Chapter 1
_ CHAPTER ONE. ON BOARD THE "OSPREY"--OFF THE COAST OF AFRICA``
A dense mist hung over the ocean； the sky above our heads was of a grey tint； the water below our feet of the colour of lead. Not a ripple disturbed its mirror-like surface, except when now and then a covey of flying fish leaped forth to escape from their pursuers, or it was clove by the fin of a marauding shark. We knew that we were not far off the coast of Africa, some few degrees to the south of the Equator； but how near we were we could not tell, for the calm had continued for several days, and a strong current, setting to the eastward, had been rapidly drifting us toward the shore.
Notwithstanding that the sun was obscured, his rays found means of heating the atmosphere, so that we felt much as if we were surrounded by a hot damp blanket.
I had already made a trip to the West Indies, and two to this terrible coast； and as I had escaped without an attack of yellow fever, or cholera, when the Liv

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