four o'clock
We were at once struck with the marked resemblance which the stranger bore to the _ Virginia _ -- though it was by no means so striking as the similarity between our prize and the _ Black Venus _ -- and we forthwith came to the conclusion that we now at last beheld the veritable _ Vestale _ -- the real Simon Pure -- before us . And so , upon Armitage boarding her , she proved to be ; her captain , upon hearing of the extraordinary personation of his craft so successfully played off upon us by the _ Virginia _ , actually producing his commission to prove his _ bona fides _ . During the course of this somewhat eventful day , also , one of our lads learned from one of the prisoners that on the occasion of our second encounter with the _ Virginia _ -- when she so cleverly pretended to be in pursuit of the _ Black Venus _ -- she was actually making the best of her way to Havana with the three hundred slaves on board which she had accused her sister-ship of carrying off , and that her elaborate signalling on that occasion was merely resorted to for the purpose of hoodwinking us . At four o'clock that afternoon , Mr Austin 's body having been deposited in the coffin which had been prepared for it , the hands were mustered on deck in their clean clothes , the boats were hoisted out , and the body was deposited in the launch , with the union-jack spread over the coffin as a pall , and the ensign hoisted half-mast high on the staff in the boat 's stern . Just as the procession was on the point of shoving off from the ship 's side , the officers of the _ Vestale _ , who had incidentally learned the particulars of Austin 's murder , approached in their two gigs , with the French flag floating at half-mast from the ensign-staves in the sterns of their boats , and took up a position in the rear . We then shoved off ; the first and second cutters taking the launch in tow , and proceeding up the creek in charge of old Mildmay , the master , the captain and officers following in the two gigs . As soon as we were clear of the ship 's side the _ Daphne _ began firing minute-guns , to which the _ Vestale _ , hoisting her ensign half up to the peak , replied ; and so we moved slowly up the creek , the minute-guns continuing as long as the boats remained within sight of the ship .