"Sir,--Two midshipmen of H.M.S. -- (cast away a few weeks ago near Cape Blanco), and two seamen, are now held in slavery at a small town one day's journey from Agadeer. The bearer of this note is one of our masters. His business in Mogador is to learn if we will be ransomed; and if he be unsuccessful in finding any one who will pay the money to redeem us, the writer of this note is to be killed. If you cannot or will not pay the money they require (one hundred and fifty dollars for each) please direct the bearer to some one whom you think will do so. "There is another midshipman from the same vessel, and an English sailor, one day's journey south of this place. "Perhaps the bearer of this note, Bo Muzem, may be induced to purchase them, so that they also may be ransomed. "Henry Blount." This letter Harry folded, and directed to "Any English merchant in Mogador." By the time it was written, Bo Muzem had mounted and made himself ready for the road. After receiving the letter, he wished Harry to be informed once more, that, should the journey to Swearah prove a fruitless one, nothing but his (Harry's) life would compensate him (Bo Muzem) for the disappointment. After promising to be back in eight days, and enjoining upon his partners to look well after their property during his absence, Bo Muzem took his departure for the port of Mogador. CHAPTER SEVENTY SIX. BO MUZEM'S JOURNEY. Although an Arab merchant, Bo Muzem was an honest man, one, who in all business transactions, told the truth, and expected to hear it from others. Notwithstanding this, he pursued his journey towards Mogador with but a faint belief that the representations made by the young Englishman would prove true, and with the determination of taking the life of the latter should he find himself deceived. He placed more faith in the story told him by the sheik than in the mere hypothesis of the pilgrim, that the white slaves would certainly find some one to ransom them. His journey was partly undertaken through a sense of duty. After the promise made to the slaves, he thought it but right to become fully convinced that they were not to be redeemed before the idea of taking them to Mogador could be honourably abandoned. He pressed forward upon his journey with the perseverance and self-denial so peculiar to his race. After crossing the spurs of the Atlas Mountains he reached, on the evening of the third day, a small walled town, within three hours' ride of the famed seaport of Mogador. Here he stopped for the night, intending to proceed to the city early on the next morning. Immediately on entering the town, Bo Muzem met a person whose face wore a familiar look. It was the grazier to whom, but a few days before, he had sold the two slaves, Terence and Jim.