surface; but I clutched tight hold of her, and she
quickly came up again. For a few moments the shrieks and cries of my
drowning countrymen rose high above the loud dashing of the waves and
the howling of the storm, but they were speedily silenced, and I found
myself floating alone on the tossing waters. I wished to live for the
sake of my wife and child. In my ignorance I knew not how far I was
away from the land, still I struggled for life. All night long I clung
to the canoe, and before morning the wind had fallen and the sea had
become smooth. I was able to right the canoe, when I saw close to me a
gourd and a paddle. I reached them by working the canoe on with my
hands, and contrived to bale her out. I saw the sun rise, and knew that
the land lay on the opposite side. I tried to paddle towards it; but I
had had no food and no water, and the sun came down with a heat I had
never felt on shore. Still, for hours I paddled on, when I saw the
sails of a big ship rising above the horizon. She must be, I thought,
the one which had captured the dhows. Fear filled my heart, for the
Arabs had told us that the white men would kill and eat us. Terror and
the suffering I had undergone overcame me; I sank down at the bottom of
the canoe, and knew no more until I found myself on board a ship, with
white people standing round me. I could not understand a word they
said, nor tell them how I came to be in the canoe, but they looked kind,
and my fears left me. I was well fed and cared for, and soon recovered
my strength. There were several persons whom I now know to have been
passengers. One lady, very fair and beautiful, who spoke in a gentle,
sweet voice to me, trying to make me comprehend what she meant. She had
a little girl with her. I loved that child from the first, for she made
me think of my own boy by her playful ways and happy laugh, though she
was fair as a lily, and my boy was as black as I am, but I thought not
of the difference of colour. I felt that I should never wish to leave
that kind lady and her child. In a few days the weather again became
bad, a fearful gale began to blow. The ship was tossed about far more
violently than the dhow had been. Presently, during the night, I heard
a loud crash, followed by the shouts and shrieks of the crew and
passengers. My first thought was of the little girl. On reaching the
deck a flash of lightning showed her to me, clinging to her mother's
arms. I mad