noon
Nevertheless , darkness had no sooner set in , than she made an effort to do so by edging off to the northward , a couple of points , which move , however , we soon detected and frustrated by steering directly after her . During the night the wind breezed up again somewhat , and this gave the chase so great an advantage that at daybreak she was still about eight miles ahead . Shortly after sunrise , however , it dwindled away again , and gradually dropped to a gentle air that barely fanned us along at a speed of five knots . By noon we had brought the chase to within five miles of us , and Ryan deemed that the time had now arrived for us to declare ourselves ; we accordingly hoisted British colours , and fired a gun as a signal to the barque to heave-to ; the only notice taken of which was the exhibition of Spanish colours by the chase , and the firing of a shotted gun of defiance ; so now at last we knew each other . Meanwhile the wind was very gradually dropping , and the schooner as gradually gaining upon the craft ahead , until at length , late in the afternoon , we had reached within a mile and a half of her . And then began one of those barbarous practices that I had heard of , but had hitherto been scarcely able to credit as sober truth , namely , the throwing of slaves overboard in order to retard pursuit by causing the pursuer to stop and pick up the poor wretches , as British men-o ' - war invariably did whenever it was at all practicable . The mode of procedure was generally to launch the unhappy black overboard , securely lashed to a plank or piece of timber large enough to float him , and as he was dropped exactly in the track of the pursuing man-o ' - war , he was certain to be seen by some one on board , and an effort made to pick him up .