94 THE AFRICAN TRADER.

‘Oh, Massa Harry, that is indeed joyful news,’
he cried out. ‘Then IJ and my mother and father
will all meet in heaven, Praise God! I now not
fear what man can do unto me.’

It would be difficult to do justice to the feeling
displayed by Paul, even were I to repeat all he
said, his piety, his gratitude, and his joy. He
could talk of nothing else during the night. He
seemed to be insensible to hunger and thirst, and
to forget altogether the dangerous position in which
we were placed. Now he kneeled down in prayer,
now he gave vent to his feelings in a hymn of -
praise. I could not help sympathising with him,
and rejoicing that I had been the means of giving
him the information which made him so happy.
Still I must confess that I myself suffered not a
little from the pangs of hunger, and would have
given much for a glass of cold water.

When morning dawned the schooner was still
in sight. I looked anxiously round for the sign of
a breeze, hoping that if it did come the stranger
would stand towards us. At all events it seemed
probable that having seen the burning vessel those
on board, in common humanity, would sail over the
spot where she had been, on the chance of picking