My companions, although a sufficiently lawless lot, were nevertheless genial enough among themselves, and--let me do them justice--made me heartily welcome among them.  Naturally enough, having heard that I had been a captive among the savages, they insisted upon my relating to them my adventures; and this inaugurated an evening of yarn-spinning in the forecastle, the incidents related having reference for the most part to the slave-trade.  There was one grizzled old scoundrel, in particular, nicknamed--appropriately enough, no doubt--"Red Hand," who was full of reminiscence and anecdote; and by-and-by, when the grog had been circulating for some time, he made mention of the names _Virginia_ and _Preciosa_, at which I pricked up my ears; for I remembered at once that those were the names of the two slavers that our own and the American Government were so anxious to lay by the heels, and which had hitherto baffled all our efforts and laughed at our most carefully laid plans. Not altogether to my surprise, I now learned that the _Virginia_ and the _Preciosa_ were one and the same craft, manned by two complete crews-- one American and one Spanish--and furnished with duplicate sets of papers.  Thus, if by any chance she happened to be overhauled by a British ship, she hoisted American colours, her American skipper, officers, and crew showed themselves, and her American set of papers was produced, the result being that she went free, although she might have a full cargo of slaves on board--for the British were not authorised to interfere with American slavers.  And, in like manner, if an American cruiser happened to fall in with her, she showed Spanish colours, mustered her Spanish crew on deck, and produced her Spanish papers for inspection if she were boarded, there being no treaty between America and Spain for the suppression of slavery.  What she did if she happened to encounter a French cruiser I did not learn; apparently such an accident had not yet happened, she being a remarkably fast sailer while the French cruisers were notoriously slow-coaches.  This was a most valuable piece of information for me to get hold of, and I carefully laid it away in the storehouse of my memory for use when occasion should serve.