24 THE AFRICAN TRADER.

thoughts of that wonderful region, with its unex-
plored rivers, its gloomy forests, and its black
skinned inhabitants, with their barbarous customs
and superstitious rites, rose in my mind.

‘ Aye, sure and it will be a pleasant day when
we take our departure from the land, and see the
last of it,’ observed Dick. ‘If those niggers would
trade like other people we might make quick work
of it, and be away home again ina few weeks, but
we may thank our stars if we get a full cargo by
this time next year, without leaving some of our
number behind.’

‘What? I should not fancy that any of our fel-
lows were likely to desert,’ I observed.

“No; but they are likely to get pressed by a
chap who won’t let go his gripe of them again,’
auswered Dick.

‘Who is that?’ I asked.

‘ Yellow-fingered Jack we call him sometimes,
the coast fever,’ said Dick. ‘If they would but
take better care of themselves and not drink those
poisonous spirits and sleep on shore at night, they
might keep out of his clutches. I give this as a
hint to you, Harry. I have been there a score of
times, and am pretty well seasoned, but I have felt