Tales From The Little, Illustrated, Golden Library - Tales of the Sea - The Slave Trader's Slaver - Emilio Salgari - Tenth Story
THE SLAVE TRADER'S SLAVER
MEMO
The following text may present outdated depictions that are in no way or form shared by the translator themself, and neither are they shared by the original author of these stories.
Please understand that these stories' depictions are a depiction of their time.
A good translator strives to transfer the originality, tone, and idea of a text from its language of birth to its guest language, all the while respecting the intent and style of the original author.
These translated texts do not intend to bring offense, but just to share the adventures
written by Captain Emilio Salgari.
Adventures inspired by his love for traveling around the world, especially to far, foreign lands, his passion for ships and sailing in general, as well as his endless curiosity about other cultures and what's out there, beyond the horizon line.
ATTENTION:
This is a story from 1901. So when it mentions "a hundred years ago", it means
a hundred years PRIOR TO 1901.
VOCABULARY
trader = a person who earns a living by trading goods or securities. (Source. 13.11.2025)
slave trader = a trader who buys and sells slaves. (Source. 13.11.2025)
slaver = a ship used to transport slaves. (Source. 04.11.2025)
Note: In this story, the captain of the ship himself is a slave trader.
calico = a kind of rough cloth made from unbleached and not fully processed cotton, often printed with a bright pattern. (Source. 29.11.2025)
planter = plantation owners whose lands are worked by farm workers, wage slaves, or slaves. (Source. 29.11.2025)
coaster = a merchant vessel that stays in coastal waters, especially one that travels between ports of the same country. (Source. 29.11.2025)
vessel = boat.
hull = the body or frame of a vessel, such as a ship or plane. (Source. 29.11.2025)
cruiser = a frigate* or other vessel, detached from the fleet, to cruise independently in search of the enemy or its merchant ships. (Source. 29.11.2025)
*frigate = a warship combining sail and steam propulsion, typically of ironclad timber construction, supplementing and superseding sailing ships of the line at the beginning of the development of the ironclad battleship. [mid 19th–late 19th c.]. (Source. 29.11.2025)
powder room = a room used to store gunpowder, particularly (historical) on a ship equipped with cannon. (Source. 29.11.2025)
antenna = the spar* to which a lateen** sail is attached, which is then hoisted up the mast***. (Source. 29.11.2025)
*spar = any linear object used as a mast, yard, or pole. (Source. 29.11.2025)
**lateen sail = a triangular fore-and-aft sail set on a boom in such way that the tack is attached to the hull of the vessel and the free end of the boom lifts the sail. (Source. 29.11.2025)
***mast = a tall, slim post or tower, usually tapering upward, used to support, for example, sails or observation platforms on a ship. (Source. 29.11.2025)
ratafia = a liqueur or cordial* flavored with peach or cherry kernels, bitter almonds, or other fruits. (Source. 29.11.2025)
*cordial = a cordial is any invigorating and stimulating preparation that is intended for a medicinal purpose. (Source. 29.11.2025)
halberd (or halbard or halbert )= a halberd is a two-handed polearm that was in prominent use from the 13th to 16th centuries. It consists of an axe blade topped with a spike mounted on a long shaft. (Source. 02.12.2025)
potentate = a powerful leader, a ruler. (Source. 02.12.2025)
mainmast = the tallest mast* of a sailing ship that has more than one mast. (Source. 30.10.2025).
Note: alternative spelling: main-mast.
*mast = a tall, slim post or tower, usually tapering upward, used to support, for example, sails or observation platforms on a ship. (Source. 02.12.2025)
stern = the rear of the hulls* of all nautical means of transportation. (Source. 02.12.2025)
*hull = the body or frame of a vessel, such as a ship or plane. (Source. 29.11.2025)
bulwark (nautical) = the planking or plating along the sides of a nautical vessel above her gunwale* that reduces the likelihood of seas washing over the gunwales and people being washed overboard.
Source (28.07.2025).
*gunwhale = the top edge of the hull of a nautical vessel, where it meets the deck**. (Source. 15.01.2026)
**deck = the floorlike covering of the horizontal sections, or compartments, of a ship or boat. Small vessels have only one deck; larger ships have two or three decks. (Source. 15.01.2026)
yard = a spar* on a mast from which sails are set. (Source. 28.10.2025).
*spar = a pole of wood or metal used in the rigging** of a sailing vessel to carry or support its sail. (Source. 28.10.2025).
**rigging = term used for the system of ropes, cables, and chains, which support and control the sailing ship's masts and sails. (Source. 28.10. 2025).
crow's nest = a small open-top shelter, originally a cask*, on the top of the foremast, large enough to accommodate a lookout. (Source. 12.11.2025)
cask = a private carriage. (Source. 15.01.2026)
foresail (or fore-course) = (nautical, on a square-rigged ship) the lowest (and usually the largest) square sail hung on the foremast. (Source. 02.12.2025)
pulley = a wheel with a grooved rim, in which a pulled rope or chain lifts an object. (Source. 02.12.2025)
bayonet = a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped melee weapon designed to be mounted on the end of the barrel of a rifle, carbine, musket or similar long firearm, allowing the gun to be used as an improvised spear in close combat. (Source. 02.12.2025)
rifle = a long-barreled firearm fired from the shoulder, and designed for accurate shooting, distinguished by having a barrel cut with a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves to make a fired bullet spin in flight to improve range and accuracy (a technique which is called rifling).
carbine = a long gun with a short barrel. From the French term carabine. (Source 1. 15.01.2026) (Source 2. 15.01.2026)
musket = a muzzle-loaded* long gun formerly carried by the infantry of an army, originally fired by means of a match, or matchlock**, for which several mechanical appliances (including the flintlock***, and finally the percussion lock****) were successively substituted; ultimately superseded by the rifle). (Source. 15.01.2026)
*muzzle-loaded (gun) = describes any firearm in which the ammunition is loaded at the front of the barrel. (Source 1. 15.01.2026) (Source 2. 15.01.2026)
**matchlock = a type of lock that used a smoldering piece of cord to fire the powder in the firing pan (a place used to communicate fire to the charge of gunpowder). (Source 1.15.01.2026) (Source 2. 15.01.2026)
***flintlock = a type of lock used on muskets, rifles and pistols from the early 17th to the mid-19th century that used a spring-loaded flint to strike sparks into the firing pan (a place used to communicate fire to the charge of gunpowder). (Source 1. 15.01.2026) (Source 2. 15.01.2026)
****percussion = the detonation of a percussion cap**** in a firearm. (Source. 15.01.2026)
*****percussion cap = a metal cap found on muzzleloading firearms that contains chemical substances such as fulminate******* that explode upon impact. (Source. 15.01.2026)
******fulminate = any salt or ester******* of fulminic acid********, mostly explosive. (Source. 15.01.2026)
*******ester = a compound most often formed by the condensation of an alcohol and an acid*********. (Source. 15.01.2026)
********fulminic acid = iso-cyanic acid, HCNO, an unstable compound which forms explosive salts. (Source. 15.01.2026)
*********acid = any compound which yields H+ ions (protons) when dissolved in water. (Source. 15.01.2026)
mizzenmast = the aftmost mast on a ship having three masts; the third-tallest mast on a full-rigged ship. (Source. 12.11.2025)
rigging sheave = blocks and sheaves are essential components in rigging and lifting operations, designed to facilitate the movement and control of heavy loads. (Source. 02.12.2025)
⛔⛴⛔
Ever since slavery was abolished in the old Spanish and Portuguese colonies of South America, slavers have become incredibly rare, but a hundred years ago or so there were a lot of them and every month many ships, as swift as birds, well armed and manned by crews for the most part formed by crooks of the worst kind, were setting out from the western coasts of Africa, in order to unload their cargo of living ebony in the ports that were beyond the Atlantic Ocean.
Those were the kind of people that the slave traders were: people with no law nor integrity nor any other kind of moral code, bombproof courage, and whose only concern was to gather riches upon riches, paying no mind to the atrocities that they were committing.
They would load up on their ships knick-knacks of all kinds in every European or American port, from glass beads, small barrels full of liqueurs made from infernal drugs for the most part, pieces of calico, old weapons that they would purchase for almost nothing, then they would go to either the coasts of Gabon* or of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire**, in Guinea***, in Senegal****, in Congo*****, in short, any place that had (black)****** slaves for sale.
They would get along greatly with the small sultans or chiefs of those regions, who ordinarily did not lack living ebony - this is how they referred to the slaves - that they would obtain from their never-ending wars.
The slave traders would pour in the hands of the owners a good portion of their cargo, take on board seven or eight hundred black slaves, among men, women, and children, sometimes arriving to as much as one thousand, stowing them like sardines and going on to sell them to coffee or sugar cane planters from Cuba*******, Puerto Rico********, Brazil*********, or Nicaragua**********, earning a tremendous amount of money in exchange.
On average, they would pay one hundred pounds per person and would pocket two thousand pounds at the end of the journey: a truly fantastic deal. But fate wouldn't always smile upon those ill-famed human flesh traders. The European nations kept their eyes wide open for them and would disseminate formidable, well-armed ships in the areas frequented by those crooks.
When, after a bloody battle - since the slave traders would never surrender without a desperate battle - they would take possession of one of those ships, they would mercilessly hang the survivors, be they officers or simple sailors, and promptly free the poor slaves, taking them back to Africa.
And those weren't the only dangers that those traders would encounter. Frequently, the black people, growing more and more furious due to the abuse they were subjected to, from the long isolation, from the lack of food and especially of water, would furiously revolt and woe betide the traders would the former be able to come up on deck!
What would happen next would be an extermination and the crew would be torn to shreds by those poor souls that didn't want to leave their native land.
Other times, instead, terrible epidemics would break out among all those people stowed in the cargo hold and locked up like wild beasts, and it wasn't infrequent to happen upon ships full of dead people right in the middle of the ocean.
Victims and slave drivers alike would succumb one by one, without a single one of them able to save themselves.
Among all these tragedies known to occur to these human flesh traders, the most famous to date is the one about the Cuban ship known as Habana.
It was one of the fastest coasters of the ones involved in the commerce of slaves and it was also, at least up until that point, one of the luckiest ones.
Rock-proof solid, narrow-bottomed, manned by a numerous crew gathered from all the broken necks of the Greater Antilles*********** and armed like a warship, it had crossed the Atlantic Ocean more than twenty times, unloading in Cuba more than fifteen thousand black slaves torn away from their native land.
A weird kind of luck had protected Captain Noel up until then, an American from New Orleans, the most capable among the capable, experienced sailor as well as a man of war.
Three times he had been given chase by the French and Portuguese cruisers, and each time he had managed to escape them with such skill that even his foes were amazed. The first time he had smashed the ship's main mast with a single hit of the cannon ball, causing it to stop right in the middle of its chase; the second time, to a French one, he had shaved off the deck with a devastating side-on collision; the third time, with a hand grenade, he had blown up the powder room and sunk the ship together with everyone aboard it.
Already sufficiently rich, Captain Noel had decided to undertake one last journey to the coasts of Guinea and then permanently retire from the business. He was fearing that luck would tire of protecting him and that, one way or another, a good ol' rope would be waiting from him, hanging from the highest antenna of some cruiser.
Done loading, the Habana had gone to throw its anchor in Kotonoo************, inside of those lagoons that are so abundant on those beaches and where he was sure that he could get away from the investigations of the English, and French cruisers.
Captain Noel had already made numerous visits in that area, rich in black people and especially in slaves that at the time he could still buy at a good price and it is this way that he had become acquainted with a small sultan that was quite bellicose and resourceful, that two or three times a year he would devastate his neighbouring, smaller states, in order to procure himself a great deal of living ebony.
His Highness Ranako was great consumer of vitriol-based Jamaican rum************* as well as perfumes, that he would drink with the greed of a monkey instead of using it for his underwear, of which he didn't have very much and was anything but clean.
Captain Noel, sure of being able to complete his loading, the moment the anchor dropped, he had gone to visit his friend, not without bringing a few presents with him: some bottles of ratafia and some old rifles, gifts that were essential for the opening of negotations that normally are extremely long and difficult. For black people, time isn't gold, it's anything but! Whether a business transaction gets completed today or three weeks later, it's all the same to them. Rather, it's an opportunity to talk, and drink more!
His Highness Ranako, having already been informed about the arrival of the slave trader, hurried to leave his royal residence, a large shed made from tree trunks adorned with little snakes of red terrain**************, flaunting his big-events outfit: a heavily dented firefighter helmet that was more rusty than a halberd from the 1300s; a ripped button down shirt whose actually colour was impossible to tell and a pair of British admiral's trousers whose bottoms were missing.
He was followed by twenty-four wives, the poor things having more scars than clothes on them, and by his sorcerers, the latter desperately ringing the bells that they were wearing, an attire completed by necklaces made from the fangs of caymans and snakes' vertebrae.
The charcoal-coloured potentate, as usual, was half drunk and thus, had trouble supporting himself on his drum major rod with a silver knob, that he often used to "caress" his ministers, making them trip and shout like gorillas.
He was intent on starting the long-lasting introduction ceremony, but Captain Noel, not fond of dragging things on, cut him short. Besides, he was in a hurry to leave since, the night before, right before entering the strait that was leading to the lagoon, he had caught sight of a bright light that he was suspecting was the white light of some British or French cruiser.
He offered a bottle of ratafia to the incorrigible drunkard, which the latter had chugged empty, another to his ministers, handed out pearls and some handkerchieves to the wives, and proceeded straight to the negotations, threatening to go to Gabon if the small sultan wouldn't get moving.
His Highness Ranako, as always, was well stocked with slaves. During his last raid, he had destroyed fifteen villages, massacring a thousand residents and taking prisoners another seven hundred, among them being a chief which up until then had been considered invincible due to his extraordinary strength.
"A man that's worth ten", he told the captain, whom was interrogating him about that formidable warrior. "He killed fifteen men of mine, before defeating him, so you'll have to pay me dearly for him. He'll make a good impression in the American market and you'll gain gold in spades."
"So, he's a giant?", asked Noel with a wry smile, since he didn't believe a single word of what the drunkard had told him, whom was usual to exaggerate the value of his slaves.
"That will work an entire field on his own, in a day."
"Show me this rarity."
It wasn't easy to reach an agreement for that huge purchase of living ebony.
Small sultans loved to drag things on so they could keep drinking and they wouldn't cede until after an obstinate resistance.
Nevertheless, after six long hours, many empty bottles, and never-ending discussions, the small sultan and the captain ended up reaching an agreement.
The only thing left to do was to agree upon the price for the famous chief for whom His Highness Ranako was asking four rifles, a small barrel of gunpowder, six swatches of cotton, ten handkerchieves, and a crate of glass beads.
"First show me this slave.", the skipper told him, his curiosity skillfully tickled by the small sultan.
Ten warriors, armed to the teeth, went to get him from the slaves' warehouse, bringing him, tied and chained, before the captain.
Ranako had not exaggerated this time. The ill-fated chief was truly a superb black man, a giant of that robust race he belonged to, almost two meters tall, whose musculature had no reason to envy that of the terrible gorillas of the African forests.
That man could have gone for ten thousand pounds in the Cuban market, the price asked by Ranako paling in comparison. Besides being a Hercules, he was also extremely handsome, his skin glossy black, an admirable head***************, and two eyes sparkling with intelligence.
The moment the chief found himself in front of the captain, raised his arm towards the latter and asked:
"Are you the one who's going to take me away from my native land?"
"Yes, if I'll agree to the price established by Ranako.", Noel answered.
"If you free me, I'll give you a hundred times whatever this despicable drunkard is asking you.", the black man continued, throwing Ranako a look that made the latter shiver. "I was born in the lands of Africa and I want to die where my ancestors are resting. Should you take me to the ocean, misfortune will befall you."
Noel shrugged.
"An old sorcerer from my village predicted this.", the slave resumed. "And that man's predictions of the future were never wrong. White man, allow me to die in the land of my ancestors and take my revenge on this wretch that treacherously destroyed my whole family, and tribe."
"You'll do it some other time.", answered the captain.
"Then misfortune may be upon you!", the black man shouted in a threatening voice, while he was taken away.
Captain Noel wasn't the kind of man to be easily impressionable, nevertheless he had a presentiment. But he was too good a businessman to let get away the opportunity to make dozens of a thousand bills, and, without further ado, had delivered to Ranako the agreed upon price. Furthermore, he was eager to take with him and show off that superb example of the black race on the Cuban market, while as far as the small sultan was concerned, was eager to rid himself of that enemy that would prevent him from sleeping soundly. In the evening, all seven hundred slaves, for the most part robust men, ancient warriors, found themselves crowded in the cargo hold of the Habana.
Notika - the black chief - was the first to be taken aboard, heavily chained, due to fears of him rebelling. Instead, he hadn't rebelled at all, but while passing by the captain and Ranako, whom was emptying on deck the last bottle, told one:
"You'll regret this, white man."
And to the other one, who was watching him full of dread:
"And one day, I will take your heart."
Then he had let himself be led to the cargo hold and chained to a fixed ring in the wall, without adding anything more to those two threats.
At eleven o'clock in the evening, just after the moon had set, the fully loaded, and well-supplied with food and fresh water Habana, was silently leaving the lagoon, heading towards the sea.
All the lights and lamps were turned off and the four cannons loaded, some of them being the cannon balls type and the others being machine guns, in order to prevent being caught by the ships tasked to put a stop to the black trade and exterminate the human traffickers.
Noel, a little uneasy due to the black man's prophecy, and the bright light that was spotted the night before by the lookouts, couldn't find it in himself to calm down. He felt that the luck that had protected him this whole time, was nowhere to be found in that last journey.
The Habana had just passed the strait and was about to launch itself on the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, when a lookout that had just climbed down from the main mast, approached the captain telling him:
"Captain, we are being followed."
"By whom?"
"Could be the ship that we had noticed the other night. I saw a big shadow sailing along the beach."
"Order all men to prepare for battle."
He went to the stern, climbed up on the bulwark, and pulling out a night spyglass, took a look in the direction indicated by the lookout.
A massive shadow figure was destroying the beach, trying to reach the Habana unnoticed.
It had to be the cruiser they had seen. For a better success rate, it copied the slavers, turning off its lights.
"That cursed black slave jynxed me!", Captain Noel mumbled. "Oh! We'll see about that! Habana is still a pretty good ship and it can hold its own against a cruiser."
He called his officers, gave them a few orders, then placed himself near the helmsman.
The thirty-six men that were making up the crew of the slaver were already at their posts and the artillerymen had lit up the fuse. They were all ready for battle.
The enemy ship had already taken notice of the Habana and, not doubting that it had to deal with a slaver, it was pushing its sails to the maximum in order to reach the latter and board it.
Captain Noel, after following along the coastline for a few miles, leaped into the open sea, hoping with that powerful thrust to escape from that dangerous enemy.
He was about to give the order to steer southwest when the cruiser noticed that it was within shooting range and unloaded its deck cannons on it, enfilading it from one side to the other.
Four men had fallen down as well as four yards, that were shredded by the cannon balls. Captain Noel hadn't yet lost heart.
He had the corpses thrown into the sea and ordered for the answer to be vigorous, so the enemy would understand that he had enough means to fight him at length for victory.
And here came the bravely fought battle between the two ships, with a defeaning roar.
The Habana was defending itself courageously, without ceasing the attempts to run away, aiming to dismast the enemy ship; but the darkness was making the precision of its shots difficult.
On the other hand, the cruiser had no intention of letting its prey get away and was determined to hunt it down, restlessly bombarding it.
It must have been quite a fast ship to be able to keep up, and quite heavily armed, too. Its shots were double and its cannon balls were causing serious damage to the slavers, thinning them out.
For the first time in his life, Noel was starting to lose heart and doubt the final outcome.
His men had shot more than forty cannon shots without managing to stop the cruiser. On the contrary, it seemed to keep gaining more and more ground on them.
Knowing himself a gifted artilleryman, he wanted to try out a desperate attempt. He had the heaviest piece loaded up, carefully aimed it at the masts of the enemy ship and fired.
A triumphant shout let him know that his cannon ball had hit its target.
The mainmast of the cruiser was smashed a bit under the crow's nest, falling across the ship, stopping it right in the middle of its chase.
But the slave traders had count their chickens before they hatched! In the same instant in which the captain had shot his shot, the enemy ship shot back such a powerful shot that it tore the stern of the Habana and broke its foresail.
At this point, both ships were as wrecked as the other. Both were damaged and forty miles away from the African coast.
But out of the two of them, the cruiser was in a worse predicament: having its mainmast fallen across, it had leaned on its side due to the mainmast's weight, leaving its crew vulnerable to the slaver's attacks.
Captain Noel furious, had ordered to continue the fire, determined to exterminate his enemies.
The battle had resumed once more, this time fiercer than before. Both of them were within shooting range of the other and were exchanging terrible blows in the sides of the other, mutually shattering the masts and bulwarks.
Victory was starting to smile upon the slave traders, having almost exterminated their opponents, when terrible shouts started breaking out in the cargo hold.
This is what had happened.
Notika, having figured out that the slave traders had been attacked, had come up with a brave plan in order to catch them between two fires.
He had often heard about ships tasked with the capture of the ill-famed human traffickers and having guessed that it must have been one of those that was shooting at the slave traders, didn't waste time in getting to work.
Possessing Herculean strength, he hadn't had much trouble breaking his chains off, without anyone there to stop him, since all the sentinels had been called back on deck in order to replace the sailors that had fallen in battle.
Once free, he addressed the other slaves, most of them having been his former subjects, shouting:
"Arise! And since the slave traders are under attack, let's take advantage of the opportunity and avenge ourselves. I'll guide you to victory!"
Then, he had started breaking the chains of his warriors, using an axe that was either abandoned by pure chance or lost by one of the sentinels.
As he freed more and more men, they started helping him as best they could, tearing off the rings that were fixed on the wooden floor.
That tenacious work, sometimes was disturbed by the cruiser's cannon balls. Projectiles would shoot through the walls of the cargo hold, mutilating men, women, and children, but instead of that demoralizing those ill-fated people, it was fueling their anger more and more.
In the moment in which the slaver traders were barfing on the cruiser their last blows on its side, about a hundred or more black people, the first that had been freed, armed with pieces of chains, pulleys, oars, and stumps of masts found in the cargo hold, spilled over on deck like a streak of starving tigers, determined to either win or die.
Notika was at the head of the slave, armed with an axe.
The sailors that were busy sinking the cruiser hadn't immediately taken notice of that new enemy, whom was even more frightening and ruthless than the other.
A formidable shout of the chief had informed them that they were about to embark on another fight.
"Kill! Exterminate!", Notika's voice thundered.
The crew, that was already reduced to half due to the fire of the cruiser, was so stunned that they hadn't immediately thought of using their weapons.
That moment of hesitation was going to have incalculable consequences because another hundred or so black slaves had had time to climb up on deck and bolster the first that had climbed up.
The captain immediately understood the severity of the situation. With a desperate courage, he attempted to dominate that mass of wild people.
Grabbing his saber, he resolutely approached Notika, shouting:
"What do you want?! Go back down in the cargo hold or I'll have your men machine-gunned!"
"What do I want?", the black slave answered, raising the axe. "Your life and, after that, Ranako's head. I had warned you that I would have brought you misfortune."
"Do you see that sinking ship over there? We were the ones that had brought it underwater and it was manned by white men armed with cannons and rifles. If you don't tell your men to retreat, we'll throw you all overboard, men, women, and children."
"We are seven hundred while you are twenty.", Notika answered. "Surrender or we'll exterminate you."
"In that case... Take this!"
The captain, in a swift move, got a hold of his pistol that he was keeping in his belt and fired at the black slave.
A slave, as fast as lightning, threw himself in front of the chief, shielding him with his own body and receiving in full force the bullet that was destined for Notika.
The captain's deed was met with a ferocious shout:
"Death! Death to the white men!"
Notika pounced on him with his axe raised.
The weapon descended on Noel's skull, splitting it open.
The sailors, in the meanwhile, had taken advantage of the time in order to gather on the stern, behind the two hunting cannons, hurriedly loading their machine guns.
Seeing their commander fall, they fired the two cannons, hoping defeat that mad horde.
The first lines of slaves fell down, taken down by that terrible burst, but Notika was still standing.
"Kill! Exterminate!", he kept shouting.
Everyone leaped into battle, not at all terrified by those two cannon shots. They were five or six hundred, and even women had joined the fight, urging them on with fierce shouts.
The sailors greeted that horde with rounds of bullets from the rifles, then from the bayonet, then with hits from sabers and axes. They were defending themselves with the bravery that comes from desperation, aware that the black slaves would have not spared their lives had they put their weapons down.
In that moment, a horrible massacre took place. A great number of almost defenseless black slaves were falling under the blows of the sailors, nevertheless they never left the deck.
Rejected twenty times, and just as many times returned to the fray, determined to finish things with that group of white men.
Some of them had climbed up on the mizzenmast and hurled rigging sheaves at the crew members, while others were making the yards fall down.
Notika kept encouraging everyone. His axe had split open more than one skull and it was so heavily covered in blood that it had reached its handle.
That horrifying fight couldn't keep going. The sailors, already tired from the first fight and demoralized by the death of their captain, couldn't resist any longer.
Notika, having noticed, pulled his men in one last attack.
Everyone leaped with the force of a stream that knocks over dams and pounced on the last defenders from all sides, the latter having disappeared under that mass of black bodies.
They were literally torn to shreds, no exceptions, a just punishment for the many abominations committed.
That's when the raid of the ship started. Food and liquids were brought on deck and a gross orgy reigned
on the Habana for two days.
On the third day, Notika, who had kept his influence over his former subjects, put a stop to the party, threatening to throw overboard whoever disobeyed him.
The currents had carried the ship more than a thousand miles away from the coast and he wanted to go back and take his revenge on Ranako.
He had the Habana repaired as best he could, got rid of the dead that were blocking the deck, and unfolded the two remaining sails that were still intact.
It wasn't the easiest thing to lead the ship back to the coast, nonetheless he hadn't given up hope. Gifted with an extraordinary intelligence, he had immediately figured out how the helm worked, and the maneuvers needed for the sails, even though he had never steered anything other than plain boats.
Two days had passed by the time the Habana reached the entrance of the strait that was leading to the lagoon. Moreover, when it had reached the entrance, it ran into a sandbank, getting deeply stranded in it.
Why would Notika care about that? He had returned to his native land and that was more than enough for him.
Ranako wasn't too far away and taking him by surprise wouldn't have been a problem.
He had all the weapons he could find distributed to the other slaves, divided them in a few troops, and just when night was falling down, they were leaving the coast, marching along the shores of the lagoon.
He wanted to reach Ranako's village before dawn so he could take by surprise the still-asleep residents.
He had no doubt about his victory; his enemy only a limited number of rifles, almost useless, the slave traders usually always selling the worst ones so black people wouldn't then be able to use them against the former.
Notika had taken the appropiate measures so well, that an hour before the sun rose, he was near the capital of his enemy.
That was a big village, situated near the northern part of the lagoon, and like all the other ones, encircled by a solid palisade, with only two doors that were always closed immediately after the sun would set.
Notika, after having inspected the palisades, had a bunch slaves come forward, whom in the meanwhile had knocked down a few trees in order to use them as battering rams.
A few hits were enough to break down the two doors. When the allarm was spread throughout the village, Notika's gang had already spilled over in the middle of the huts, shooting with rifles and pistols in order to spread even more terror.
No one was daring to resist, thinking that they were under the attack of some fearsome, big, gang of slave traders, something that was easy to presume given the considerable number of firearms that the attackers possessed.
Only in the market square, around the royal dwelling, the most valiant warriors had hurriedly gathered, in order to protect their sultan.
Ranako was no slacker, on the contrary, many a times he had given proof of his value as a warrior, and by some extraordinary coincidence, he hadn't gotten drunk the previous evening.
Grabbing his shield, and his war club, he was among the first to leap in battle in order to protect the square, rallying his guards, a short and extremely bloody fight taking place between attackers and the attacked, while the huts around them were being set on fire.
Suddenly, Ranako lost hold of his war club, letting out a horrified scream.
At the light of the fire that was devouring his capital, he had seen among the first lines of warriors the Herculean figure of Notika.
A superstitious terror taking hold of him, the despicable man immediately turned running, hoping to escape his enemy's vendetta.
In vain! By now, Notika's hordes had the market square surrounded, blocking any escape route.
The ex-slave, too, had seen him. Seeing him run, with one last effort, knocked over the troops of the last line of defense and in an instant was upon him, tightly grabbing his neck.
"Mercy!", the unfortunate man stammered.
"Yes, mercy, the same mercy that I had shown the slave traders, your ill-famed accomplices.", Notika answered, with a tiger's smile, and grabbing him by the hair, with a single hit of his axe cut off his head.
The fight was over. The warriors of the village, seeing their chief fall, had set down their weapons so they wouldn't be uselessly massacred.
The capital conquered, the other hamlets that were under Ranako's rule surrendered to Notika's hordes, without any resistance.
Having been acknowledged as king of the whole region that was around the lagoon, Notika's first act was to abolish slavery.
Today, after thirty years, the state of the Aka*************** is recognized as being one of the most civilized ones of the coast where slavery was, and its hamlets have become true citadels, thanks to the wise management of that intelligent black man.
However, one thing still exists that gives Europeans a sinister fright whenever they go to the capital: it's a long antenna, planted in front of the sultan's dwelling and on whose sharp tip one can still see a human skull calcinated by the sun: it's Ranako's head, the slave traders' supplier of slaves.
⛔⛴⛔
Source of the tale. (02.12.2025)
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*Gabon, officially known as the Gabonese Republic, is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa. (Source. 29.11.2025)
**The Ivory Coast or Côte d'Ivoire, and officially known as the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. (Source. 29.11.2025)
***Guinea, officially known as the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. (Source. 29.11.2025)
****Senegal, officially known as the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated along the Atlantic Ocean coast. (Source. 29.11.2025)
***** In the modern day, there are two Congos:
- The Democratic Republic of Congo, which was a Belgian colony and is also known as Congo-Kinshasa;
- The Republic of Congo, which was a French colony, and is also known as Congo-Brazzaville.
****** This story primarily focuses on black slaves, but I would like to point out that slaves came from everywhere, regardless of skin colour.
******* Cuba is an island country in a region in the middle of the Americas called the Caribbean. (Source. 29.11.2025)
******** Puerto Rico is a self-governing Caribbean archipelago and island organized as an unincorporated territory of the United States. (Source. 29.11.2025)
********* Brazil is the largest country of South America and is the only country in the Americas where Portuguese is the official language. (Source. 29.11.2025)
********** Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America, and is bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean and shares maritime borders with El Salvador to the west and Colombia to the east. (Source. 29.11.2025)
*********** The Greater Antilles is a group made of the larger islands in the Caribbean Sea, including Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica, together with Navassa Island and the Cayman Islands. Seven island states share the region of the Greater Antilles, with Haiti and the Dominican Republic sharing the island of Hispaniola. (Source. 29.11.2025)
************ The name of the city is most likely Cotonou, which is the largest city of Benin, officially known as the Republic of Benin and formerly known as the Kingdom of Dahomey, a country in West Africa. (Source 1. 29.11.2025) (Source 2. 29.11.2025)
************* Minute amounts of sulfuric acid were briefly used as a processing agent in high-ester Jamaican rum. It was a tool in the chemical process, not an ingredient that remained in the final consumable rum. Please do not try this at home; this process is no longer used and natural processes are favoured instead. If you wish to dive deeper into this, please go here (29.11.2025).
************** Snakes whose habitat is a reddish soil that is commonly found in parts of North Africa.
*************** The Italian text says una testa ammirabile. There's a chance Captain Salgari means that the head of this man was worthy of admiration.
**************** The Aka or Biaka (also Bayaka, Babenzele) are a nomadic Mbenga pygmy people. They live in south-western Central African Republic and in northern Republic of the Congo. (Source. 02.12.2025)
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Personal Notes:
It is said that the stories written by Emilio Salgari are stories he would hear from sailors, when he would go to visit the dock.
His best and most known work, "Sandokan, The Tiger of Malaysia" has been proven to bear resemblance to true historical facts, starting with the firstly-thought-of-as-fictional island, Mompracem (currently known as Kuraman Island), and with the strong impression that Sandokan is no other than a fictional representation of Syarif Osman, who ruled Marudu (north of Borneo) (I recommend you go here for more information about Sandokan or Syarif Osman. Miss Bianca has done a marvelous job in finding, gathering, and translating information about Salgari and his works, especially those concerning the character of Sandokan).
Going by this, I strongly suspect that all of Emilio Salgari's stories are based on true, historical happenings and people, the sands of time mercilessly erasing most of their traces.
Emilio Salgari's stories feature places from all around the world; many of them feature places as far as possible from Europe itself. It is not far fetched that a story from your own hometown might be present in one of his writings, regardless of how remote or unknown you might think it might be to others.
If you know how to find the original, historical, sources of any of the stories present on this blog or if you even recognize one of them here as a local, known story (or legend) to you, please feel free to contact me.
I would love to put both the story written by Salgari and the historical one side by side and not let these names become forgotten.
Thank you very much for your assistance.
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