He took a deep breath and signed deeply enough to tell the guilty one that he wasn't too happy with what transpired between him and Hands although he wasn't evidently present during the fight which would have made his punishment on the culprit seem a bit too unfair if the victim turned out to be the first to cause the fight.
"Take Hands to his quarters and fetch the physician",
"Aye, Captain. Let's go, Adam",
Redruth replied, taking Hands out of his sight alongside Adam before silence returned back again.
"As for you, Donald. We'll deal with this later when we get to the merchant's plantations",
He said and turned back to meet the Master with his head lowered down in embarrassment.
"Bale and Morgan, join Donald to carry the loads outside",
"Yes, Captain. We'll do it right away",
The two men chorused and scurried into the room in haste
"Bale, be careful with that box",
"I will, Cap",
The trios led by Donald began to pick out the sacks at first and was soon joined by Redruth followed by Adam who joined them as well after placing Hands in his room and assisted Morgan in carrying the heavy box out of the store room without much difficulty than what Hands had speculated.
Moldovan escorted the Master back to his chambers away from the hustling fellows but stopped by the entrance instead of going into the small cell.
"Master Smollet, Pardon me and my men for the disturbances",
The Captain apologized as he stood in front of Smollet on the fairly bright corridor.
"No worries, mate. Sometimes those under you could get crazy at times",
"I agree with that. So, we have reached the black monkey's land after a long journey from London",
"Yes, another weary journey has finally come to an end",
"Send my warm regards to the Chancellor for me when you get to meet him",
"I will, old friend",
Smollet said grinning and tapped the Captain's shoulder before walking away from him to where he had left his door opened. Master Smollet retired back to his room and quickly got himself smartly dressed up in his natty naval blue uniform that fitted tightly to his body and wore his large cap to cover his white hair.
Then he wore his black boots after shrouding his fleshy tibias including his white trousers with two long socks which ended below his kneecaps and took four papers that he had scribbled with italic fonts using a feather of Guinea hen, away from the bed before tidying up the muddled bed quickly.
He was almost done with arranging the bed and stopped abruptly when he heard a knock from outside the door made of hardwood which creaked slightly since he had forgotten to shut it tight before entering the room.
"In the name of the Queen, who goes there?",
"It's I, William",
Came the soft response from the intruder, standing behind the door.
"Worthy ensign, come in at once",
The guard entered inside and walked closer to the Master whose thin brows, round shaped as well as his narrow nose, was partially covered by the shadow in the room. Although he felt a bit uncomfortable looking at the stern face of his superior and his eyes only roamed around the room, he still found enough strength to remove trepidation from his mind and spoke out to Smollet.
"Sir, I came to tell thee that we are set to leave this ship for land right now",
"Hmm, I see. Anything else, noble lad?",
"Not at all, Sir, not even a single word from Captain Moldovan",
"Then summon the other guards and let's get going",
Master Smollet ordered following behind the messenger with the folded pieces of brown note in his right hand and kept it inside his right pockets after taking out a white napkin embroidered with fancy roses and ventured out of the dark cabin to the open sunlight shining upon the wooden floorboard of the deck, which he had rarely seen during their irksome voyage from distant Europe.
Accompanied by his guards , he strode down the bridge to the wooden pier in haste trying to make out for lost time and plodded his way slowly towards land. He was the first among those who had boarded the ship to savor the look at the busy market of people tending to their wares especially the fishermen at both banks of the river whose robust catch comprising different varieties of fishes that he hadn't set eyes on in his life.
The sight of fishes caught his attention as they were being displayed in several rounds bowls for all to see and the traders transacting with some white merchants behind the black fishermen to sell their outstanding products of furnished ivory and luster gold of different sizes as well as some rare crops being sold in large quantities to the white merchants for just a few coins. Such coins seemed more valuable to the aborigines each time they sell any item compared to the actual worth of their strange but intriguing goods which the white merchant purchases in bulk for a few pounds of four or twenty shillings.
The naval officer knew this at once when he came across some of his native men, purchasing two ivory tusks and four bronze sculptures exquisitely crafted by the aborigines who seem more interested and ignorant in getting a cheap coin than his priceless sculptures but he was too busy tending to the scribbled letters he kept inside his frock coat that he paid little attention to the transactions.
Eventually, he stepped onto land accompanied by his guards. Consecutively, his tout boots descended upon on the rough soil of the river bank which was very much different than the paved streets in England where both his bare foot and his shoes had gotten a lot familiar with the concrete path that linked the entire city to the main road but here it was different since he could feel the wetness of the sand below his feet as it sank themselves into the muddy earth in spite of him wearing a fancy boot which couldn't conceal his long socks that ended at his knees.
Trailed by William and the other three guards, Smollett briskly walked past two other traders until something gruesome happening right in front of him struck his attention and made him to stop abruptly while his four guards also waited to see what made the procession from the ship temporarily ended halfway down from the coastal harbor.
His aghast countenance suddenly got irritated by the repugnant sight of crowded black men and women probably in their mid thirties standing at the left side of the pathway stark naked with their hands and feet in fetters of iron, securely chained in front of a good number white merchants, waiting to be auction as a lowly serf to the white foreigners who kept placing counteract bids on them, in such a rowdy manner that made the harbor buzzing with loud cries of vigorous white men fervently demanding to purchase a naked captive from the group.
At once, he realized that a group of slaves being tugged away to some ferries at the shallow part of the ebbing river, and had head towards shore through the midst of the other black traders along with the captives, must have come from this section of rowdy market. He did not quite notice two English mercenaries taking away one of the chained fellows to the other side of river Bank since he was engrossed and fascinated by the wares of the traders which somewhat was quite different from what he saw right in front of him.