Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: . §, a m I -SfilPi fat.lsP.'S - ,s,s, Jw isiia%iHrtiii, T T w 9 and hammock, and we slipped our moorings and ran out past the Moro Castle, with a fine breeze. We were six hands in the forecastle, two Portuguese, three Spaniards, and nn American. I had the mid-watch on deck. On turning out at seven bells the next morning, 1 went on deck, to take a daylight look at the craft in which I had shiplicd, as, it being a dark night when I came on board, I had been able to see but little of her. 1 found her a remarkably sharp, clipper-built vessel, evidently calculated to sail at a great rate, and a glance at the long, tapering spars, and the immense spread of her topsails, convinced me that she had never been built for a wine drogher. " The captain was an Englishman, the mate a Scotchman—which rather surprised me, as the vessel showed Spanish colors. They carried a press of canvas from the first, and paid more attention to the steering than is usual among that class of vessels. Altogether, 1 felt as though, if she were a wine drogher, sho had gotten strangely out of place—but, of course, I never suspected what was her true business. But the third day out told the whole story. On coming on deck that morning, I found, to my great surprise, some sixteen or seventeen men besides our regular crew congregated on the topgallant forecastle, and about the foremast, among them 1 recognized several Havana acquaintances, who seemed somewhat surprised to see me there. From them I got an inkling of what was in the wind; but the whole matter was explained to me after breakfast. "'Send Anton to the wheel,' was the word passed toA CRUISE IN A SLAVER. 49 the forecastle, and I proceeded aft. Arrived there, the captain and supercargo laid before me the real purpose of the voyage—declared...
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: . §, a m I -SfilPi fat.lsP.'S - ,s,s, Jw isiia%iHrtiii, T T w 9 and hammock, and we slipped our moorings and ran out past the Moro Castle, with a fine breeze. We were six hands in the forecastle, two Portuguese, three Spaniards, and nn American. I had the mid-watch on deck. On turning out at seven bells the next morning, 1 went on deck, to take a daylight look at the craft in which I had shiplicd, as, it being a dark night when I came on board, I had been able to see but little of her. 1 found her a remarkably sharp, clipper-built vessel, evidently calculated to sail at a great rate, and a glance at the long, tapering spars, and the immense spread of her topsails, convinced me that she had never been built for a wine drogher. " The captain was an Englishman, the mate a Scotchman—which rather surprised me, as the vessel showed Spanish colors. They carried a press of canvas from the first, and paid more attention to the steering than is usual among that class of vessels. Altogether, 1 felt as though, if she were a wine drogher, sho had gotten strangely out of place—but, of course, I never suspected what was her true business. But the third day out told the whole story. On coming on deck that morning, I found, to my great surprise, some sixteen or seventeen men besides our regular crew congregated on the topgallant forecastle, and about the foremast, among them 1 recognized several Havana acquaintances, who seemed somewhat surprised to see me there. From them I got an inkling of what was in the wind; but the whole matter was explained to me after breakfast. "'Send Anton to the wheel,' was the word passed toA CRUISE IN A SLAVER. 49 the forecastle, and I proceeded aft. Arrived there, the captain and supercargo laid before me the real purpose of the voyage—declared...