As I afterwards learned, the negroes who had witnessed my capture, especially the old man who had taken me for his infernal majesty, had raised the alarm, so soon as they could venture down to the overseer’s house, which was on the smuggling boat shoving off, and Mr Fyall immediately despatched an express to the Lieutenant commanding the Gleam, then lying in Annotta Bay, about ten miles distant, when she instantly slipped and shoved out. “Well, I can’t help it if there be,” rejoined the captain. Another pause. “Why, I don’t like her, sir; she looks like a man-of-war-and that must have been the smoke of the gun she fired on weighing.’ “Eh?” sharply answered Obed, “if it be, it will be a hanging matter if we are caught with this young splice on board; he may belong to her for what I know. Look again, Paul.” A long, long look. “A man-of-war schooner, sure enough, sir; I can see her ensign and pennant, now that she is clear of the land.” “Oh Lord, oh Lord!” cried Obed, in great perplexity, “what shall we do?” “Why, pull foot, Captain,” promptly replied Paul; “the breeze has lulled, and in light winds she will have no chance with the tidy little Wave.” I could now perceive that the smugglers made all sail, and I heard the frequent swish--swish of the water, as they threw bucketfuls on the sails, to thicken them and make them hold more wind, while we edged away, keeping as close to the wind, however, as we could, without stopping her way. “Starboard,” quoth Obed--“rap full, Jem--let her walk through it, my boy--there, main and foresail, flat as boards; why, she will stand the main-gaff-topsail yet--set it, Paul, set it;” and his heart warmed as he gained confidence in the qualifications of his vessel. “Come, weather me now, see how she trips it along--poo, I was an ass to quail, wan’t I, Paul?” No chance, now, thought I, as I descended once more; “I may as well go and be suffocated at once.” I knocked my foot against something, in stepping off the ladder, which, on putting down my hand, I found to be tinder-box, with steel and flint. I had formerly ascertained there was a candle in the cabin, on the small table, stuck into a bottle; so I immediately struck a light, and as I knew that meekness and solicitation, having been tried in vain, would not serve me, I determined to go on the other tack, and to see how far an assumption of coolness and self-possession, or, it might be, a dash of bravado, whether true or feigned, might not at least ensure me some consideration and better treatment from the lawless gang into whose hands I had fallen.