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The second lieutenant was first alongside, closely followed by Gowland, the pinnace making a bad third and ranging up under the bows of the brig, while the other boats attempted to board her in the waist.
We secured our prisoners; conveyed our own wounded amounting to nine in all on board the schooner; and then, having put Pierrepoint and a prize-crew on board the barque, both vessels made sail in company for Sierra Leone, where we arrived safely, after a passage of exactly a week, and where we were rejoined by Gowland and the prize-crew of the Conquistador, which vessel had arrived six days before us.
And to this Gowland had replied that if the white prisoners were not surrendered, safe and sound, or the whole of the chiefs, Matadi included, on board the schooner when the sun stood over a certain hill-top which would be in about an hour from that moment the schooner's guns would open fire upon the town and continue its bombardment until every house in it was razed to the ground.
By sunset we had raised her to half-way down her courses, by which time I had come to the conclusion that she was a stranger; but as Gowland, the master's mate, persisted in his assertion that she was the Shark, we still held on as we were steering, feeling persuaded that, if she were indeed that vessel, she would be anxious to speak to us; while, if she should prove to be a stranger, no great harm would be done beyond the loss of a few hours on our part.
I took care to be below when he boarded us; and, in accordance with previous arrangements, Gowland, who met the fellow upon his arrival, proposed that he should go down into the cabin and see me personally upon the business of his visit. He at once assented, willingly, Gowland following him down, and when the two had entered, the sentry at the cabin-door closed it after them.
The first cutter was commanded by Gowland, the master's mate, and carried, in addition to her crew of ten men and a coxswain, eight marines. The second cutter was entrusted to me, and carried the same complement as her consort, the first cutter.
My crew of fourteen included Gowland, our master's mate, and young Sinclair, a first-class volunteer, as well as San Domingo, the servant of the midshipmen's mess, to act as steward, and the cook's mate.
It is unfortunate that you should have lost five of your number, and I am particularly sorry that Mr Gowland should have been among them, for Mr Gowland was a particularly trustworthy and reliable navigator; but no one could possibly have foreseen that you would have been attacked by that piratical slaver. Ah, here come the captain and your friend the general!
As for Gowland and myself, we paced the deck contemplatively together until about ten o'clock, discussing the chances of getting away on the morrow, and then, everything seeming perfectly quiet and peaceful, we had our mattresses brought on deck, and stretched ourselves out thereon in the small clear space between the companion and the wheel.
In the teeth of this new disaster the pinnace forced her way through the now divided boom, closely followed by Ryan in the gig, then myself, with Gowland bringing up the rear.
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