I went to pay a farewell visit to my young lady, but found that she was locked up, so away I went and soon forgot all about it.

Shortly afterwards I heard that the governor's daughter married the man whose leg I had lamed for his impertinence to me.
My last adventure while employed in the suppression of the slave trade is perhaps worth describing.
By international law it was ruled that a vessel on her way to Africa, if fitted out in a certain manner, whereby it was evident that she was employed in the nefarious traffic of slavery, was liable to capture and condemnation by the mixed tribunals, or in other words became the lawful prize of her captors.
While cruising off Pernambuco we boarded a Portuguese vessel bound to Africa, so evidently fitted out for the purpose of slave trade that my captain took possession of her, and sent me to convey her to the Cape of Good Hope for adjudication.

It was the usual thing to send the captain of a vessel so captured as a prisoner on board his ship, so that he might be interrogated at the trial.

In this case the master and three of his crew were sent.

The prize crew consisted of myself and six men.
Now the captain was an exceedingly gentlemanlike man, a good sailor, and a first-rate navigator.
At first I treated him as a prisoner, but by degrees he insinuated himself into my good graces to such an extent that after a while I invited him to mess with me, in fact, made a friend of him, little thinking of the serpent I was nourishing.
For several days all went well.