XLVIII. The Waterless Well XLIX. The Well L. A Momentous Inquiry LI. A Living Grave LII. The Sheik's Plan of Revenge LIII. Captured Again LIV. An Unfaithful Wife LV. Two Faithful Wives LVI. Fatima's Fate LVII. Further Defection LVIII. A Call for Two More LIX. Once More by the Sea LX. Golah Calls Again LXI. Sailor Bill Standing Sentry LXII. Golah Fulfils his Destiny LXIII. On the Edge of the Saaera LXIV. The Rival Wreckers LXV. Another White Slave LXVI. Sailor Bill's Brother LXVII. A Living Stream LXVIII. The Arabs at Home LXIX. Work or Die LXX. Victory! LXXI. Sold Again LXXII. Onward Once More LXXIII. Another Bargain LXXIV. More Torture LXXV. En Route LXXVI. Hope Deferred LXXVII. El Hajji LXXVIII. Bo Muzem's Journey LXXIX. Rais Mourad LXXX. Bo Muzem Back Again LXXXI. A Pursuit LXXXII. Moorish Justice LXXXIII. The Jew's Leap LXXXIV. Conclusion THE BOY SLAVES. CHAPTER I. THE LAND OF THE SLAVE. Land of Ethiope! whose burning centre seems unapproachable as the frozen Pole! Land of the unicorn and the lion,--of the crouching panther and the stately elephant,--of the camel, the camelopard, and the camel-bird! land of the antelopes,--of the wild gemsbok, and the gentle gazelle,--land of the gigantic crocodile and huge river-horse,--land teeming with animal life, and last in the list of my apostrophic appellations,--last, and that which must grieve the heart to pronounce it,--land of the slave! Ah! little do men think while thus hailing thee, how near may be the dread doom to their own hearths and homes! Little dream they, while expressing their sympathy,--alas! too often, as of late shown in England, a hypocritical utterance,--little do they suspect, while glibly commiserating the lot of thy sable-skinned children, that hundreds--aye, thousands--of their own color and kindred are held within thy confines, subject to a lot even lowlier than these,--a fate far more fearful. Alas! it is even so. While I write, the proud Caucasian,--despite his boasted superiority of intellect,--despite the whiteness of his skin,--may be found by hundreds in the unknown interior, wretchedly toiling, the slave not only of thy oppressors, but the slave of thy slaves! Let us lift that curtain, which shrouds thy great Saaera, and look upon some pictures that should teach the son of Shem, while despising his brothers Ham and Japhet, that he is not yet master of the world. * * * * * Dread is that shore between Susa and Senegal, on the western edge of Africa,--by mariners most dreaded of any other in the world. The very thought of it causes the sailor to shiver with affright. And no wonder: on that inhospitable seaboard thousands of his fellows have found a watery grave; and thousands of others a doom far more deplorable than death!