f you will swear to be true to me, you shall be a great
man in time; if not, I must throw you out of the boat too."

The poor boy gave me such a sweet smile as he swore to be true to me,
that I could not find it in my heart to doubt him.

While the man was still in view (for he was on his way to the land), we
stood out to sea with the boat, so that he and those that saw us from
the shore might think we had gone to the straits' mouth, for no one went
to the South coast, as a tribe of men dwelt there who were known to kill
and eat their foes.

We then bent our course to the East, so as to keep in with the shore;
and as we had a fair wind and a smooth sea, by the next day at noon, we
were not less than 150 miles out of the reach of the Turk.

I had still some fear lest I should be caught by the Moors, so I would
not go on shore in the day time. But when it grew dark we made our way
to the coast, and came to the mouth of a stream, from which we thought
we could swim to land, and then look round us. But as soon as it was
quite dark we heard strange sounds--barks, roars, grunts, and howls. The
poor lad said he could not go on shore till dawn. "Well," said I, "then
we must give it up, but it may be that in the day time we shall be seen
by men, who for all we know would do us more harm than wild beasts."
"Then we give them the shoot gun," said Xury with a laugh, "and make
them run away." I was glad to see so much mirth in the boy, and gave him
some bread and rice.

We lay still at night, but did not sleep long, for in a few hours' time
some huge beasts came down to the sea to bathe. The poor boy shook from
head to foot at the sight. One of these beasts came near our boat, and
though it was too dark to see him well, we heard him puff and blow, and
knew that he must be a large one by the noise he made. At last the brute
came as near to the boat as two oars' length, so I shot at him, and he
swam to the shore.

The roar and cries set up by beasts and birds at the noise of my gun
would seem to show that we had made a bad choice of a place to land
on; but be that as it would, to shore we had to go to find some fresh
spring, so that we might fill our casks. Xury said if I would let him
go with one of the jars, he would find out if the springs were fit to
drink; and, if they were sweet, he would bring the jar back full. "Why
should you go?" said I; "Why should not I go, and you stay in the boat?"
At this Xury said, "if wild mans