“There’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip,” he observed. “Although the captain fancies his craft faster than anything afloat, he may catch a tartar in the shape of a British man-of-war before we cross the Atlantic. As to selling us into slavery, I don’t believe he’ll attempt it. He must know that before long we would find means of communicating with a British consul or some other authority, and make our cases known. If he had talked of selling us to the Moors or Turks, the case would have been different. Once among those fellows, we should have found it a hard matter to escape.”
“Still he may sell us,” observed Harry; “and perhaps months and years will pass before we can let our friends know where we are.”
“Well, well, that’ll be better than having to walk the plank or being run up at the yard-arm,” said Tubbs. “We must not cry out until we are hurt, although I’ll own that I’d rather have more room to stretch my legs in than this place affords. I hope Master Pikehead won’t forget to send us the food he promised; I’m getting rather sharp set already.”
Harry and I confessed that we were also feeling very hungry. Even the talking about food gave a new turn to our thoughts. At last we heard the hatch above our heads lifted, and the black steward came down with a bowl of farina and a jug of water. It was the same food the slaves were fed on, but we thought it wise to make no complaint.
“It shows that the captain has no intention to starve us,” observed Harry. “However, this is better than mouldy biscuit and rancid pork, such as I have heard say seamen are too often fed upon.”
“You’ve heard say the truth, sir,” observed Tubbs. “Often and often I’ve known the whole ship’s company get no better fare than that, with little better than bilge water to drink. If we get enough stuff like this, we shall grow fat, at all events.”
The steward, leaving the bowl between us, quickly disappeared up the hatchway. The only light we had was from a bull’s-eye overhead, which enabled us, as Tubbs said, “barely to see the way to our mouths;” we could not, at all events, distinguish each other’s features. Although we could not see, we felt the claws of numerous visitors crawling over us, and smelt them too, and now and then were sensible that a big rat was nibbling at our toes, although, by kicking and stamping, at the risk of hitting each other’s shins, we kept them at bay. Notwithstanding this, we managed to sleep pretty soundly at intervals.
Tubbs assured us that the ship was gliding on, although it might be some time before she reached the bar, as it was impossible to judge at what rate she was sailing. Now and then we felt her heel over slightly to starboard, showing that the wind was more abeam, or rather that we were passing along a reach running to the southward; then, when she came up again on an even keel, we knew that we were standing directly to the westward. At last we felt her bows lift, then down she glided, to rise again almost immediately afterwards, while the increased sound of the water dashing on her sides showed us that we were crossing the bar.
“There is some sea on, I guess, and I know what it is with these African rivers. Should the wind suddenly shift southward, we may be driven on a rock or sandbank, and we and all on board will have a squeak for life,” observed Tubbs.
“I hope not, although anything might be better than being carried into slavery,” observed Harry. “But we ought not to despair. I have been thinking and praying over the matter, and know that God can deliver us if He thinks fit. We must trust Him; I’m sure that’s the only thing to be done. In all the troubles and trials of life. At all times we must do our duty, and, as I say, trust Him; even when bound hand and foot as we are at present, all we can do is still to trust Him.”