"'But are you sure there are no more of the English villains on shore, captain?'
"'Quite certain—not one;—so approach, will ye, and take us off?'—But they still hung in the wind, until my protector, losing temper, sung out, with a ferocity in his tone and manner that made me start, 'You cowardly hounds—you beasts—what do you fear? You see the coast is clear—that there is no one near us. One cuchilado [blow with a knife], and the boy is dead at my feet.' Still they seemed irresolute, and, finding it bad policy to threaten men he could not reach, he tried the other tack, and turned to the man beside us. 'Speak, Pedro, and tell them I say true.'
"The man, who had as much reason to dread being left alone on the shore as we had, instantly did so, and with better success, for presently they took us on board, when with our aid the canoe was safely paddled across, and subsequently up the river; so that, by the time the night fell, we were again at the ruins of the house that had been burned in the attack, and abreast of the polacre brig, lying sunk where we had left her.
"I shall remember until my dying day the fierce looks of the survivors of the polacre's crew, whom we found employed in getting up a temporary roof of palm branches over a corner of the ruined building, when they saw me, and learned who I was. I began to think that it was by no means certain that the person who had promised me protection would be able to keep his word.
"As the night fell, a large fire was lit in the centre of the open space where the fetish temple stood, soon after which several negroes and three white Spaniards joined us. I soon gathered from their conversation that they belonged to a large slaver that lay farther up, and having heard the firing on the previous day, they had descended as scouts to ascertain the cause; but seeing the polacre sunk in the stream, and the conflagration on the opposite bank to where they were, they had waited until now before venturing across, and until they had been assured by a native canoe that the British force was entirely out of the river.
"Information as to their intentions was every thing to me, so I determined to conceal my knowledge of Spanish, slight though it might be; and as I looked round the circle of white desperadoes and black savages, on whom the large fire cast a bright but flickering glare, that made their bodily proportions and wild features flit and glimmer, as if they had been a dream of gibbering demons, I endeavoured to appear calm and collected, and to avoid fixing my eyes on the speaker, whoever he might be, although, God he knows, with what breathless and palpitating eagerness I drank in every word I could make out, while my alarm fearfully construed many that I did not understand.
"By this time it was quite dark, and my new associates having made a full meal on goat's flesh and yams, a large jar of Spanish brandy was produced, and each man had a portion served to him by one of the black fellows, who walked round the circle with a small drinking cup, hollowed out of a gourd, or calabash, followed by another dingy, more than half-naked devil, carrying a larger vessel of the same kind, full of abominably bad water.
"The Englishman now stood up in the centre.
"'Jose Ribas,' said he, in a steady determined tone, gracefully yet firmly poising himself on his right leg, and stretching out his right arm, while his left hand rested easily on his hip, as he addressed a very handsome young Spaniard, who sat on the ground nearly opposite to me, 'you know, and all here know, that to give you a chance of weighing the polacre, as well as to revenge your injuries, and the loss of your comrades, I attacked the felucca, and in consequence was lost on the bar.'—He paused.—'Yes, you see the whole surviving crew of the Santa Anna before you in these four men and myself; and you need not be told, that in consequence of the wreck of my schooner, I am a ruined man—don't force me to become a desperate one. You are now, Jose Ribas, commanding-officer of the Maria, in consequence of poor Isidoro Ladron's death, and you also know that you have not hands left of your own to run her out to Havanna. Now, I will join you with my people here, on one condition.'
"'You must join us on any condition,' grumbled several of the white Spaniards. 'We shall not go to sea with Jose Ribas as our captain, unless you are with us. He is uno muchacho must and shall subscribe to it at once.'