n.

There was but one way for them to overcome the difficulty that had so
unexpectedly presented itself. This was to separate the slaves by force,
taking the four along with them; and leaving the other two to the
purchaser who would not revoke his bargain.

To accomplish this, the assistance of the bystanders was required and
readily obtained.

Harry was first seized and placed on the back of his camel, to which he
was firmly bound.

Colin, Bill, and the Krooman were each set astride of a donkey, and then
made fast by having their feet tied under the animal's belly.

For a small sum the merchants then engaged two of the Arabs to accompany
them and guard the white slaves to the frontier of the Moorish empire, a
distance of two days' journey.

While the party was about to move away from the spot, one of the
merchants, addressing himself to Jim, made the following observations.

"Tell the young man, the nephew of the merchant, 'For God's sake bias,'
that since we have started for Swearah in the belief that his story is
true, we shall now take him there whether he is willing or not, and if
he has in anyway deceived us, he shall surely die."

"He has not deceived you," said Jim, "take him and the others there, and
you will certainly be paid."

"Then why do they not go willingly?"

"Because they do not wish to leave their friends."

"Ungrateful dogs! cannot they be thankful for their own good fortune? Do
they take us for slaves, that we should do their will?"

While the conversation was going on, the other two merchants had headed
their animals to the road; and in a minute after Harry Blount and Colin
had parted with their old messmate Terence, without a hope of ever
meeting him again.

CHAPTER LXXV.

EN ROUTE.

And now away for the Moorish frontier.

Away,--trusting that the last hasty promise of the merchant to test
their earnest story, and yield to the importunate desires which they had
so long cherished, might not be unfulfilled.

Away,--out into the desert again; into that broad, barren wilderness of
sand, stretching wearily on as far as eye could reach, and beyond the
utmost limit of human steps, where the wild beasts almost fear to tread.

Away,--under the glare of the tropic sun, whose torrid beams fall from
heavens that glow like hot walls of brass, and beat down through an
atmosphere whose faint undulations in the breath of the desert wind ebb
and flow over the parched travellers, like