"But why not hand them over to a man-of-war, if we can find one?" continued Captain York.
"Because the bark would be her prize then; now she is ours. I will read you the law, if you like."
"What law?"
"The law relating to vessels fitted out for the slave trade."
"Read on, Phil."
All hands gathered around me, deeply interested in the subject, and I read from "The Shipmaster's Assistant," in order that they might know how they stood, as follows:—
"Citizens of the United States, voluntarily serving on board of a foreign or American vessel engaged in the slave trade, were formerly subject to a fine and imprisonment; but now they are regarded as pirates, and suffer death."
"That's the idea!" exclaimed Baxter. "That's what's the matter; if we had voluntarily gone down to the coast of Africa and taken in a cargo of slaves—suffer death."
"And we must either resist or go voluntarily," added Sanderson.
"But some of us are not citizens of the United States," said Welsh.