Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 16, 2025
"No; of course you cannot, you sweet innocent," retorted Mendouca, with fine sarcasm, "for the simple reason, as I say, that the British are altogether too trustful and confiding to see treachery or double-dealing until it is thrust openly in their faces.
Notwithstanding which statement I could not avoid noticing that he toyed a great deal with his food and ate very little; which was not to be wondered at under the circumstances, for I afterwards learned that while I was below in my berth, suspecting nothing worse than the purchase and transfer of a cargo of slaves from one ship to another, a most atrocious and cold-blooded act of piracy had been committed, and that, too, under the shadow and disguise of the British flag; Mendouca having coolly hoisted British colours the moment that I left the deck, and, in the guise of a British cruiser, compelled the Portuguese brig to heave-to and disgorge her cargo; after which he had confined the crew below, bound hand and foot, and had scuttled their ship, leaving them to perish in her when she went down!
The whole of the work was executed so rapidly and silently as to clearly demonstrate that the crew was a thoroughly seasoned one, inured to fighting, and by no means averse to it when the chances were in their favour, as they certainly were in the present instance; and I was filled with chagrin and disgust at the thought of how simple an accident had sufficed to mar and defeat what might otherwise have proved a perfect surprise to Mendouca and his crew.
"It appears to me, however, that the whole question hinges upon the point whether they are nearer to us or to the brig; and in my opinion they are much nearer to the latter." For fully another minute Mendouca continued to watch the boats; then he suddenly exclaimed "I shall recall them.
There was of course the risk that Mendouca might send for me and ask me to look after his vessel for him through the night, knowing or guessing as he would the condition of his crew; but I did not believe that he would, at least not so soon after the perpetration of such fearful atrocities as he had openly committed that afternoon.
I therefore no longer surreptitiously but ostentatiously again brought the night-glass to bear upon her, and allowed myself to be found thus when Mendouca came aft, after having personally superintended the muffling of the sweeps and the putting of them in motion again. "Well," he said, as he rejoined me, "have you not yet been able to satisfy yourself as to the character of that brig?"
Our most serious difficulty was the want of water, Mendouca having literally cleared the ship of every drop she possessed, save some eight or ten gallons in the scuttle-butt, which they had either overlooked, or perhaps had considered not worth taking.
The boatswain saw at once how the land lay, and that Mendouca was only amusing himself at my expense; feeling confident therefore of his captain's countenance and protection, I suppose, he, for answer, raised his colt and smote the nearest negro a savage blow over the shoulders with it.
The difficulty, of course, would be to do this; but if, as I rather expected, Mendouca should elect to lay the Francesca, alongside the ship and endeavour to carry the latter by a coup de main, I would board with the rest, taking my chance of being run through or shot down in the attempt, and immediately place myself under the protection of the stranger's crew.
At length, after witnessing through the telescope some more than usually extraordinary performance with the canvas, I remarked "I think there is one thing pretty clear about that brig, and that is that she is in the possession of people who have not the remotest notion how to handle her." "Eh? what is that you say?" demanded Mendouca. "Don't know how to handle her?
Word Of The Day
Others Looking