" YELLOW JACK." 479 



A couple of days before we left Clarence, some 

 cases of yellow fever proved fatal, and shortly 

 afterwards the island was decimated with the 

 scourge. 



On the 3rd May, at 2 p.m., anchor was weighed, 

 and the next morning we were in the Bonny 

 river, where " Yellow Jack" was killing the people 

 faster than the survivors could bury the corpses. 



All communication was prohibited, both with 

 the shore and the shipping ; but a well-known 

 sporting character in the north of England, who 

 had made three fortunes on the Coast and gone 

 through them on the turf, pulled up under our 

 stern to ask if we had a late "Bell's Life" on 

 board, and whether we knew the odds offered 

 against "Old Calabar" for the Derby. 



Old E,ube Hemmingway and I had met on " the 

 Eoodee " in years bygone, and, in spite of Yellow 

 Jack, I determined to have a shake of his honest 

 fist, so we made him come on board. His tale was 

 a sad one, indeed : for the mortality was something 

 fearful, and all trade was at a standstill. Almost 

 every case proved fatal, and, in rather more than a 



