With this person, whose name was Captain Levee, (an alteration, I
suspect, from Levi,) I was much pleased; and as I found that he did not
appear to despise my acquaintance, I took much pains to please him, and
we were becoming very intimate, when my ship was ready to sail. I now
found that I was promoted to the office of first mate, which gave me
great satisfaction.
We sailed with an assorted cargo, but very light, and nothing of
consequence occurred during our passage out. We made good traffic on
the coast as we ran down it, receiving ivory, gold-dust, and wax, in
exchange for our printed cottons and hardware. After being six weeks on
the coast, we put into Senegal to dispose of the remainder of our cargo;
which we soon did to the governor, who gave us a fair exchange, although
by no means so profitable a barter as what we had made on the coast; but
that we did not expect for what might be called the refuse of our cargo.
The captain was much pleased, as he knew the owner would be satisfied
with him, and, moreover, he had himself a venture in the cargo; and we
had just received the remainder of the ivory from the governor's stores,
and had only to get on board a sufficiency of provisions and water for
our homeward voyage, when a circumstance took place which I must now
relate.
Our crew consisted of the captain, and myself, as first mate, the second
mate, and twelve seamen, four of which were those who had been taken
prisoners with me, and had been released, as I have related, in our
previous voyage. These four men were very much attached to me, I
believe chiefly from my kindness to them when I was a slave to the queen
Whyna, as I always procured for them everything which I could, and,
through the exertions of my mistress, had them plentifully supplied with
provisions from the king's table. The second mate and other eight men
we had shipped at Liverpool. They were fine, stout fellows, but
appeared to be loose characters, but that we did not discover till after
we had sailed. There was anchored with us at Senegal a low black brig,
employed in the slave-trade, which had made the bay at the same time
that we did; and to their great surprise--for she was considered a very
fast sailer--she was beaten at all points by our ship, which was
considered the fastest vessel out of Liverpool. The crew of the slaver
were numerous, and as bloodthirsty a set of looking fellows as ever I
fell in with. Their boat was continually alongside of our vessel, and I
perceived that their visits were made to the eight men whom we had
shipped at Liverpool, and that they did not appear inclined to be at all
intimate with the rest of the crew. This roused my suspicions, although
I said nothing; but I watched them very closely. One forenoon, as I was
standing at the foot of the companion-ladder, concealed by the
booby-hatch from the sight of those on deck, I heard our men talking
over the side, and at last, as I remained concealed, that I might
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