There was no one aboard to give
command, for Jack Halsey, the mate who had been in command since the
death of the captain had gone ashore the night before.
As old Barr had prophesied, the mate's love for strong liquor had
overcome him and he was now lying hopelessly intoxicated in a low
drinking den. The raw "trade gin" that he had drunk had rendered
him insensible and so he would remain for many hours to come.
Some sort of animation diffused itself among the crew as they saw a
low-laden launch headed toward them from the shore. In it were
seated Luther Barr and several negroes including the black captain.
"Here, you lazy loafers!" hailed Barr, who was evidently in a bad
temper and also in a furious hurry, as the launch ranged alongside,
"bear a hand here and rig a sling and get this stuff aboard."
The "stuff" referred to was the priceless collection of ivory which
lay higgeldy-piggeldy in the bottom of the launch just as it had
been thrown in by the negroes in Barr's pay. Anticipating that the
boys would put up a stiff fight for the ivory he had taken the
precaution to hire these ne'er-do-wells, who would do anything, from
cutting a throat to stealing a chicken, for pay. Barr had paid them
well and when he had arrived at the camp he had taken the precaution
to leave them down the river about half-a-mile while he went on
alone with the launch and her captain to see how the land lay.
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