“If you make yon stranger a prize, I think we ought to go shares,” he said, laughing. “We sighted her first.”
“You shall have the whole of her if you overhaul her first,” answered our captain.
“Then I calculate we may as well give in, for your legs are a tarnation deal longer than ours, it seems.”
The sun, which now shone forth for a brief space, glittered on the bright copper of the brig as she lifted to the send of the sea, and the foam flew over her bows and washed fore and aft along her dingy sides as she tore through the water; but it would not do, the little Gadfly laughed her to scorn, and, as we headed her, seemed impudently to kick up her heels at her in contempt at her slow ways. We were not long in coming up with the chase, nor in making out by the cut of her canvas, her short yards, and heavy-looking hull, that she was no slaver. As soon as we fired a gun, and hoisted our ensign and pennant, she hove-to, and on sending a boat on board we found that she was the Mary Jane, of Bristol, a steady-going old African trader. She had been carrying sail, both because she was on her right course, and because she could not tell but what the Grampus might be a slaver or pirate, anxious to overhaul her.
The master, who was a very civil old fellow, came on board, and gave us some valuable suggestions. He had witnessed some of the horrors of the middle passage, and was a strong advocate for the abolition of the slave-trade.
“Africa will never improve while it exists, and it will exist as long as people find it profitable, and the governments of the world either encourage it or only take half measures to abolish it. I am sorry to own, too, that people nearer home gain too much by it to withstand the temptation of assisting those engaged in it, and I know for certain that many English merchants have account-currents with slave-dealers, and send their vessels out here full of goods expressly for them.”
I afterwards found that what he said was perfectly true. After taking some luncheon with us, he tumbled into his boat and stood on his course, while we hauled our wind to return to the northward.
“We have not made our first prize yet, Rawson,” said the captain, as I took dinner with him in his cabin that day.
“No, sir; but I hope we soon shall,” I replied. “Better luck next time!”
As chance would have it, just after sunset we again fell in with the Grampus, and passed close to her.