Part 7 (2/2)
”Aye,” he replied; ”but I' ti that period of the story!”
”Never ot so far, I'ht, then,” he replied; but, before proceeding, he had to load up a fresh pipe, and while perfor little operation he informed me, _en passant_, that the _Dolphin_ he afterwards heard had succeeded in capturing the second dhow, and her first prize the _Fatima_ had safely reached Zanzibar; and, consequently, that his prize- to hi subsequently paid over to him when he rejoined his shi+p so since,” as he said
These littlethus disposed of, Ben continued his narrative as follows
VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER THREE
IN THE MOZAMBIQUE CHANNEL
”Where was I, sir?”
”You had just been turned adrift from the shi+p, I think,” said I, ”and left to cruise on your own account--wasn't that so?”
”Ah! yes, I reot well away fro us poor chaps to our own resources, we in the pinnace, noell under her canvas, were sailing along on a course alles to that taken by our old shi+p, which so sort of left behind, you know; but, we could not help watching her with longing eyes as she sped away northward under full steaoing fourteen knots at the least!
”It was a lovelythat there--the loveliest I ever saw on the African coast; for there was nosou'-westerly breeze that was blowing right offshore fro sun, which only those who have been on the coast can have an idea of as to how intense it can be, while the pinnace wasbefore the _Dolphin_ was hull down on the horizon, the white glea soon after But, for a long ti that, we could still see the smoke from her funnel spread out in the shape of a fan to leeward, where it was blown by the folloind right across the sky and was clearly apparent in the clear blue air above as well as reflected in the sea below Then, too, that disappeared at length, and ere left alone in our little boat on the waste of waters!
”I tell you we did feel a bit melancholy and down in the dumps then, especially as all hands knew the errand on which the old shi+p had gone and felt that ere out of the fun! However, I did not give theunder the directions given me by the skipper, I steered the pinnace towards the coast to ard of the Co after dark to creep up under the lee of Saint Juan, where I'd been told the dhows mostly made for when the coast was clear; and, ith tri taut the sheets, as well as stationing a special look-out in the bows and one in the stern behind ed to turn the h so new to boat cruising and not relishi+ng the work
”Of course, I knehat a responsible position I was--almost like that of the captain of a shi+p; for, I could order theI pleased, and if they disobeyed ht to attack and capture any native vessels I suspected of having slaves on board--so, soon after noon, when I piped all hands to dinner, I rub had been stoay co out that their circumstances were considerably better than they themselves appeared to think In course, I said, our shi+pe of us in starting off on another chase, with perhaps the chance of a second scriether on the previous evening; but then, I says, ere doing was equally for the good of the service; and, besides, as soon as the steamer had overhauled the slaver she was after she would have to go back to that beastly Zanzibar in the thick of fever tiot rid of the slaves from the captured dhohile, on the contrary, ould be down here cruising about on the free open sea and enjoying ourselves!
”We lost nothing by re there, I said If our old shi+p took the slaver she was now chasing, ould share in the prize-money just the sa the risk of any hard knocks or having soht into us; and if she didn't succeed in hunting down the dhohich was ot, why, then ould be well out of a wild-goose chase
”In addition to such arguments,” continued Ben, who sometimes spoke with a purity of diction that is st seaood old days” of our ancestors before education was ht not pick up a slave-dhon there on our own hook quite as good as the other one we could not go after; and if not, well, at all events ould have an easier time of it than if we had been kept on board the shi+p! There, as they knew, the skipper took jolly good care to serve us out full purser's allowance of drill if there was nothing else stirring; for it was beating to quarters, or s all such fancy tricks with us when he had no better work to keep us employed with betatches I can tell you, I never saw such a hand as Cap'en Wilson for that He used to say that the devil always found so this reminded me of the old poetry lines I once heard a Yankee sailor call the 'Philadelphia Catechism'--
”'Six days shalt thou labour and do all thou art able, And on the seventh,--holystone the decks and scrape the cable!'
”These words of mine had such an effect on the rew quite cheerful like, chatting and laughing together as they lolled about on the thwarts under the boat awnings that were spread fore and aft I allowed the charge of the sheets of the sails and those on the look- out, as I don't think discipline is preserved any the better by keeping fellows continually on the stretch when there's nothing particular to do,their hearts out
”Presently, the look-out forward said he thought he saw the white sail of a dhow close in to the island ere beating to ard of; and of course every one iranted that she's a contraband carrying slaves”
”I suppose you didn't undeceive thelad of the chance It banished at once all thoughts of the old _Dolphin_ out of their heads better than all my palaver, for all hands were so anxious to coe craft that they the to the oars, which I certainly wouldn't have ordered their doing in the terrible afternoon heat, as, while ere having our dinner, the wind had been gradually dying until it was now alainst theswell that you always meet with out there when the sun is at the ht you expected a tornado in the early ested
”Ah! never you mind about that,” said Ben ”We haven't yet done with the east-coast weather, as you'll see presently Howso,” he continued, ”I told the out the oars They didn't lose any tiave the order it was all haul down and furl up; and, getting a good grip of the water, they started pulling like h the day was so hot and sweltry that a fellow see still in the stern-sheets of the boat, as I ithout hted by the look-out foras a s along-shore, her light sails and the wider spread of canvas which her lateen rig perhtest puff of air; while our heavy pinnace, with her small-cut sails hardly raised above the surface of the sea, so as to get the full force of the wind, required a strong breeze to h then she had pretty fair speed
”Now that the an to approach the stranger more rapidly; but she was over fivesun is no joke, I can assure you Stroke after stroke, our plucky seaain and then again to lose distance as a whiff of air would waft the dhow along; so that, it was not until nearly sunset that we got within gunshot, and could hail her to see what she was up to
”'Now, Adams,' said I to the un we had fixed there, 'I think we entleman to have a little chat Fire away, my man, and make her come to'
”All was ready, so withoutacross the prow of the Arab craft, which had by this tiascar, that lay east and by south some three hundredin that direction, hatever wind there was on her beam, and she paid no attention to us at all apparently