Captain Bramble knew very well that he had desperate men to deal with in the taking of a slaver on the coast, but he had gathered his evidence and witnesses in such a strong array that he felt warranted in going to any length in securing possession of a clipper craft which had been so fully described to him.  He was not wanting in personal courage, and therefore, with a well-selected body of sailors and marines, and one or two officers, he quietly pulled away from the ship’s side, under cover of the night, and landed at the proposed spot.  Here he found Maud patiently awaiting his coming, and ready to lead him to the hiding-place of the “Sea Witch” and her crew.  The men were all well armed, and instructed how to act in any possible emergency that was to be met with in the business which brought them on shore.

On the whole body pressed in silence, through a tangled and narrow path, being more than once startled by the growl of some wild animal, whose haunts they disturbed.  It was weary struggling by this path through the wood, but it was the only way to approach the desired point by land.  Maud hesitated not, but stole or glided through the tangled undergrowth, as though she had passed her whole life-time in the deep, tangled ways of the jungle.  As they went on, the moon gradually rose and lifted up the dark path by little gleamings which stole in through the thick leaves and close-turning branches of the lofty vegetation.

On, on they press; and now they pause at a sign from Maud, and listen to the sound of voices, which have a strange and echo-like sound in that wild and tangled spot.  Hark! those voices are not from the tongues of natives; that is English which they speak.

“Hist! hist!” whispered the Quadroon, “we are almost upon them!”

“In which direction?” asked the English officer.

“Here, see you not those bright, silver-like scales through the leaves?”

“Yes.”

“That is the river’s bed, and they lie on board their craft, moored close to us.”

“How many do they number?”

“I know not.”

“It is not important,” continued the Englishman, turning to his followers, and in a low voice bidding them look to their weapons, for the game was near at hand.

A few more steps brought the party to the skirts of the thicket, where it bordered on a small clearing, opening upon the river, and looking across which—­while they were themselves screened by the jungle—­they discovered the dark hull of the “Sea Witch,” with her lower masts and their standing rigging.  The vessel was moored close to the shore, with which a portable gangway connected it.  Shallow as the water was, yet so light was her draft that she evidently floated upon its sluggish current.  Voices were heard issuing from the fore hatch, and two or three petty officers were seated about the entrance to the cabin, smoking cigars and pipes, all unconscious of any danger.