Maturin M. Ballou
The Sea-Witch; Or, The African Quadroon
A Story of the Slave Coast
Published by Good Press, 2021
EAN 4057664620774
Table of Contents
OUTWARD BOUND.
CAPTAIN WILL RATLIN.
THE GALE.
BRAMBLE PARK.
THE NAVAL OFFICER.
THE WRECK.
THE SEA WITCH.
THE QUADROON.
THE ATTACK.
THE DUEL.
THE HUES OF LOVE.
THE CONFLICT.
THE TRIAL.
THE BROTHERS.
THE ESCAPE.
THE CANNIBALS.
THE POISONED BARB.
THE DENOUEMENT.
PAS SEUL BY MOONLIGHT.
THE STUDENT'S RETURN.
MISS HENDERSON'S THANKSGIVING DAY.
PREFACE.
LET the reader peruse the following story with the same spirit in which it was written, and not conceive that it is either a pro-slavery or anti-slavery tale. The "peculiar institution" which is herein introduced, is brought forward simply as an auxiliary, and not as a feature of the story. It is only referred to where the plot and locality upon the slave coast have rendered this necessary, and the careful reader will observe that the subject is treated with entire impartiality. These few remarks are introduced, because we desire to appear consistent. Our paper shall neither directly nor indirectly further any sectional policy or doctrine, and in its conduct shall be neutral, free and independent.—Editor of The Flag of our Union.
THE SEA-WITCH.
CHAPTER I.
OUTWARD BOUND.
OUR story opens in that broad, far-reaching expanse of water which lies deep and blue between the two hemispheres, some fifteen degrees north of the equator, in the latitude of Cuba and the Cape Verd Islands. The delightful trade winds had not fanned the sea on a finer summer's day for a twelvemonth, and the waves were daintily swelling upon the heaving bosom of the deep, as though indicating the respiration of the ocean. It was scarcely a day's sail beyond the flow of the Caribbean Sea, that one of those noblest results of man's handiwork, a fine ship, might have been seen gracefully ploughing her course through the sky-blue waters of the Atlantic. She was close-hauled on the larboard tack, steering east-southeast, and to a sailor's eye presented a certain indescribable something that gave her taut rig and saucy air a dash of mystery,