Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
A Middy of the Slave Squadron A West African Story
By Harry Collingwood ________________________________________________________________________ This was one of the last books written by "Harry Collingwood". The copy we worked from was very clearly printed, but with one very major problem - the text was printed far too close to the centre of the book. Therefore the book could not be scanned using the regular book-scanner, but rather it was done using the scanner in flat-bed mode. However, the results were quite good, with the text coming through very clearly, and only the hyphens needing a good amount of checking. The hyphens get affected by the cleaning-up process which takes out the unwanted dark patches on the scans.
The book is exactly according to the title. Remembering that "Harry Collingwood" was in real life a naval architect, you can take good note of the way he handles nautical terminology. Other contemporary authors were good, but in this respect Collingwood is a real master.
It makes a good audiobook, so you ought to enjoy it very greatly. NH. ________________________________________________________________________ A MIDDY OF THE SLAVE SQUADRON A WEST AFRICAN STORY
BY HARRY COLLINGWOOD
CHAPTER ONE.
A SOUND THROUGH THE DARKNESS.
"Phew!" ejaculated Mr Perry, first lieutenant of His Britannic Majesty's corvette _Psyche_, as he removed his hat and mopped the perspiration from his streaming forehead with an enormous spotted pocket-handkerchief. "I believe it's getting hotter instead of cooler; although, by all the laws that are supposed to govern this pestiferous climate, we ought to be close upon the coolest hour of the twenty-four! Just step aft to the skylight, Mr Fortescue, and see what the time is, will ye? It must surely be nearing two bells."
"Ay, ay, sir!" I dutifully answered; and, moving aft to the skylight, raised the canvas cover which had been placed over it to mask the light of the low-turned lamp which was kept burning all night in the fore cabin, and glanced at the clock which, screwed to the coaming on one side of the tell-tale compass, balanced the barometer which, hung in gimbals, was suspended on the other side. The clock marked the time as two minutes to five a.m., or within two minutes of two bells in the morning watch.
Dropping the canvas screen back into place, I was about to announce the time to my superior officer, when I thought I caught, through the faint creak of the ship's timbers and the light rustling of the canvas aloft, a slight, far off sound, like the squeak of a sheave on a rusty pin. Therefore, instead of proclaiming the time aloud, I stepped quietly to the side of the first luff, and asked, almost in a whisper--
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: A Middy of the Slave Squadron by Harry Collingwood
- 2: The Psyche was a British man o' war
- 3: When ting ting came the soft chiming of a ship's bell
- 4: She is still in all probability a slaver
- 5: To find that little Tom Copplestone who shared my watch
- 6: What would become of us poor midshipmen
- 7: If you no look for dem Cupid you no see um
- 8: And had remained becalmed near us
- 9: The haunts of the slavers and their agents
- 10: Who had recently returned in triumph to his town of Olomba
- 11: Or thirty thousand pounds in all
- 12: And fore topgallant and royal mast were varnished
- 13: Close hauled on the port tack
- 14: Fight King Olomba and a whole flotilla of war canoes
- 15: Narrow strip of unbroken water
- 16: Glided in between these two islets
- 17: Fathomless mud overgrown with mangrove trees
- 18: Although only a free hand sketch
- 19: And the skipper bringing up the rear
- 20: The gig was of course provided with a boat compass
- 21: That there was a barracoon somewhere near at hand
- 22: The gig weathered the storm unscathed
- 23: I will find Mr Hutchinson and send him to you
- 24: Came from Nugent aboard the launch
- 25: I quickly found Mr Hoskins and delivered my message
- 26: I therefore kept a sharp eye on the barometer
- 27: And were loosing the main topmast staysail
- 28: That Mr Perry gave orders for the two graves to be dug
- 29: Mr Perry took up the reins of government
- 30: And found neither slaves nor barracoon there
- 31: But what about the barracoon which you destroyed to day
- 32: Therefore we will neglect no precautions
- 33: Where are Mr Fortescue and Mr Copplestone
- 34: They reach right across the spit
- 35: But I at once ranged up alongside Copplestone
- 36: Transfixed by a broad bladed spear
- 37: I emptied the pannikin before attempting to reply
- 38: And prescribed a small quantity of broth
- 39: Fervently responded the medico
- 40: But Murdoch is working like a Trojan
- 41: Fringed with the inevitable mangroves
- 42: To Sierra Leone to summon assistance
- 43: Should a slaver arrive at the factory
- 44: Dat dem cauffle am comin' down from de Bakota country
- 45: And go off by myself into de bush to meet dem cauffle
- 46: The spot would serve admirably for an ambuscade
- 47: That of the slave traders and their unhappy victims
- 48: And give us timely notice of the approach of a slaver
- 49: Under topsails and fore topmast staysail
- 50: While I convey your message to Senor Morillo
- 51: Monsieur doubtless means Monsieur Favart
- 52: For the cauffle that is arriving is a big one
- 53: When is the cauffle expected to arrive
- 54: I exclaimed excitedly to Favart
- 55: With the two ensigns thus arranged
- 56: Prior to being housed in the barracoons
- 57: Upon regaining our perch we saw that the brigantine
- 58: Then her fore topmast staysail
- 59: The barque was named Don Miguel
- 60: And thence onward to the Camma Lagoon
- 61: The fore and aft canvas was brailed in
- 62: If we carried them to Sierra Leone
- 63: The captain himself naturally took command of the Josefa
- 64: Our trial by court martial for the loss of the Psyche
- 65: When a slaver entered a shallow river
- 66: Thus as the Eros and ourselves were hove to
- 67: Had stowed her mizen topgallantsail
- 68: In order to reach her lee gangway
- 69: And she flies that galorious flag that's floatin' up thar
- 70: Look at 'em as long as yew like
- 71: And I was once more in the gig
- 72: That we should sail fast enough to overtake her
- 73: With the result that by sunset our lee scuppers were dry
- 74: Where Tasker was officer of the watch
- 75: The scare started with a sudden fall of the barometer
- 76: And the violent rustle and slatting of the staysails
- 77: A fierce gust of hot wind swept over us
- 78: On the upturned side of the companion
- 79: The last lanyard parted with a twang
- 80: Each taking a spell of ten minutes pumping
- 81: With the solitary exception of the longboat
- 82: Affording space enough to stow away some thirty people
- 83: The longboat had launched herself
- 84: She was the ordinary type of ship's longboat
- 85: With a further steady improvement of the weather
- 86: Barbadoes was as directly dead to leeward
- 87: That they emanate from sea birds
- 88: It was still some time before oblivion came to me
- 89: Up which I was somewhat unceremoniously hustled
- 90: The sides and ends of the cabin were formed of bulkheads
- 91: Merely to breathe such an exhilarating atmosphere
- 92: Most slavers were little if anything better than pirates
- 93: Through the slats in the top panel of my door
- 94: The English have ever been my most implacable enemies
- 95: Where Captain Tourville was sitting alone
- 96: That your injuries are both real and deep
- 97: And made my way up on to the poop
- 98: I walked the poop with Monsieur Leroy for a full hour
- 99: Even after what had passed between Tourville and myself
- 100: I volunteered to assume nursing duty in the place of Leroy
- 101: Accompanied by violent clankings of the wheel chains
- 102: She might of course be a slaver
- 103: As though Marcel was just hoisting himself out of it
- 104: For if Leroy recognised the schooner
- 105: Even if Captain Tourville happened to be awake
- 106: Where I could stand without being seen from inboard
- 107: For scarcely had the firing ceased when Captain Tourville
- 108: I felt altogether too wretchedly ill
- 109: Steering with a somewhat longer and broader bladed paddle
- 110: The party who had vanished into the bush returned
- 111: And the gradual transition from the ruddy
- 112: But it did not long remain inexplicable
- 113: And I was momentarily expecting that this creek
- 114: My captors had taken good care of that
- 115: Thus causing the twigs to ignite
- 116: And who had evidently been bitten by it
- 117: But his whole body was swollen almost out of human semblance
- 118: And practically the same width
- 119: With thick walls built of substantial wattles
- 120: I soon found that I was the cause of all the commotion
- 121: And were inside the palisaded enclosure
- 122: And while Mafuta was an image of decrepitude
- 123: Mafuta evidently objected to it
- 124: Each bearing upon her head a large bundle of dry fern
- 125: I had resolved to make myself either a flute or a flageolet
- 126: Was exceedingly detrimental to the reputation of Mafuta
- 127: Intending to suck the poison from it
- 128: I now seemed to see a good deal of Ama
- 129: As soon as Ama made her appearance
- 130: A good many are smelled out' by Mafuta and his assistants
- 131: Gouroo smiled a smile of triumphant malice as
- 132: Most of them wildly impossible
- 133: Was decorated with its own separate victim
- 134: And into this lane the victims
- 135: Those who had become unconscious were temporarily released
- 136: Quickly increasing to a drenching downpour
- 137: Ama led the way through the grove and along its edge
- 138: Far out into the rapidly flowing stream
- 139: But when Gouroo whispered to my father
- 140: Ama gave the canoe a sheer in toward the eastern bank
- 141: Asking whether the expected pursuers were in sight
- 142: And then what was to become of poor Ama
- 143: It was not difficult to read the signs Ama
- 144: Upon which I intended to build my pyre
- 145: He made mention of the names Virginia and Preciosa
- 146: And finally bore away for Cape Palmas
- 147: Even to Copplestone and Parkinson
- 148: At a spot about one hundred miles to the westward of Palmas
- 149: Too far off for identification purposes
- 150: And by the time that we had got our studdingsails set
- 151: My Yankee friend and his mate were on the poop watching us
- 152: Carved on one side of it and Preciosa