midday
`` Very good , Mr Jones ; have the goodness to do so , '' I said , and the boatswain vanished . Upon returning to the deck after the completion of my toilet I found that the brig had , like ourselves , hauled-up half a point , and set her royals , with the result that she was slightly increasing her distance from us . This change , slight though it was , in the course of the two vessels , caused the stranger and ourselves gradually to approach each other on lines that converged at a very acute angle , and I surmised that Fawcett had set his royals with the twofold object of increasing the speed of his approach toward the stranger , and of avoiding the awakening of any suspicion on the part of that stranger which the sight of a ship with her royals stowed in such moderate weather might be likely to arouse . By midday we had raised the stranger sufficiently to enable us to see the whole of her royal and just the head of her topgallant-sail from the deck , while from our royal-yard the whole of her canvas was visible down to the top half of her foresail ; we were therefore in a position to pronounce not only that she was a brigantine , but also that she was a slashing big craft , probably quite as big as the _ Dona Inez _ . As the afternoon wore on , however , we seemed to be raising her no higher , and I came at length to the conclusion that , like ourselves , she had slightly hauled her wind , thus manifesting a distinct if not very strongly marked desire to avoid any closer acquaintance with us , which , in its turn , went far to confirm me in a suspicion which had already arisen within my mind that she was a slaver , probably from the Bonny or the Gaboon , with a cargo of `` black ivory '' on board . All the afternoon I maintained a close watch upon the commodore , with the aid of the splendid telescope which we had found aboard the schooner , momentarily expecting him to make some signal which would indicate that he shared my suspicions ; but none came , and at length it dawned upon me that he was purposely abstaining from holding any communication with me , lest by doing so he should strengthen any suspicion which the stranger might be entertaining as to our character . But I noticed that at eight bells in the afternoon watch he again altered his course , hauling up another point ; and without receiving any signal from him I promptly did the same .