was begun. I slipped through my mind all that had happened to me that
day--from my meeting with Captain Luke in the forenoon until there I
was, at nine o'clock at night, fairly out at sea; and I was so pleased
with the series of lucky chances which had put me on my way so rapidly
that my one mischance--my scare about the shackles--seemed
utterly absurd.

It was perfectly reasonable, I reflected, for Captain Luke to carry
out a lot of shackles simply as "trade." It was pretty dirty "trade,"
of course, but so was the vile so-called brandy he was carrying out
with him; and so, for that matter, were the arms--which pretty
certainly would be used in slaving forays up from the Coast. And even
supposing the very worst--that Captain Luke meant to ship a cargo of
slaves himself and had these irons ready for them--that worst would
come after I was out of the brig and done with her; the captain having
told me that Loango, which was my landing-place, would be his first
port of call. When I was well quit of the _Golden Hind_ she and her
crew and her captain, for all that I cared, might all go to the devil
together. It was enough for me that I should be well treated on the
voyage over; and from the way that the voyage had begun--unless the
surly mate and I might have a bit of a flare-up--it looked as though I
were going to be very well treated indeed. And so, having come to this
comforting conclusion, I let the soft motion of the brig have its way
with me and began to snooze.

A little later I was partly aroused by the sound of steps coming down
the companion-way; and then by hearing, in the mate's rumble, these
words: "I guess you're right, captain. As you had to run for it to-day
before you could buy our quinine, it's a damn good thing he did get
aboard, after all!"