every style, from the long-tailed swinger and
watch and chain of the better sort, down to
the red or blue flannel shirt and sheath-knife
of the regular Yankee Tar. A list of ships
wanting hands hung on the wall. A sheet of
paper, with a printed heading, was stretched
on the counter as we entered, on which the
Shipping Master was writing, vociferating at
the same time, "Now then, who's the next?
Here you are—John Brown—touch the pen—
down with your mark. All right, John
Brown; pass on. Next? Silas Jones, eh?
Well, Silas, that's the place for your fist, I
guess. Good again. You're the last, Silas.
No more for the Rainbow," he cried, closing
the articles, and turning to another sheet.
"Now for the 'Lucy Anne.'"

"Where do you want to go to, my men?"
added he, turning to Jack and I.

"Oh, we're not very nice," replied Jack,
''anything in the small way. None of your
tea-waggons for my money."

"Well, then, my lads, here's just the thing
for you," rejoined the Shipping Master;.
"smart brig—good skipper—only wants two
hands. Sails to-morrow for the South coast
of Africa. A tarnation nice trip."

"What do you say—will this do?" said
Jack.

"Just as you like," replied I.

"Then here goes!" cried Jack, and in
another minute his mark and my signature
were attached to an agreement between us
and a certain John Curson pledging us to do
his behests during a voyage to Ambriz and
back, for the consideration of sixteen dollars,
each of us, per month. Our month's advance
pay was handed to us, and the next day saw
us domiciled in the dimly-lighted, half-oval-
shaped den—the furniture of which consisted of
eight bunks—which was called the "Fok'stle,"
and was to be our home for some time. The
crew consisted of four besides Jack and
myself; a Maltese, a Portuguese, and two
Americans. It was difficult to say what
countryman the "old man" was, or what sort
of a person he was, for captains do not
generally "show out" at first, particularly if they
have any teeth to show. As far as living
went (and that very naturally makes a sensible
impression on one's feelings), there could be
no fault found with the "Lucy Anne." The
crew stinted in nothing; so that when, the
next day, we ran out with a fair wind past
Sandy Hook and its lighthouses, it was with
every apparent chance of a pleasant voyage.

Our passage across the Atlantic was
accomplished without anything out of the usual
routine of sea-life to disturb us. We had the
average amount of fresh breezes, squalls, and
variables, before we took the SE. trades,
together with a proportionate number of
disturbed "Watches below," and reefing matches
in consequence; though, on the whole, we had
nothing to complain of in that respect.

Everything went on smoothly, and the
captain and his mate, who was a foreigner, seemed
on particularly good terms. We had now
arrived within a hundred miles of the coast,
and had exchanged the regular fresh trade
winds for sultry calms, and the first faint
indication of land and sea breezes; the latter
helped us on, and the next morning we could
just discern the remarkable high land, shaped
like a saddle, that rises behind Ambriz. As
we neared the coast, but before we could
make it out at all distinctly, we could discern
a column of white smoke in the far distance,
to the northward, rising over the dim haze
that outlined indistinctly against the sky,
where the land was; this was soon followed
by a similar one nearer to us, and then
another,
"And soon a score of fires I ween
From height, and hill, and cliff were seen;"
rising from the dim mist over the land at
regular intervals, and extending along the
line of coast to the southward as far as we
could see; and visible to any vessel miles
farther at sea than we were.

Jack and I had few opportunities of
conversing on the passage, being in different
watches. The hands were now on deck, and
as the brig, running in before the wind, rapidly
neared her destination, we were standing on
the forecastle watching the progress of the
fires.

"What in the world do they mean?" I
asked.

"Oh! I suppose there's some cruizer in
sight to the nor'rard, and they're a signalling
any slaver from shore not to come too near."

"That's a capital dodge—why they can see
them before they make the land—"

"'Course they can," replied Jack, "and the
Brazilians as is regularly fitted, lays off and
on till there's a slant o' wind and the coast's
clear, then pops in and ships her poor devils
of darkies, and is off again with the land
breeze, before you can say 'Knife! '"

"You're right, Jack," I exclaimed. " See
there—to the north; isn't that smoke? that
dark, black streak, I mean."

"O 'course it is—that's a British steamer's
smoke—a regular blockader I pound it. She's
running down the coast, and they 're a lighting
her along."

"Cus 'em," muttered the "old man" who
was standing near us, "we shall have that
fellow boarding us every day, I suppose."

In the mean time the brig had neared the
anchorage, and we could see plainly the line
of trees, behind which a cluster of barn-like
factories, with their respective flag-staffs,
peeped out upon the top of a bluff, red-
coloured cliff. To the left, the coast was low
with a heavy line of surf breaking, and on the
bar, stretching from the bluff in the same
direction, the long heavy swell sometimes
capped and broke with a growling roar; inside
of this, and sheltered by it, was the landing-
place.

Before the brig's anchor was well down, a