The quick jar and clash of blade upon blade; the occasional explosion of a pistol; the dull, crushing sound of unwarded blows; the sharp scream of agony as some poor wretch feels the stroke of merciless steel . . . * The year is 1840, and Henry Dugdale is shipping out on H.M.S. Barracouta, an 18-gun brig of the newest design -- in search of slavers. The senior midshipman has just learned their immediate destination, there off the coast of West Africa. The Congo, it seems, has become a hotbed of activity, with a strong group of desperate slavers operating somewhere along its banks. But the captain of the Barracouta, too, has his share of daring -- for he plans an attack in the pitch dark of a windy midnight!