all the English would visit his capital. Hemming answered, that half would go and half would stay to look after the boats. Whether treachery was intended or not, the idea was, it appeared, abandoned, and Hemming, with thirty of his men well-armed, proceeded up the hill to the king’s capital. They found it to be a tolerably strong place, and though they might have taken it by storm, not, perhaps, without difficulty and loss. The king received them very courteously, and seemed to be really a sensible fellow, perfectly alive to his own interests. During a long palaver Hemming explained to him that if he persisted in carrying on the slave trade, the English would destroy his barracoons and injure and annoy him in every possible way; but that if he abandoned it, and refused to have anything to do with slave-dealers, but would engage in commerce, encourage agriculture, well treat his people, and act like an honest man, they would assist and encourage him in every possible way; that the Queen of England would be friends with him, call him her well-beloved brother, and send him presents of far greater value than any he got from the Spaniards. So eloquently, indeed, did Hemming put the case before him, that his negro majesty expressed his eagerness to come off to the good queen’s big ship and ratify the treaty, which he desired might forthwith be drawn up. Captain Lascelles lost no time in clenching the matter. All sorts of presents were bestowed on the black sovereign; a gun, some crockery, a pair of boots, a tooth comb, a pair of epaulets, and half a dozen gaily coloured pocket handkerchiefs, the pilot and the other chiefs coming in for a share of the good things, the captain hinting that this was only a forestalment of what they might expect if they behaved well. Highly pleased with all that had occurred, under a salute of eleven guns from the frigate, and more than half seas over, the negro potentate and his great ministers of the realm, and other followers, betook themselves to the shore.
“They are slippery as their own skins,” observed the Commodore; “we must have a sharp look on them, to keep them to their engagements.”
The Ranger had captured several slavers, and sent them away to Sierra Leone for adjudication, and had driven many more off from the rivers into which they were bound to take in their cargoes, when, being under easy sail, about six miles off the coast, a large schooner was seen inshore of them. Though all sail was made in chase, as the schooner increased her distance, Captain Lascelles ordered two boats to be manned in order to pursue her. To their great delight Jack got command of one, the cutter with eight men, and Adair of the other, a gig with six, many of the other officers being away in prizes. Their chief object was to come up with her before the setting in of the sea breeze. Both boats, however, pulled badly, being soddened from having been so constantly in the water, besides which they leaked not a little. However, Jack and Paddy had learned that perseverance conquers all difficulties. Hot as usual was the sun.
