In the Wilds of Africa

In the Wilds of Africa, by W.H.G.
Kingston

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Title: In the Wilds of Africa
Author: W.H.G. Kingston
Illustrator: A. Pearse
Release Date: November 15, 2007 [EBook #23503]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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WILDS OF AFRICA ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

In the Wilds of Africa
by W.H.G. Kingston.

CHAPTER ONE.
ON BOARD THE "OSPREY"--OFF THE COAST OF AFRICA.
A dense mist hung over the ocean; the sky above our heads was of a
grey tint; the water below our feet of the colour of lead. Not a ripple
disturbed its mirror-like surface, except when now and then a covey of
flying fish leaped forth to escape from their pursuers, or it was clove by
the fin of a marauding shark. We knew that we were not far off the
coast of Africa, some few degrees to the south of the Equator; but how
near we were we could not tell, for the calm had continued for several
days, and a strong current, setting to the eastward, had been rapidly
drifting us toward the shore.
Notwithstanding that the sun was obscured, his rays found means of
heating the atmosphere, so that we felt much as if we were surrounded
by a hot damp blanket.
I had already made a trip to the West Indies, and two to this terrible
coast; and as I had escaped without an attack of yellow fever, or
cholera, when the Liverpool owners of the brig Osprey--commanded by
Captain Page, an old African trader--offered me a berth as supercargo, I
willingly accepted it. We were bound out to the Cape of Good Hope,
but had arranged to touch at two or three places on the coast, to trade
and land passengers. Among other places we were to call at Saint Paul
de Loando, to land a Portuguese gentleman, Senhor Silva, and his black
servant Ramaon. Our object in trading was to obtain palm-oil,
bees'-wax, gold dust, and ivory, in exchange for Manchester and
Birmingham goods; and for this purpose we had already visited several
places on the coast, picking up such quantities as could be obtained at
each of them. We had not, however, escaped without the usual penalty
African traders have to pay--two of our men having died of fever, and
two others, besides the captain, being sick of it. The first mate, Giles
Gritton, and another man, had been washed overboard in a heavy gale
we encountered on the other side of the Equator, and we were now,
therefore, somewhat short-handed. The first mate was a great loss, for
he was an excellent seaman and a first-rate fellow, which is more than

could be said of the second mate, Simon Kydd. How he came to be
appointed mate seemed unaccountable; unless, as he was related to the
owners, interest might have obtained for him what his own merits
certainly would not. Taking him at his own value, he had few superiors,
if any equals.
I felt much for Captain Page. He took the loss of his first mate greatly
to heart, and thus the incapacity of the second contributed considerably
to increase his malady. Day after day he grew worse, and I began to
fear much that his illness would end fatally. He was as good and kind a
man as ever lived, and an excellent sailor.
I had not been knocking about the ocean altogether with my eyes shut,
and had managed to pick up a fair amount of nautical knowledge. I did
not intrude it unnecessarily; I had a notion that I was regarded with a
somewhat jealous eye by those who considered me a mere landsman. I
certainly understood more about navigation than Mr Kydd, but that is
not saying much. There were few things which I could not do, from
handing, reefing, and steering, to turning in a dead-eye, and setting up
the rigging; and few situations in which the fickle winds and waves
were likely to place a ship with which I was not prepared to contend.
Blow high or blow low, I felt myself at home on the ocean. My father
had objected to my becoming a sailor, and had placed me in his
counting-house. The sedentary life of a clerk was, however, not to my
taste, and I was very glad to abdicate my seat on the high stool on every
decent pretext. Still I had done