remedy had failed of
effect.

He did not seem displeased at the communication. On the contrary, his
huge features bore an expression that for him might have been considered
pleasant.

He quietly ordered the slave to get up, and pursue his journey.

The weary sailor had blistered feet; and, with his strength almost
exhausted by hunger and thirst, had reached the point of desperation.
Moreover, for the benefit of himself and his young companions, he wished
to try an experiment.

He told the Krooman to inform the sheik that he would go on, if allowed
to ride one of the camels.

"You want me to kill you?" exclaimed Golah, when this communication was
made to him; "you want to cheat me out of the price I have paid for you;
but you shall not. You must go on. I, Golah, have said it."

The sailor, in reply, swore there was no possible chance for them to
take him any farther, without allowing him to ride.

This answer to the sheik's civil request was communicated by the
Krooman; and, for a moment, Golah seemed puzzled as to how he should
act.

He would not kill the slave after saying that he must go on; nor would
he have him carried, since the man would then gain his point.

He stood for a minute meditating on what was to be done. Then a hideous
smile stole over his features. He had mastered the difficulty.

Taking its halter from the camel, he fastened one end of it to the
saddle, and the other around the wrists of the sailor. Poor old Bill
made resistance to being thus bound, but he was like an infant in the
powerful grasp of the black sheik.

The son and brother-in-law of Golah stood by with their muskets on full
cock, and the first move any of Bill's companions could have made to
assist him, would have been a signal for them to fire.

When the fastenings were completed, the sheik ordered his son to lead
the camel forward, and the sailor, suddenly jerked from his attitude of
repose, was rudely dragged onward over the sand.

"You are going now!" exclaimed Golah, nearly frantic with delight; "and
we are not carrying you, are we? Neither are you riding? _Bismillah!_ I
am your master!"

The torture of travelling in this manner was too great to be long
endured, and Bill had to take to his feet and walk forward as before. He
was conquered; but as a punishment for the trouble he had caused, the
sheik kept him towing at the tail of the camel for the remainder of that
day's journey.

Any one of the white slaves wou