“My impression was that they were both going. They seemed to think that you might be hung up somewhere in the interior, and that it might be possible to get you away by purchase or ransom. However, you seem to have ransomed yourself pretty completely.” “Where are you bound now?” I asked with some anxiety. “I _was_ bound to Grand Bassam (I left Axim late this afternoon), but I was only going to look for chance cargo. I shall give up the trip now, and as soon as we have got enough offing to clear Cape Three Points, I shall put her nose straight for Quittáh. Mr. Jobling!” he bawled through the open skylight. “Sir!” said the mate, taking a bird’s-eye view of the cabin through the opening. “How’s her head, Mr. Jobling?” “South by east a quarter east, sir,” replied the mate. “Put her east by south and set the stu’nsails, and let me know when you see the light on Cape Three Points.” The mate repeated the order and vanished, and I could soon feel by the altered motion of the vessel that we were heading east. As soon as the table was cleared, and the spirits and cigars set on it, the Captain mixed a glass of grog, lit a cigar, and settled himself in a corner of the cushioned locker with the air of a man who is about to be entertained. The second mate had turned in and the mate was on deck, so we had the cabin to ourselves. “Now, my boy,” said the Captain, “let’s have the yarn from the beginning.” After all my exertions and the enormous meal I had made, I should have preferred to idle away the evening and turn in early; but the skipper’s curiosity had to be satisfied, so I plunged into the narrative of my adventures without preamble. The account which I gave him was necessarily sketchy and condensed, but even so, eight bells had been struck and the watch changed before he rose to see me to my berth. “You see I’ve covered the gold up for to-night,” he said, as he shook me by the hand. “To-morrow morning I will let you have an empty chest to stow it away in.” I turned back the covering and gazed complacently at the glittering mass spread out on the bunk, and putting no little strain on its stout oak bottom. Fortune had favoured me at last. I was a rich man, and if only I prospered as well in the adventure that lay before me, I felt that I should indeed be a happy one. The whole of the next day we sailed parallel to the coast, and some twenty miles off the land; and as the brig sped on with all her flying kites abroad and the good Guinea current helping her along, I paced the deck with a buoyant heart, resplendent in one of Jobling’s white drill suits, and washed and shaven as became a civilised man of fortune.