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came on , we tacked and ran in for the shore , under cover of darkness . Before morning we were safely at anchor in the harbour of Mangaratiba . At dawn , a small telegraph-post , on some high ground above
the town of Managaratiba , was observed to be at work ; and the governor of the place soon came on board in some excitement . He said that an English man-of-war steamer was outside the harbour , and was rather expected to enter , as he supposed she had chased us from Rio .
" You ' re right there , " said our captain ; " she did chase us : and a near thing it was , too ; but for a secret channel——"
" You'd better look sharp and land your cargo , " said the governor , who did not wish to have so serious a business put off till the English steamer came in . " All right ; let ' s have the cargo up , " said the captain to the crew ; then turning to the governor , he asked , " Where ' s the Improviso ?"
" G-one to Santos with a cargo of sundries . She'll be back to-morrow , or to-day very likely , if the breeze holds . You ' ve brought her cargo ?" " Yes , and that ' s why we were chased How they knew it , I wonder , for I kept it dark as night . "
When the cargo was brought up from below , I at once perceived what had been so unaccountable before . We carried complete slave fittings ; and had the Furious overtaken us , we should have been amenable to the laws against empty slavers . We had plank enough
for a slave-deck , casks much too large for the ordinary purpose of a trading vessel , with one or twootherthings that Bio supplied better than Mangaratiba . A slaver about to sail from Mangaratiba would get farina and white beans in more abundance there , but planks and casks were by no means so plentiful in the country .
That day passed in taking on board a cargo of coffee , and calavanges , which are white beans of a small and useful nature , being generally adopted for the negroes' food . In villages , where the Brazilians do not get much animal food , these beans are eaten by the whites ; but in the towns they are exclusively used by the negroes .
. Next morning the governor came on board with a stranger , whose face bore a promise of news not the most pleasant . The Improviso had not yet arrived ; but as the Maria Isabella would have to sail for Bio directly , the captain resolved not to wait for the arrival of the other vessel , but to leave Williams on shore to take command of her when she came .
I shall have to sail to-day for Bio , " he said to the governor ; u must mention one thing to you before going . This man , whose name is Williams , guided us safely through an intricate passage between Redonda and the mainland , so that we escaped the English man-of-war . In return for this , I promised him the command of the Im / proviso , which is a suitable reward for such a sprvice . He will take charge of her at onco , and go across with her as soon as
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
came on , we tacked and ran in for the shore , under cover of darkness . Before morning we were safely at anchor in the harbour of Mangaratiba . At dawn , a small telegraph-post , on some high ground above
the town of Managaratiba , was observed to be at work ; and the governor of the place soon came on board in some excitement . He said that an English man-of-war steamer was outside the harbour , and was rather expected to enter , as he supposed she had chased us from Rio .
" You ' re right there , " said our captain ; " she did chase us : and a near thing it was , too ; but for a secret channel——"
" You'd better look sharp and land your cargo , " said the governor , who did not wish to have so serious a business put off till the English steamer came in . " All right ; let ' s have the cargo up , " said the captain to the crew ; then turning to the governor , he asked , " Where ' s the Improviso ?"
" G-one to Santos with a cargo of sundries . She'll be back to-morrow , or to-day very likely , if the breeze holds . You ' ve brought her cargo ?" " Yes , and that ' s why we were chased How they knew it , I wonder , for I kept it dark as night . "
When the cargo was brought up from below , I at once perceived what had been so unaccountable before . We carried complete slave fittings ; and had the Furious overtaken us , we should have been amenable to the laws against empty slavers . We had plank enough
for a slave-deck , casks much too large for the ordinary purpose of a trading vessel , with one or twootherthings that Bio supplied better than Mangaratiba . A slaver about to sail from Mangaratiba would get farina and white beans in more abundance there , but planks and casks were by no means so plentiful in the country .
That day passed in taking on board a cargo of coffee , and calavanges , which are white beans of a small and useful nature , being generally adopted for the negroes' food . In villages , where the Brazilians do not get much animal food , these beans are eaten by the whites ; but in the towns they are exclusively used by the negroes .
. Next morning the governor came on board with a stranger , whose face bore a promise of news not the most pleasant . The Improviso had not yet arrived ; but as the Maria Isabella would have to sail for Bio directly , the captain resolved not to wait for the arrival of the other vessel , but to leave Williams on shore to take command of her when she came .
I shall have to sail to-day for Bio , " he said to the governor ; u must mention one thing to you before going . This man , whose name is Williams , guided us safely through an intricate passage between Redonda and the mainland , so that we escaped the English man-of-war . In return for this , I promised him the command of the Im / proviso , which is a suitable reward for such a sprvice . He will take charge of her at onco , and go across with her as soon as