propose it would be impossible, for the ship will be searched from
end to end before the hatches are closed, and an official will be on
board until we discharge the pilot after getting well beyond the
mouth of the river."

"Yes, I know that," Vincent replied; "but my plan was to take a
boat and go out beyond the sight of land, and then to put him on
board after you have got well away."

"That might be managed, certainly," the captain said. "It would be
contrary to my duty to do anything that would risk the property of
my employers; but if when I am out at sea a boat came alongside,
and a passenger came on board, it would be another matter. I
suppose, young gentleman, that you would not interfere in such a
business, and run the risk that you certainly would run if detected,
unless you were certain that this was a deserving case, and that the
man has committed no sort of crime; for I would not receive on
board my ship a fugitive from justice, whether he was black or
white."

"It is indeed a deserving case," Vincent said earnestly. "The poor
fellow has the misfortune of belonging to one of the worst masters
in the State. He has been cruelly flogged on many occasions, and
was finally driven to run away by their selling his wife and child."

"The brutes!" the sailor said. "How you people can allow such
things to be done is a mystery to me. Well, lad, under those
circumstances I will agree to do what you ask me, and if your boat
comes alongside when I am so far away from land that it cannot be
seen, I will take the man to England."