"Ah-h--" and when he looked at me like that it mattered not about his
law-breaking--he was the bravest, finest man that ever sailed the
trades. "Guy, my boy, if you'll have it so, why come along. And once
more we'll cruise together; but you won't judge your commander too
harshly, will you, Guy?"

We took the ebb down the river. Our papers read for a West India trading
voyage, but we lingered not among the West Indies. Four weeks later we
raised the Cape Verdes, and an islet rose like a castle from out of the
mists. Abreast of a pebbled beach we came to anchor and waited.


II

A boat scraped alongside, and the agent Rimmle came aboard. He came out
to have a chat for old time's sake; and yet not so old either, he
corrected, and would Captain Blaise come ashore and have a drink or two
of good liquor? And Captain Blaise replied that he carried as good
liquor in his locker as ever graced any sideboard ashore. And they
dropped into the cabin, where I happened to be, and had a glass of wine
and a word or two, and another glass and a few more words; and at last
Rimmle put the question: Would Captain Blaise run one more draft?

Long ago, Captain Blaise promised me that there was to be no more
slave-running, and as he never lied to me, I wondered now why he paused
and pondered as if debating with himself. At last he looked up. "It
doesn't pay any more, Rimmle."

"Well, in these days," observed Rimmle, "I don't blame you, with the