The Boy Slaves Part 29

The three refused to move; and when all efforts to get them on had been tried in vain, the guards made a loud appeal to their sheik.

Golah came riding back in a great rage.

Dismounting from his camel he drew the ramrod from his musket; then rushing up to Terence, who was the nearest to him, administered to him a shower of blows that changed the colour of his shirt from an untidy white to the darker hue of blood.

The two guards, following the example of their lord and master, commenced beating Harry and Bill, who, unable to make any resistance had to endure the torture in silence.

"Go on, my friends!" exclaimed Colin; "for G.o.d's sake, go and leave me!

You cannot do anything to avert my fate!"

Colin's entreaties as well as the torture from the blows they received, were alike without effect. His shipmates could not bring themselves to desert their old comrade, and leave him to the terrible death that threatened him.

Rushing up to Bill and Harry, Golah caught hold of each, and hurled them to the ground by the side of Terence. Keeping all three together, he now ordered a camel to be led up; and the order was instantly obeyed by one of the guards. The halter was then taken from the head of the animal.

"We 'ave got to go now," said Bill. "He's going to try the same dodge as beat me the other day. I shall save him the trouble."

Bill tried to rise but was prevented. He had refused to walk when earnestly urged to do so; and now, when he was willing to go on, he had to wait the pleasure of his owner as to the manner in which his journey should be continued.

While Golah was fastening the rope to Harry's hands, the sharp shrill voice of Fatima called his attention to some of the people who had gone on before.

The two women, who led the camels loaded with articles taken from the wreck, had advanced about three hundred yards from the place; and were now, along with the black slaves, surrounded by a party of men mounted on maherries and horses.

CHAPTER FIFTY TWO.

CAPTURED AGAIN.

Golah's fear of the Arabs met by the well had not been without a cause.

His forced night march, to avoid meeting them again, had not secured the object for which it had been made.

Approaching from the direction of the rising sun, the Arabs had not been discovered in the distance; and Golah, occupied in overcoming the obstinate resistance of the white slaves, had allowed them to come quite near before they had been observed by him.

Leaving his captives, the sheik seized his musket, and followed by his son and brother-in-law rushed forward to protect his wives and property.

He was too late. Before he could reach them they were in the possession of others; and as he drew near the spot where they had been captured he saw a dozen muskets presented towards himself, and heard some one loudly commanding him in the name of the Prophet to approach in peace.

Golah had the discretion to yield to a destiny that could not be averted--the misfortune of being made a prisoner and plundered at the same time.

Calmly saying, "It is the will of G.o.d," he sat down, and invited his captors to a conference on the terms of capitulation.

As soon as the caravan had fallen into the possession of the robbers, the Krooman's hands were unbound by his companion, and he hastened to the relief of the white slaves.

"Golah no our ma.s.sa now," said he, while untying Harry's wrists, "our ma.s.sa is Arab dat take us norf. We get free. Dat why dis Arab no buy us--he know us he hab for nothing."

The cords were quickly untied, and the attention of the others was now turned to disinterring Colin and the woman from their living graves.

To do this, Harry wanted to use the water-bowl the sheik had left for the purpose of tantalising his victims with the sight of its contents.

"Here, drink this water," said he, holding the vessel to Colin's lips.

"I want to make use of the dish."

"No, no; dig me out without that," answered Colin. "Leave the water as it is; I have a particular use for it when I get free. I wish the old sheik to see me drink it."

Bill, Harry, and the Krooman set to work, and Colin and the woman were soon uncovered and dragged out. Terence was then awakened to consciousness by a few drops of the water poured over his face.

Owing to the cramped position in which he had been placed and so long held, Colin was for a few minutes unable to walk. They waited, to give him time to recover the use of his limbs. The slave who had the care of the woman's children was now seen coming back with them, and the woman ran to meet him.

The delight of the wretched mother at again embracing her offspring was so great that the gentle-souled Krooman was once more affected to tears.

In the conference with the Arab robbers, Golah was unable to obtain the terms he fancied a sheik should be ent.i.tled to.

They offered him two camels, and the choice of one wife out of the three, on condition he should go back to his own country and return to the desert no more.

These terms Golah indignantly refused, and declared that he would rather die in defence of his rights.

Golah was a pure negro, and one of a cla.s.s of traders much disliked by the Arabs. He was a lawless intruder on their grounds, a trespa.s.ser upon their especial domain--the Great Desert. He had just acquired a large amount of wealth in goods and slaves that had been cast on their coast, and these they were determined he should not carry back with him to his own country.

Though he was as much a robber as themselves they had no sympathy with him, and would not be satisfied with merely a share of his plunder.

They professed to understand all his doings in the past, and accused him of not being a fair trader.

They told him that he never came upon the desert with merchandise to exchange, but only with camels, to be driven away laden with property, justly belonging to them, the real owners of the land.

They denied his being a true believer in the Prophet, and concluded their talk by declaring that he should be thankful for the liberal terms they had offered him.

Golah's opposition to their proposal became so demonstrative that the Arabs were obliged to disarm and bind him, though this was not accomplished without a fierce struggle in which several of his adversaries were overthrown.

A blow on the head with a stock of a musket at length reduced him to subjection, after which his hands were fast tied behind his back.

During the struggle, Golah's son was prevented from interfering in behalf of his father by the black slaves who had been so long the victims of his cruel care; while the brother-in-law, as well as Fatima and the third wife, remained pa.s.sive spectators of the scene.

On Golah being secured, the white slaves with Old Bill at their head came up and voluntarily surrendered themselves to their new masters.

Colin had in his hands the bowl of water, and the dried figs that had been placed beside it. Advancing towards Golah he held the figs up before his eyes, and then, with a nod and an expression that seemed to say, "Thank you for this," he raised the bowl to his lips with the intention of drinking.

The expression upon the sheik's features became satanic, but suddenly changed into a glance of pleasure as one of the Arabs s.n.a.t.c.hed the vessel out of Colin's hands and instantly drank off its contents.

Colin received the lesson meekly, and said not a word.

The Arabs speedily commenced making arrangements for leaving the place.

The first move was to establish a communication between Golah and the saddle of one of his camels.

This was accomplished by using a rope as a medium; and the black giant was compelled to walk after the animal with his hands tied behind him, in the same fashion as he had lately set for Sailor Bill.

His wives and slaves seemed to comprehend the change in their fortunes; and readily adapted their conduct to the circ.u.mstances.

The greatest transformation of all was observable in the behaviour of the favourite Fatima.