Whereupon I followed him in through a passage which gave access to a fine, airy poop cabin, plainly but comfortably fitted up, and seated myself, uninvited, upon a cushioned locker while my companion went alone into his state-room, returning, a minute or two later, with a large tin box, the contents of which he laid upon the table. "Thar they are," he exclaimed, pushing them toward me; "look at 'em as long as yew like! I guess yew won't find nothin' wrong with 'em." Nor did I. I inspected them with the utmost care, and ultimately came to the conclusion that they were genuine, and that the ship was undoubtedly the _Virginia_, and American. "Waal," exclaimed the Yankee skipper, when I at length refolded and handed the papers back to him, "are ye satisfied, stranger?" I intimated that I was. "Then git out o' here, ye darned galoot, as quick as you knows how," he snarled, "and thank your lucky stars that I don't freshen yewr way wi' a rope's end!" Then, suddenly changing his tune, as he followed me out on deck and saw me glance round, he remarked: "Purty ship, ain't she? and roomy for her size. Guess I can stow away all of seven hundred niggers down below, and not lose more'n twenty per cent of 'em on an ordinary average passage. And the _Preciosa_ is the very spit of this here craft--built in the same yard, she was, and from the same lines; there ain't a pin to choose atween 'em. Now, if yew was only lucky enough to fall in with _her_, stranger, I guess she'd be a prize worth havin', eh?" "She would!" I agreed. "And, what's more, my friend, we mean to have her, sooner or later." "Yew don't say!" he jeered. "Waal, I guess yew'll have to fight for her afore you git her. And yew'll have to find her afore yew can fight for her, won't yew, sonny? And p'rhaps that won't be so very difficult, a'ter all, for when I next see my friend Rodriguez--that's the cap'n of the _Preciosa_--I'll tell him that yew're out arter him, and maybe he'll lay for yew; for Rodriguez hates the Britishers 'most as bad as I do, and I'm sure he'd enjy blowin' _El Caiman_ outer the water now that she's fallen into yewr hands. He and Morillo was great friends; and I reckon he'll feel bound to avenge Morillo's loss. Yes; I'll tell him, for sure. And I'll also tell all the others on the Coast to keep a bright look-out for the brigantine. Waal, so long, stranger. I'm bound for the Congo, if yew're anyways anxious to know." The foregoing remarks were made as he followed me to the waist and watched my progress over the rail and from the main chains into my boat; and the last item of information was yelled after me when we had put about twenty fathoms of blue water between the boat and the ship. As I flourished my hand by way of reply to his jeers, he turned away and I heard his harsh, nasal accents uplifted in an order to his crew to "Swing the main-yard; haul aft the jib-sheet; and sway away them t'gallan' and r'yal yards."