"Suddenly, one of the overseers of the caravan caught sight of this slave, whose load had fallen to the ground, and who, instead of walking like the rest, half-fainting, half-dying, allowed herself to be borne onward by the crowd. He went up to her, spoke to her harshly, and, as she did not reply, he uplifted a leathern strap, and struck her. "At that moment, my dear fellow, we one and all experienced a species of electric shock; a shudder went through our frames, to our silence succeeded shouts of indignation, and from being motionless as statues we became alert with fury. You shall soon know how." CHAPTER XXXIX. "Obeying one common idea, and swayed by one common impulse, we rushed to the rescue of the unfortunate slave. In an instant the man who had struck her was on the ground and disarmed by Delange, or Périères, or myself, or, possibly, by Miss Poles, for I cannot tell you exactly what passed. But the column still moved on, and the woman was dragged along with it. We saw at once that we must not confine ourselves to avenging the poor creature—we must aid her and save her. "I forced the man to follow me to where she was, and release her from her chains. My revolver had an eloquence of its own, the woman was set free, and Madame de Guéran and the Doctor having dismounted, were soon paying her every possible attention. "This little scene had not, of course, escaped the notice of the men who composed the escort, nor of the leader at their head. The calm indifference which they had showed towards us was all assumed, for they certainly watched us out of the corners of their eyes and took account of our slightest movement. But the leader of the caravan, an old Portuguese trader turned Mussulman (one of the interpreters had recognized him) thought it more prudent, for commercial reasons, to appear not to see what was going on. What did one half dead slave matter to him? A few miles more, and she would be incapable of walking, and he would be compelled then to leave her to her fate in the desert. "Consequently, not only did he make no attempt to bear down upon us with his men, but he increased the speed of the column, so as to escape as soon as possible from the small band of Franks. (That is the name given by Mussulmen to all Europeans indiscriminately.)