tomed to
hearing the sound of his voice, the faithful and intelligent animal
obeyed his words of command. Its neck was suddenly craned out towards
the north; and its feet were flung forward in long strides that bore its
rider rapidly away from the rest. The incident caused a tremendous
commotion in the caravan. It was so wholly unexpected that none of the
Arabs were prepared to intercept the fugitive. The guard for the night
had not been appointed. They were all seated on the ground, engaged in
devouring their evening repast, and before a musket could be discharged
at the runaway, he had got so far into the glimmering twilight that the
only effect of two or three shots fired after him was to quicken the
pace of the maherry on which he was fleeing.

Two fleet horses were instantly saddled and mounted; one by the owner of
the camel that had been stolen, and the other by the owner of the slave
who had stolen it.

Each, arming himself with musket and scimitar, felt sure of recapturing
the runaway. Their only doubt arose from the knowledge of the swiftness
of the maherry, and that its rider was favoured by the approaching
darkness.

The whole encampment was by this time under arms; and after the
departure of the pursuers, the sheik gathered all the slaves together,
and swore by the beard of the Prophet that they should all be killed,
and that he would set the example by killing the two belonging to
himself, which were Harry Blount and the Krooman. Several of his
followers proceeded to relieve their excitement by each beating the
slave or slaves that were his own property, and amongst these irate
slave-owners was the master of Sailor Bill. The old man-o'-war's-man
was cudgelled till his objections to involuntary servitude were loudly
expressed, and in the strongest terms that English, Scotch, and Irish
could furnish for the purpose.

When the rage of the old sheik had to some extent subsided, he procured
a leathern thong, and declared that his two slaves should be fast bound,
and never released as long as they remained in his possession.

"Talk to him," exclaimed Harry to the Krooman: "tell him, in his own
language, that God is great, and that he is a fool! We don't wish to
escape--certainly not at present."

Thus counselled, the Krooman explained to the sheik that the white
slaves, as well as himself, who had sailed in English ships, had no
intention of running away, but wished to be taken north, where they