Our drum immediately beat to quarters, while the flag chest was brought on deck. Presently, the French _transport_ demanded our private signal; which out of our ample supply, was promptly answered, and the royal ensign of Portugal set at our peak. As we approached the Frenchman every thing was made ready for all hazards;--our guns were double-shotted, our matches lighted, our small arms distributed. The moment we came within hail, our captain,--who claimed precedence of the lieutenant of a transport,--spoke the Frenchman; and, for a while, carried on quite an amiable chat in Portuguese. At last the stranger requested leave to send his boat aboard with letters for the Isle of France; to which we consented with the greatest pleasure, though our captain thought it fair to inform him that we dared not prudently invite his officers on deck, inasmuch as there were "several cases of small-pox among our crew, contracted, in all likelihood, at Angola!" The discharge of an unexpected broadside could not have struck our visitor with more dismay or horror. The words were hardly spoken when her decks were in a bustle,--her yards braced sharply to the wind,--and her prow boiling through the sea, without so much as the compliment of a "_bon voyage_!" Ten days after this _ruse d'esclave_ we anchored at Quillimane, among a lot of Portuguese and Brazilian slavers, whose sails were either clewed up or unbent as if for a long delay. We fired a salute of twenty guns and ran up the French flag. The salvo was quickly answered, while our captain, in the full uniform of a naval commander, paid his respects to the Governor. Meantime orders were given me to remain carefully in charge of the ship; to avoid all intercourse with others; to go through the complete routine and show of a man-of-war; to strike the yards, haul down signal, and fire a gun at sunset; but especially to get underway and meet the captain at a small beach off the port, the instant I saw a certain flag flying from the fort. I have rarely seen matters conducted more skilfully than they were by this daring Gaul. Next morning early the Governor's boat was sent for the specie; the fourth day disclosed the signal that called us to the beach; the fifth, sixth, and seventh, supplied us with _eight hundred negroes_; and, on the ninth, we were underway for our destination.