I began my tale in the hope that I might produce something to interest the young (perchance, also, the old) in a most momentous cause,—the total abolition of the African slave-trade. I close it with the prayer that God may make it a tooth in the file which shall eventually cut the chains of slavery, and set the black man free.
R.M. Ballantyne.
1873
Chapter One.
Shows that a Good Beginning may Sometimes be Followed by a Bad Ending.
“Six feet water in the hold, sir!”
That would not have been a pleasant announcement to the captain of the ‘Aurora’ at any time, but its unpleasantness was vastly increased by the fact that it greeted him near the termination of what had been, up to that point of time, an exceedingly prosperous voyage.
“Are you sure, Davis?” asked the captain; “try again.”