The _Pandora_ was now rapidly made ready for her voyage across the
Atlantic. The carpenter had finished his bulkheads and hatch-gratings,
and the men were daily engaged in emptying the salt-water out of the
casks and refilling them with fresh--a somewhat slow and troublesome
job.
While these preparations were going on, a messenger arrived at the
factory of King Dingo Bingo, who brought with him a report that put his
majesty into the most terrible state of uneasiness and alarm, and also
produced a very similar effect upon the skipper of the _Pandora_.
The messenger, or messengers--for there were three of them--were
negroes, of course. They were of the kind known as Kroomen; that is, a
class of negroes found along most parts of the western coast of Africa,
who are greatly addicted to the sea, and make excellent sailors when so
employed. They are, in fact, the "boatmen" of the African coast, or
"watermen," if you prefer it, but not unfrequently they ship for a long
voyage; and many vessels in the African trade are accustomed, when short
of hands, to make up their crew from among these Kroomen.
Three of these Kroomen, then, had suddenly made their appearance in the
river, with a report that spread consternation among the people of King
Dingo Bingo and those of the _Pandora_.
What was this report?
It was that a British cruiser had called in at a station some fifty
miles farther up the coast, and reported that she had been in chase of a
large slave barque--that she had lost sight of the latter out at sea,
but was still in search of her, and expected to find her to the south--
that the cruiser only stopped at the above-mentioned port to take in
water, and, as soon as that was accomplished, she should come down the
coast and search every nook and inlet to find the slaver.
Most of this information had been given confidentially to the chief
factor of the port, an Englishman, whose business lay in palm-oil,
ground-nuts, ivory, and other African products, and who was not supposed
to have any connection whatever with the slave-trade. On the contrary,
he was one of those who lent his aid to its suppression: giving every
assistance to the slave-cruisers, and being on terms of friendship and
intimacy with their commanders.
But for all that, this comfortable John Bull was suspected--not by the
aforesaid commanders, however--of having very amicable relations with
his majesty King Dingo Bingo--so amicable that there were those who
hinted at a sort of partnership existing between them!
Be that as it may, it is certain that the Englishman had sent the three
Kroomen to warn King Dingo Bingo of his danger--for there was no secret
made of this fact on board the _Pandora_. The Kroomen had ventured
round the coast in a small sail-boat, and entered by the mouth of the
river, having performed most part of the dangerous voyage in the night.
Their report, as I have said, produced consternation on all hands.
There could be no doubt that the cruiser was the cutter that had chased
us; and knowing that the slaver had gone southward after giving her the
slip, she would take that direction to look out for her, and would be
certain to explore every inch of the coast in her cruise. Of course the
river would not be likely to escape her observation, and if she should
there find the _Pandora_, it would be all up with the slaver. Probably
enough, the cruiser may have picked up a pilot, who knew all about King
Dingo Bingo and his slave-factory. If so, it would not be long before
she would be down upon us. She might be looked for every minute!
No wonder, then, that the report of the Kroomen carried consternation
with it.
As for the "king," he was far less terrified than the "captain." His
villainous majesty had far less to fear from a visit of the cruiser. He
had already made his bargain; and although the slaves were still in the
barracoon, they were no longer his, and it mattered not to him into
whose hands they fell. He had received his full pay for them in the
rum, salt, and muskets; these had been landed and handed over, and as
soon as he could remove them beyond the reach of the cruiser, he would
be perfectly safe and at his ease.
This precaution he took as soon as the Kroomen had delivered their
report. His followers were set to work, and in a few hours every
article that had been landed from the barque was carried away from the
"factory" and hidden far off in the woods. When the work of removal was
over his majesty lit his pipe and filled his glass, and then sat him
down as coolly and unconcernedly as if there was not a cruiser on all
the African coast.
Very different, however, was the situation of the captain of the
_Pandora_. It is true, he might also have hidden part of his property.
He might have run off the slaves into the woods and there concealed them
for a time; and it was amusing to see with what energy the "king"
counselled him to his course. His majesty saw, that if this plan was
adopted, and the cruiser should appear in the river, then the barque
would be taken and the slaves left behind, and out of all this confusion
there must be some advantage to himself; there would be a chance that
the five hundred "bultos" would fall into his hands, and he would be
able to sell them a second time. This was, indeed, a rich prospect,
and, without hinting to any probable advantage to himself, the old
rascal kept urging the skipper to adopt this plan with an anxiety and
importunity that was quite ludicrous.
But the captain could not be brought to comply with the advice. He knew
the danger of trusting the five hundred slaves in the woods. Most of
them might take "leg-bail" for it, and, maybe, his "dear friend" King
Dingo Bingo might not guard them from this so very carefully! Some of
them might find their way to their own homes again, but a good many
would be likely to stray back to King Dingo's town, and it would be a
hard matter to identify goods that were so much like each other as
negroes are.
Besides, if he could even succeed in hiding the cargo, he could not hope
to hide the vessel. The cutter, if she came near the river at all,
would be certain to find the barque, and equally certain to capture her.
That done, what would become of the slaves? what would become of the
captain himself, and his crew? They would have difficulty enough either
to subsist, or find their way out of such an inhospitable land--for the
skipper well knew that, his fine vessel once gone, his dear friend Dingo
would behave towards him in quite a different manner. Yes, the skipper
was an experienced man, and knew all that, and, knowing it, he lent a
deaf ear to the counsels of the "king."
As soon, therefore, as the report of the Kroomen reached him--for it did
not reach him until some time after his majesty had received it--he at
once formed a resolve as to how he should act, and that resolve was to
embark his cargo as speedily as possible, and, without wasting a moment,
stand out to sea.
This the wary skipper perceived to be his best plan; in fact, the only
one by which he could hope to save his vessel. If the cruiser was
actually coming down the coast--and there could be no doubt but that she
was--his only chance would be to get out before she arrived opposite the
mouth of the river. Should she once come there before he could put to
sea, then the barque would be regularly in the trap, and an armed boat
or two from the cutter would capture her without any difficulty, indeed,
without resistance; for rough, and brutal, and bold, as were the crew of
the slaver, they knew very well that it would be idle to resist the
well-organised attack of a ship of war, or half-a-dozen armed boats,
such as the cutter could set afloat. The capture of the barque would,
therefore, be a thing of course, and the only chance her owner had of
saving her would be to put to sea at once.
The wind was light--it was blowing from the coast--both which
circumstances were greatly in favour of the _Pandora's_ escape. The
contrary wind would be likely to hinder the cruiser from coming near, at
all events it would delay her, and then, should the slaver succeed in
getting out, a light breeze, as already seen, would be altogether in her
favour, and against her antagonist.
Elated by these hopes, but still under terrible anxiety, the captain
lost no time in getting his cargo aboard.