Captain Canot; Or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver
offer the desired opportunity. His mate was an inexperienced seaman;
his officers were unacquainted with the management of a slave cargo;
and, upon a view of the whole field of interests, I thought it best to
take charge of the schooner and pay a visit to my friends in Cuba. In
the mean time, however, a Danish brig arrived for negroes, so that it
became necessary for me, with my multiplied duties, to bestir myself
in the collection of slaves.
Whilst I was dining one afternoon at Ormond's factory with the Danish
captain of the trader, the boom of a gun, followed rapidly by two or
three more, announced the arrival of another craft. We drank a toast
to his advent, and were beginning to condole a little over our
difficulty in procuring blacks, when the look-out ran into our room
with the report that my Spaniard was firing into the Dane. We rushed
to the piazza whence the scene of action might be beheld, and another
shot from my vessel seemed to indicate that she was the aggressor. The
Dane and myself hurried aboard our respective schooners, but when I
reached the Esperanza, my crew were weighing anchor, while the
quarter-deck was strewn with fire-arms. The mate stood on the heel of
the bowsprit, urging his men to alacrity; the sailors hove at the
windlass with mingled shouts of passion and oaths of revenge; on a
mattress lay the bleeding form of my second officer, while a seaman
groaned beside him with a musket ball in his shoulder.
My arrival was the signal for a pause. As quickly as possible, I
inquired into the affray, which had originated like many a sailor's
dispute, on a question of precedence at the watering place in a
neighboring brook. The Danes were seven, and we but three. Our
Spaniards had been driven off, and my second mate, in charge of the
yawl, received a _trenchant_ blow from an oar-blade, which cut his
skull and felled him senseless on the sand.
Of course, "the watering" was over for the day, and both boats
returned to their vessels to tell their stories. The moment the Danes
got on board, they imprudently ran up their ensign; and, as this act
of apparent defiance occurred just as the Esperanza was receiving the
lifeless form of her officer, my excited crew discharged a broadside
in reply to the warlike token. Gun followed gun, and musketry rattled
against musketry. The Dane miscalculated the range of the guns, and
his grape fell short of my schooner, while our snarling sixes made sad
havoc with his bulwarks and rigging.
I had hardly learned the facts of the case and thought of a truce,
when the passionate Northman sent a round-shot whistling over my head.
Another and another followed in its wake, but they aimed too high for
damage. At twenty-four our blood is not so diplomatically pacific as
in later years, and this second aggression rekindled the lava in my
Italian veins. There was no longer question of a white flag or a
parley. In a twinkling, I slipped my cable and ran up the jib and
mainsail, so as to swing the schooner into a raking position at short
quarters; and before the Dane could counteract my manoeuvre, I gave
him a dose of grape and cannister which tore his ensign to ribbons and
spoiled the looks of his hull materially. My second shot splintered
the edge of his mast; but while I was making ready for a third, to
tickle him betwixt wind and water, down tumbled his impertinent
pendant and the day was won.
For a while there was a dead silence between the warriors. Neither
hailed nor sent a boat on board of the other. Ormond perceived this
cessation of hostilities from his piazza at Bangalang, and coming out
in a canoe, rowed to the Dane after hearing my version of the battle.
I waited anxiously either for his return or a message, but as I was
unadvised of the Mongo's views and temper in regard to the affray, I
thought it well, before dark, to avoid treachery by quitting the river
and placing my schooner in a creek with her broadside to the shore.
Special charge was then given to the mate and men to be alert all
night long; after which, I went on shore to protect the rear by
placing my factory in a state of defence.
But my precautions were needless. At daylight the guard brought us
news of the Dane's departure, and when I descended the river to
Bangalang, Ormond alleged that the slaver had sailed for Sierra Leone
to seek succor either from a man-of-war or the British government.
It may be supposed that I was not so "green" in Africa as to believe
this story. No vessel, equipped for a slave cargo, would dare to enter
the imperial colony. Yet the Northman had bitter cause for grief and
anger. His vessel was seriously harmed by my grape-shot; his carpenter
was slain during the action; and three of his seaman were lingering
with desperate wounds. In a few days, however, he returned to the Rio
Pongo from his airing on the Atlantic, where his wrath had probably
been somewhat cooled by the sea-breeze. His craft was anchored higher
up the river than my Spaniard, and thus our crews avoided intercourse
for the future.
But this was not the case with the captains. The Mongo's table was a
sort of neutral ground, at which we met with cold salutations but
without conversation. Ormond and the Dane, however, became exceedingly
intimate. Indeed, the mulatto appeared to exhibit a degree of
friendship for the Margaritan I had never seen him bestow on any one
else. This singularity, together with his well-known insincerity, put
me on my guard to watch his proceedings with increased caution.
Personal observation is always a safe means of self-assurance; yet I
have sometimes found it to be "a way of the world,"--not to be
altogether scorned or disregarded,--to _purchase_ the good will of
"confidential" persons. Accordingly, I made it "worth the while" of
Ormond's body-servant to sift the secret of this sudden devotion; and
in a few days the faithless slave, who spoke English remarkably well,
told me that the Dane, by dint of extra pay and the secret delivery of
all his spare provisions and the balance of his cargo, had induced the
Mongo to promise the delivery of his slaves before mine.
Now, Ormond, by a specific contract,--made and paid for before the
Dane's arrival,--owed me two hundred negroes on account of the
Esperanza's cargo. The Dane knew this perfectly, but my severe
chastisement rankled in his heart, and made him seek revenge in the
most effectual way on the coast of Africa. He was bent upon depriving
me of one hundred negroes, in the hands of Mr. Ormond.
I said nothing of my discovery, nor did I make any remarks on the
astonishing love that existed between these Siamese twins; still, I
kept my eye on Ormond's _barracoon_ until I found his stock had
gradually augmented to three hundred. Thereupon, I dropped in one
morning unceremoniously, and, in a gentle voice, told him of his
treacherous design. My ancient patron was so degraded by debauchery,
that he not only avoided a passionate outburst when I made the charge,
but actually seemed to regard it as a sort of capital joke, or
recompense for the damage I had inflicted on the Dane! We did not
dream of arguing the propriety or impropriety of his conduct; nor did
I think of upbraiding him with baseness, as I would have done any one
who had dipped only his finger-tips in fraud. Still, ever and anon, I
saw a glimmer of former spirit in the wretch, and thought I would
attempt a counter-mine of interest, which Ormond might probably
understand and grasp. I resolved, in fact, to _outbid_ the Dane, for I
thought I possessed a card that could take him. Accordingly, I offered
to surrender a bond for one hundred slaves he owed me on account of
the Esperanza; I promised, moreover, one hundred and fifty negroes, to
be delivered that evening,--and I tendered _Brulot's promissory note
for the missing two hundred darkies_,--if he would pledge himself _to
load the Dane during the succeeding night_!
Ormond took the hint like tinder, and grasped my hand on the bargain.
The Dane was ordered to prepare his vessel to receive cargo without
delay, and was specially desired _to drop down about fifteen miles
towards the bar, so as to be off the moment his slaves were under
hatches_!
For the next six hours there was not a busier bee on the Rio Pongo
than Don Teodore. My schooner was put in ship-shape for cargo. The
mate was ordered to have his small arms and cutlasses in perfect
condition. Our pivot gun was double-loaded with chain-shot. My factory
was set in order, and written directions given the clerk in
anticipation of a four months' absence. Ali-Ninpha was put in charge
of the territorial domain, while my Spaniard was intrusted with the
merchandise.
It was encouraging to see, in the course of the afternoon, that my
northern rival had swallowed the bait, for he borrowed a kedge to aid
him, as he said, in descending the river against the tide, in order to
"_get a better berth_." He found the trees and air uncomfortable
sixteen miles from the bar, and wanted to approach it to be "nearer
the sea-breeze!" The adroitness of his excuse made me laugh in my
sleeve, as the clumsy trickster shot past me with his sails unbent.
Well,--night came on, with as much darkness as ever robes the star-lit
skies of Africa when the moon is obscured. My long boat was quickly
filled with ten men, armed with pistol and cutlass; and in a short
time, the canoes from Bangalang hove in sight with their sable burden.
I boarded the first one myself, commanding the rowers to pull for my
Spaniard. The second was seized by the mate, who followed in my wake.
The third, fourth, fifth and sixth, shared the same fate in rapid
succession; so that, in an hour, three hundred and seventy-five
negroes were, safe beneath the Esperanza's deck. Thereupon, I
presented the head-man of each canoe a document acknowledging the
receipt of his slaves, _and wrote an order on the Mongo in favor of
the Dane, for the full amount of the darkies I had borrowed_!
The land wind sprang up and the tide turned when daylight warned me it
was time to be off; and, as I passed the Dane snugly at anchor just
inside the bar, I called all hands to give three cheers, and to wish
him happiness in the "enjoyment of his sea-breeze."
CHAPTER XXIX.
When the land-breeze died away, it fell entirely calm, and the sea
continued an unruffled mirror for three days, during which the
highlands remained in sight, like a faint cloud in the east. The
glaring sky and the reflecting ocean acted and reacted on each other
until the air glowed like a furnace. During night a dense fog
enveloped the vessel with its clammy folds. When the vapor lifted on
the fourth morning, our look-out announced a sail from the mast-head,
and every eye was quickly sweeping the landward horizon in search of
the stranger. Our spies along the beach had reported the coast clear
of cruisers when I sailed, so that I hardly anticipated danger from
men-of-war; nevertheless, we held it discreet to avoid intercourse,
and accordingly, our double-manned sweeps were rigged out to impel us
slowly towards the open ocean. Presently, the mate went aloft with his
glass, and, after a deliberate gaze, exclaimed: "It is only the
Dane,--I see his flag." At this my crew swore they would sooner fight
than sweep in such a latitude; and, with three cheers, came aft to
request that I would remain quietly where I was until the Northman
overhauled us.
We made so little headway with oars that I thought the difference
trifling, whether we pulled or were becalmed. Perhaps, it might be
better to keep the hands fresh, if a conflict proved inevitable. I
passed quickly among the men, with separate inquiries as to their
readiness for battle, and found all--from the boy to the
mate--anxious, at every hazard, to do their duty. Our breakfast was as