a time, yet they kept up a fire at us as long as
they were in range. The next time the Turks came up, some of their men
got on board our ship, and set to work to cut the sails, and do us all
kinds of harm. So, as ten of our men lay dead, and most of the rest had
wounds, we gave in.

The chief of the Turks took me as his prize to a port which was held by
the Moors. He did not use me so ill as at first I thought he would have
done, but he set me to work with the rest of his slaves. This was a
change in my life which I did not think had been in store for me. How my
heart sank with grief at the thought of those whom I had left at home,
nay, to whom I had not had the grace so much as to say "Good bye" when I
went to sea, nor to give a hint of what I meant to do!

Yet all that I went through at this time was but a taste of the toils
and cares which it has since been my lot to bear.

I thought at first that the Turk might take me with him when next he
went to sea, and so I should find some way to get free; but the hope
did not last long, for at such times he left me on shore to see to his
crops. This kind of life I led for two years, and as the Turk knew and
saw more of me, he made me more and more free. He went out in his boat
once or twice a week to catch a kind of flat fish, and now and then he
took me and a boy with him, for we were quick at this kind of sport, and
he grew quite fond of me.

One day the Turk sent me in the boat to catch some fish, with no one
else but a man and a boy. While we were out so thick a fog came on that
though we were out not half a mile from the shore, we quite lost sight
of it for twelve hours; and when the sun rose the next day, our boat was
at least ten miles out at sea. The wind blew fresh, and we were all much
in want of food, but at last, with the help of our oars and sail, we got
back safe to land.

When the Turk heard how we had lost our way, he said that the next time
he went out, he would take a boat that would hold all we could want if
we were kept out at sea. So he had quite a state room built in the long
boat of his ship, as well as a room for us slaves. One day he sent me
to trim the boat, as he had two friends who would go in it to fish with
him. But when the time came they did not go, so he sent me with the man
and the boy--whose name was Xury--to catch some fish for the guests that
were to sup with him.

Now the thought struck me all at once that this would be a good chan