something like those of the men. Round the
head they wear a coloured sash, which hangs down to the waist; their
hair is plaited; and they have the usual gold and silver ornaments in
their ears and on their fingers, and red shoes. The poorer classes wear
necklaces, and silver or copper rings on their fingers and thumbs.
Their shirts are beautifully ornamented in front, to look like lace.
When they leave the house they put on drawers of great length, which
they turn up into numerous folds over their legs, giving them a very
awkward appearance. Besides the haik, which is like that of a man's, a
lady wears a linen cloth over her face, to conceal it from the profane
vulgar when abroad. Such were the people we saw moving about on shore.

Day after day passed by, and no account could we gain of poor Captain
Stenning. It was very clear, also, that if we did, we should not be
able to obtain his liberation by force. At last one day the captain
sent for me.

"Williams," said he, "I have had news of one of the _Dolphin's_ people,
if not of Captain Stenning himself. I must myself go and see him, and I
want a companion in whom I have perfect confidence. As you are a
steady, sensible man, with good nerve, I shall be glad to take you with
me, if you are willing to accompany me. I should probably have taken
Poplar, but his figure is so conspicuous that he would have been
remarked."

I was much pleased with the way in which he spoke of me, and I told him
that I was ready to follow wherever he chose to lead the way.

"That is the spirit I expected to find in you," he replied.

"It is, however, right that you should understand that there is
considerable danger in the expedition; for if our errand was to be
discovered, we should certainly be sacrificed to the fury of the Moors."

"I've no fear about that, sir," said I. "A man cannot expect to be
always able to do what is right without running some risk and taking
some trouble."

Sidy that evening brought us off some Moorish clothes, in which the
captain and I rigged ourselves out. We certainly did look two funny
figures, I thought, as we turned ourselves round and round in them.
Sidy had not forgotten a couple of long knives, to which the captain
added a brace of pistols a piece. I was very glad it was dusk when we
left the ship, for I should not have liked my shipmates to have seen me
with my bare legs and slippers, and a dirty blanket over my head just
like an old Iris