"Not so bad as that, lady."

"But you are then--"

"A slaver!" said the young commander, turning from her and moodily
walking the deck; with a contracted brow and uneven step.





CHAPTER VIII.

THE QUADROON.




FOR several days succeeding that upon which Captain Ratlin had avowed
himself to his fair young companion to be engaged in the slave trade
upon the coast of Africa, the "Sea Witch" was occupied in running in
towards the land and exchanging signals with friends on shore, and then
standing off and on to watch a favorable moment for running to an
anchorage, without encountering one of the English or American cruisers
stationed on the coast. During this time the young commander and his
fair passenger found much time for conversation, and she strove with all
that power of persuasion and delicacy of tact peculiar to her sex, to
point out to the adventurous and generous-hearted commander the fearful
responsibility of the course he was pursuing.