"Oh, neither. She is a negress, black as the blackest satin, but with a skin as smooth and soft—a Venus carved in jet."
"From a thousand to two thousand dollars, perhaps, as she is a negress but if she were a mulatress she would bring more, or if a quadroon most of all—other things being equal."
"And how much would a stout, healthy, strong-minded woman of fifty bring?"
"That depends upon other circumstances, senor. If, together with her health and intelligence, she should be a good housekeeper and nurse, as women of her age are apt to be, why, then she might bring from nine to twelve hundred dollars."
"Well, Costo, I have three such negroes as I have just described to dispose of."
"Yes, senor? But you are English and this is England!" exclaimed the buccaneer in amazement.
"Scotch—and Scotland. But, no matter—it amounts to the same thing.
Will you buy my negroes at a bargain?"
"Pardon, senor, but I do not understand. I thought there was no buying and selling of slaves in England."
"Of course there is not. And there is no free trade in England. Both negro-trading and smuggling are illegal. Yet, as you manage to drive a pretty profitable business in the latter, you might speculate a little in the former. Eh?"
"But, pardon, senor. I am not in the slave-trade."