those black fellows there?" asked Adair,
pointing to the negroes, who were jumping about and tumbling over each
other as they ran from side to side.

The negoda or skipper made signs as if hauling on a rope. "Oh, they are
your crew, are they?" said Adair; on which the skipper nodded his head
as if he had really understood the question.

"And who are those ladies and gentlemen seated so comfortably on the
deck?" continued Adair. The skipper signified that they were coming
from some place in the South, and bound to Mozambique or Zanzibar to
join their relatives. He did this by pronouncing the names of those
places, talking away all the time, and transferring a piece of money
from one hand to the other, as if to show that they had paid their
passages.

"Now let me see your papers," said Adair, moving his hand as if holding
a pen and writing. The Arabs being accustomed to signs, the negoda at
once understood him, and produced from a case some documents written in
Arabic characters, which were about as comprehensible to the English
officer as the words which the voluble skipper was pouring forth into
his ear. The papers might be, for what he could tell, bills of sale for
the negroes on board, or directions to the skipper how to avoid the
English boats and cruisers, with the hint, should he find himself strong
enough, to knock every Briton he could fall in with on the head. Adair,
it is true, had his suspicions that all was not right, but how to
ascertain this was the question.

Pango, who knew the true state of the case, was evidently very much
troubled in his mind on the subject; but in vain he tried to explain his
ideas while he sat in the boat, wriggling and twisting his body, and
making such extraordinary grimaces as he tried to get out his words,
that the rest of the crew burst into fits of laughter, which effectually
prevented him from giving the information he possessed.

Had Hamed come in the boat, the case would have been different, and
Adair resolved, if possible, not to go cruising again without the
interpreter.

The skipper had no objection to his examining the vessel, though he
seemed highly pleased on seeing his visitors about to take their
departure. He and several of his crew shook them warmly by the hands,
and showed an especial eagerness to assist them into the boat.

As the dhow stood away to the northward, both Gerald and Archie declared
that they heard shouts of laughter proceeding from he