I Requested Permission To Drink, But Was Driven Away With
Outrageous Abuse.
Passing, however, from one well to another, I
came at last to one where there was only an old man and two boys.
I
made the same request to this man, and he immediately drew me up a
bucket of water; but, as I was about to take hold of it, he
recollected that I was a Christian, and fearing that his bucket
might be polluted by my lips, he dashed the water into the trough,
and told me to drink from thence. Though this trough was none of
the largest, and three cows were already drinking from it, I
resolved to come in for my share; and kneeling down thrust my head
between two of the cows, and drank with great pleasure until the
water was nearly exhausted, and the cows began to contend with each
other for the last mouthful.
In adventures of this nature I passed the sultry month of May,
during which no material change took place in my situation. Ali
still considered me as a lawful prisoner; and Fatima, though she
allowed me a larger quantity of victuals than I had been accustomed
to receive at Benowm, had as yet said nothing on the subject of my
release. In the meantime, the frequent changes of the wind, the
gathering clouds, and distant lightning, with other appearances of
approaching rain, indicated that the wet season was at hand, when
the Moors annually evacuate the country of the negroes, and return
to the skirts of the Great Desert.
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