I HAD Scarcely, to my conception, been asleep at all, when I was called again. It might have been about eleven at night when I got on deck. There was a heavy ground-swell tumbling in upon us over the bar, which made the little vessel pitch violently. "See all clear to cut away the kedge," said I. Henry V. account but too forcibly; and, once more, I went on deck, where I was a good deal startled by the scene before me. The ebb-tide was now running down the river, and past us like a mill-stream; and the bar, which a couple of hours before was all black and undistinguishable, began now to be conspicuous, from a crescent of white waves which shone But there was no need; for the even through the darkness, while a swell that rolled in was as yet deep, deep and increasing hoarse murmur, dark, and unbroken. I looked forth" like thunder heard remote," was into the night, endeavouring by the starlight, for the moon was obscured by a thick bank of clouds in the eastern horizon, to distinguish the whereabouts of the bar at the river's mouth, but all was black flowing water, and there was no sound of breakers; so I again went below, and in a minute slept as sound as before. I cannot precisely say how long I had been in the land of dreams, when I was again roused abruptly by my steward. "Mr Wadding"- this was the gunner of the little vessel-" does not like the look of the weather, sir; it has become somewhat threatening, and the felucca is riding very uneasy since the tide has turned, sir." The sharp jerking motion of the small craft corroborated the man's VOL. XXXV. NO. CCXXI. borne up the river towards us on the night wind. The foaming breakers on the bar, as the tide continued to fall, spread out; and, in an hour, the rush of the tide downwards, and the tumble of the sea inwards, placed us, even at the distance of our anchorage, in a regular cauldron of broken water, where the little craft was tumbled about as if she belonged to nobody, while every moment I expected the cable to part. It was a regular snow-storm; the swell, broken on the bar, roared into the river in detached splashing waves, which, when the downward current dashed against them, flew up in detached flashing spouts, covering every thing with spray, which again was puffed away seaward like smoke by the sharp land-breeze (that had 2 Q I had a sort of anxiety to know from my own observation how the poor fellows were getting on; so I followed our friend, and descended with him in his visit to the sick and hurt. now suddenly set down, counter-be out of his hammock this forenoon, checking in a moment the regular if the weather keeps fine." easterly trade-wind) as fast as it rose, while the craft was kicked here and yerked there, as if it had been a cork in the midst of the bubbling of a boiling pot. Oh! how I longed for daylight! And at length daylight came, and the sun began to exhale the dank pestiferous vapours that towards grey dawn had once more mantled over the face of the mighty stream. For an hour it was so thick that we could see nothing of the bar, but the noise of the breakers continued to increase; and as the boats alongside were by this time, notwithstanding all our endeavours, half full of water, I feared, that even when the tide began to answer again, I should be unable to send one of them down to sound; so I lay in the miserable consciousness of having been foiled in our object on the one hand, and with small prospect of being able to get out to rejoin the frigate on the other. At length, towards seven o'clock, the mist rose; the unwholesome smell of mud, and slime, and putrifying vegetables, was no longer perceptible, and the glorious sun once more shone on the broad expanse of rushing waters; and the mangrove covered banks became again distinctly visible and welldefined, and the horizon seaward to look blue, clear, and cheery. But all this while the bar was one bow of roaring foam, that increased as the sea-breeze freshened, and fairly stifled the terral, until there was not one solitary narrow streak of blue water in the whole breadth of the river's mouth. I was pacing the deck in no small perplexity, debating in my own mind whether or not I should send below and rouse out Mr Sprawl, when the surgeon passed me. Good morning, doctor." Almost the first man I spoke to was Lennox. "Glad to find you so much better, my man; I hope you feel yourself stronger this morning?" A faint blush spread over the poor fellow's thin wasted features, and he hesitated in his answer. At length he stammered out— "Thank you, sir; I am much better, sir." "Who is that blocking up the hatchway?" said I, as some dark body nearly filled the entire aperture. Presently the half-naked figure of Sergeant Quacco descended the ladder. He paid no attention to me, or any body else; but spoke to some one on deck in the Eboe tongue, and presently his wife appeared at the coamings of the hatchway, hugging and fondling the abominable little graven image as if it had been her child-her own flesh and blood. She handed it down to the black sergeant, who placed it in a corner, nuzzling, and rubbing his nose all over it, as if he had been propitiating the tiny Moloch by the abjectness of his abasement. I was curious to see how Lennox would take all this, but it produced no effect: he looked with a quizzical expression of coun. tenance at the figure for some time, and then lay back in his hammock, and seemed to be composing himself to sleep. I went on deck, leaving the negro and his sable helpmate below amongst the men, and was conversing with Mr Sprawl, who had by this time made his appearance, when we were suddenly startled by a loud shriek from the negress, who shot up "How are all the wounded this from below, plunged instantly overmorning?" "All doing well, sir." "Oh, all right with him now, sir; but the poor fellow is awfully ashamed at the exhibition his messmates have told him he made yesterday. He is much better; and I hope will board, and began to swim with great speed towards the shore. She was instantly followed by our friend the sergeant, who for a second or two looked forth after the sable naiad, in an attitude as if the very next moment he would have followed her. I hailed the dingy Venus"Come back, my dear-come back." She turned round with a laughing countenance, but never for a moment hesitated in her shoreward progress. What sall become of me 1" screamed Sergeant Quacco.-"Oh, Lord, I sall lose my vife-cost me feefty dallar-Lose my vife!-dat de dam little Fetish say mosh be save. Oh, poor debil dat I is!"-and here followed a long tirade in some African dialect, that was utterly unintelligible to us. "My good fellow, don't make such an uproar, will ye?" said I. "Leave your wife to her fate: you cannot better yourself if you would die for it." "I don't know, massa; I don't know. Him cost me feefty dallar. Beside, as massa must have seen, him beautiful-oh, wery beautiful!— and what you tink dem willain asore will do to him? Ah, massa, you can't tell what dem will do to him." "Why, my good man, what will they do?" "Eat him, massa, may be; for dey look on him as one who now is enemy dat is, dey call me enemy, and dem know him is my vife-Oh, Lord-feefty dallar-all go, de day dem roast my vife." I could scarcely refrain from laughing; but on the instant the poor fellow ran up to the old quartermaster, who was standing near the mast, admiring the construction of the canoe,-as beautiful a skiff, by the way, as was ever scooped out of tree. "Help me, old man; help me to launch de canoe. I must go on sore-I must go on sore." The seaman looked at me-I nodded; and, taking the hint, he instantly lent Blackie a hand. The canoe was launched overboard, and the next moment Sergeant Quacco was paddling after his adored, that had cost him fifty dollars, in double-quick time. He seemed, so far as we could judge, to be rapidly overtaking her, when the little promontory of the creek hid them from our view; and under the impression that we had seen the last of him, I began to busy myself in the hope of getting over the bar that forenoon. An hour might have elapsed, and all remained quiet, except at the bar, where the thunder and hissing of the breakers began to fail; and as the tide made, I began, in concert with Mr Sprawl, to see all ready to go to sea; but I soon was persuaded, that, from the extreme heaviness of the ground swell that rolled in, there was no chance of our extricating ourselves until the evening at the soonest, or it might be next morning, when the young ebb would give us a lift; so we were walking up and down, to while away the time, when poor Lennox, who had by this time come on deck, said, on my addressing him, that he had seen small jets of white smoke spew up from among the green mangroves now and then; and although he had not heard any report, yet he was persuaded they indicated musket-shots. "It may all be as you say, Lennox; but I hope we shall soon be clear of this accursed river, and then they may blaze away at each other as much as they please." The words were scarcely out of my mouth, when we not only saw the smoke, but heard the rattle of musketry, and presently a small black speck shot rapidly beyond the headland or cape, that shut in our view, on the larboard side, up the river. He On its nearer approach, we soon perceived that it was our friend Quacco once more, in his small dory of a canoe, with the little fetish god stuck over the bow; but there was no appearance of his wife. On his near approach to the vessel, the man appeared absolutely frantic. worked and sculled away with his paddle as if he had been mad; and when at last he got on deck, having previously cast the little horrible image up before him, he began to curse and to swear, at one moment in the Eboe tongue, at another in bad Creole English, as if he had been possessed with a devil "Hoo chockaro, chockaro, soo hom Oh, who could tink young woman could hab so mosh deceit!-Ah, Queykarre tol de rol zig tootle too to leave me Quacco, and go join dem Eboe willain!" Then, as if recollecting himself "But how I do know dat dem no frighten him for say so? Ah, now I remember one ogly dag stand beside him hab long clear knife in him hand. Oh, Lord! Tooka, Tooka Cookery Pee Que Ah, poor ting! dem hab decoy him -cheat him into dem power-and to-morrow morning sun will see dem cook him-ay, and eat him. Oh dear, dem will eat my vife-oh, him cost me feefty dallar-eat my feefty dallar-oh Kickereboo-Rotan!"And straightway he cast himself on the deck, and began to yell and roll over and over, as if he had been in the greatest agony. Presently he jumped on his legs again, and ran and laid hold of the little graven image. He caught it up by the legs, and smashed its head down on the hard deck. "You dam Fetish-you false willain, dis what you give me for kill fowl, eh? and tro de blood in you face, eh? and stick fedder in you tail, eh? and put blanket over your shoulder when rain come, and night fog roll over we and make you chilly? What you give me for all dis? You drive me go on board dam footy little Englis crusier, and give my vife, cost me feefty dallar, to be roast and eat? Oh, Massa Carpenter, do lend me one hax;" and seizing the tool that had been brought on deck, and lay near him, he, at a blow, split open the Fetish's head, and continued to mutilate it, until he was forcibly disarmed by some of the men that stood by him. After this the poor savage walked doggedly about the deck for a minute or two, as if altogether irresolute what to do; at length he dived suddenly below. "Breakfast is ready, sir," said the boy who acted the part of steward; and I descended to do the honours to my company-rather a large party, by the way, for the size of my small cabin. We all made the best use of our time for a quarter of an hour; at length little Binnacle broke ground. "We have been hearing a curious history of this black fellow, sir." "What was it? Little good of him you could have heard, I should have thought," quoth I. "Why, no great harm either," said young De Walden, who now chimed in, with his low, modest, but beautifully pitched voice-"We have had his story at large, sir, this morning, after the decks were holystoned and washed down." "Come, Master De Walden, give it us then," said I. "Beg pardon, sir," said the beautiful boy, no one can do justice to it but himself." "Shall I call him, sir?" said Joe Peake. I looked enquiringly at old Davie Doublepipe, as much as to say, Are those boys quizzing us now? "What say you, Sprawl, eh?" "Why not, man-why not?" replied my excellent coadjutor. "If it were only to amuse the lads, surely there is no harm in it. But here, give me another cup of coffee,—and, Master Marline, the wing of that spitchcock chicken, if you pleaseWhy, Brail, if nothing else thrives in that most damnable Sierra Leone, fowls do." While the lieutenant was employed in completing his stowage-no regular STEVEDOR could have gone more scientifically about it-little Binnacle ushered in our dark friend. What a change in his outward man! Where he had got his garments heaven knows, but there was the barbarian of the preceding day, newly and freshly rigged in a clean pair of duck trowsers, canvass shoes, and a good check shirt, with his neverfailing black belt slung across his right shoulder, and supporting the rusty bayonet already mentioned. He drew himself up at the door, soldier fashion, and put his hand to his cap. The light from the small scuttle above shone down strong on his tattooed countenance, and lit up his steady bronze-like features. I waited in expectation of his speaking. But the talkative savage of yesterday evening had subsided now into the quiet orderly soldier. "Isay, Sergeant Quacco," at length quod Davie Doublepipe, as he finished his ham, and swallowed his last cup of coffee, "we have been hearing from these young gentlemen that you have a story to tell; have you any objections to oblige us with it again?" All this flourish of trumpets was lost on poor Quacco. He stared vacantly, first at one, and then at the other, but remained silent. "What you tell dem young gentlemen about who you is?" said I. "Oh," promptly rejoined Sergeant Quacco," is dat de ting massa dere want to know? I shall tell him over again, if massa choose, but it is one very foolis story." "Never mind," said I, "let us have it again by all means." The poor fellow, after endeavouring to look as serious as possible, and giving sundry hems and haws, and looking unutterable things, as if in doubt whether we were in jest or no, began his story. THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SERGEANT QUACCO. "Gentlemen," began our dark friend, "I tink it very proper dat you read dis certificate before I say more -proper you should be perswade dat I was one person of consequence, before we proceed farder." Whereupon he handed a small flat tin box to Davie Doublepipe. "Read, Sprawl," said I,-" read." The lieutenant took off the lid, and produced a ragged piece of paper which, after some trouble in deciphering, he found to contain the following words : "I certify, that the bearer, Corporal Quacco, late of H. M. West India regiment, has received his discharge, and a free passage to the coast of Africa, whither he has desired to return, in the first of his Majesty's ships that may touch here on her way to Portsmouth, belong ing to that station, in consequence of his gallantry and faithful conduct during the late mutiny wherein Major D unfortunately lost his life." I forget the name and rank of the officer who signed it. "So you see, gentlemen, dat I is Kins hofficer same as yourselves, although on the retired list. Let me tell what you shall hear now. Twenty year ago, I was catch in de Bonny River, and sold to one nice captain from Livapool. He have large ship, too much people in him -a tousand-no-but heap of people. He was nice man, until him get to sea-was debil den-cram we into leetle, small dam dirty hole -feed we bad - small time we get to breath de fresh air on deck, and plenty iron on we legs, and clanking chain on we neck, and fum, fum-dat is floggee-I sall not say where. But soon we come widin two week of West Indy-ho! food turn wery much better we get more air palm oil sarve out to we, to make we skin plump and nice. "So, to make one long story short, we arrive at Jamaica, and ten of de best-looking of we"-(here the black sergeant drew himself up)-" were pick out-select, you call-by one hofficer, and dat day we were marshed to Fort Augusta, to serve his Majesty as soldiers in de grenadier company of de- West India regiment. Long time pass over. We all pick up de Englis language-some better, some worser; for all peoples cannot expect to pronounce him so well as Sergeant Quacco." "Certainly not," said Sprawl. "And we drill, drill, drill every day, and marsh and countermarsh, and wheel and halt, until we are quite proficient. I was now one corporal. Cat never touch my back; never get dronk-dat is, except I know I can lie in hammock widout neglect my duty until I get sober again. My captain say, I was de best man in de company-and I tink so too myself, so de captain must have been right; and some good mans were amongst we, gentlemen-ah, and some wery bad ones also. "We were, on a certain day, to have great inspection; so de fag, and work, and drill, become double for some time before we expect de General. De idle dogs say, What use dis? we quite perfect; no white regiment can manœuvre better den we.' But I say, 'Never mind, will soon be over, so rest content.'—' Ab,’ say one bitter bad fellow-Ogly Jack, dem call him—not wery genteel name, gentlemen, but can't help dat-' Ah,' say Jack, if de rest of de regiment was like me, you should see! Soon we would have our own way; and plenty tousand of de poor fieldpeople would soon join us.'- Ho, ho!' say I, Quacco, mutiny dis;bloody murder, and sudden death dis is;-so, Master Ogly Jack, I shall take de small liberty to wash you.' However, de inspection pass over; nothing particular happen until de evening, about nine o'clock. De tattoo beat done long time, and I was eating my supper, at de end of de long gallery of de eastermost barrick, wery comfortable, looking out on de white platform below, where de sentries were walking backward and forward, singing negro song, de clear arms |