LOVE AND CANNIBALISM. 151 



" Eat him, massa, may be; for dey look on him as one who 

 HOW is enemy — dat is, dey call me enemy, and dem know him 

 is my vife — Oh, Lord — feefty dollar — all go, de day dem roast 

 my vife." 



I could scarcely refrain from laughing; but on the instant the 

 poor fellow ran up to the old quartermaster, who was standing 

 near the mast, admiring the construction of the canoe, — as beau- 

 tiful a skiff, by the way, as was ever scooped out of tree. " Help 

 me, old man : help me to launch de canoe. I must go on sore 

 — I must go on sore." 



The seaman looked at me — I nodded ; and, taking the hint, he 

 instantly lent Blackie a hand. The canoe was launched over- 

 board, and the next moment Sergeant Quacco was paddling after 

 his adored, that had cost him fifty dollars, in double-quick time. 



He seemed, so far as we could judge, to be rapidly overtaking 

 her, when the little promontory of the creek hid them from our 

 view ; and under the impression that we had seen the last of him, 

 I began to busy myself in the hope of getting over the bar that 

 forenoon. An hour might have elapsed, and all remained quiet, 

 except at the bar, where the thunder and hissing of the breakers 

 began to fail ; and as the tide made, I began, in concert with 

 Mr. Sprawl, to see all ready to go to sea ; but I soon was per- 

 suaded, that, from the extreme heaviness of the ground swell 

 that rolled in, there was no chance of extricating ourselves until 

 the evening at the soonest, or it might be next morning, when 

 the young ebb would give us a lift; so we were walking up and 

 down, to while away the time, when poor Lennox, who had by 

 this time come on deck, said, on my addressing him, that he had 

 seen small jets of white smoke rise up from among the green 

 mangroves now and then ; and although he had not heard any 

 report, yet he was persuaded they indicated musket-shots. 



" It may all be as you say, Lennox ; but I hope we shall 

 soon be clear of this accursed river, and then they may blaze 

 away at each other as much as they please." 



The words were scarcely out of my mouth, when we not only 

 saw the smoke, but heard the rattle of musketry, and presently a 

 small black speck shot rapidly beyond the headland, or cape, 

 that shut in our view, on the larboard side, up the river. On its 

 nearer approach, we soon perceived that it was our friend Quacco 

 once more, in his small dory of a canoe, with the little fetish god 

 stuck over the bow; but there was no appearance of his wife. 



