The
Shepherds Followed Me For About A Mile, Hooting And Throwing Stones
After Me; And When I Was Out Of
Their reach, and had begun to
indulge the pleasing hopes of escaping, I was again greatly alarmed
to hear somebody
Holloa behind me, and looking back, I saw three
Moors on horseback, coming after me at full speed, whooping and
brandishing their double-barrelled guns. I knew it was in vain to
think of escaping, and therefore turned back and met them, when two
of them caught hold of my bridle, one on each side, and the third,
presenting his musket, told me I must go back to Ali. When the
human mind has for some time been fluctuating between hope and
despair, tortured with anxiety, and hurried from one extreme to
another, it affords a sort of gloomy relief to know the worst that
can possibly happen. Such was my situation. An indifference about
life and all its enjoyments had completely benumbed my faculties,
and I rode back with the Moors with apparent unconcern. But a
change took place much sooner than I had any reason to expect. In
passing through some thick bushes one of the Moors ordered me to
untie my bundle and show them the contents. Having examined the
different articles, they found nothing worth taking except my cloak,
which they considered as a very valuable acquisition, and one of
them pulling it from me, wrapped it about himself, and, with one of
his companions, rode off with their prize. When I attempted to
follow them, the third, who had remained with me, struck my horse
over the head, and presenting his musket, told me I should proceed
no farther. I now perceived that these men had not been sent by any
authority to apprehend me, but had pursued me solely with a view to
rob and plunder me. Turning my horse's head, therefore, once more
towards the east, and observing the Moor follow the track of his
confederates, I congratulated myself on having escaped with my life,
though in great distress, from such a horde of barbarians.
I was no sooner out of sight of the Moor than I struck into the
woods to prevent being pursued, and kept pushing on with all
possible speed, until I found myself near some high rocks, which I
remembered to have seen in my former route from Queira to Deena and,
directing my course a little to the northward, I fortunately fell in
with the path.
CHAPTER XIV - JOURNEY CONTINUED; ARRIVAL AT WAWRA
It is impossible to describe the joy that arose in my mind when I
looked around and concluded that I was out of danger. I felt like
one recovered from sickness; I breathed freer; I found unusual
lightness in my limbs; even the desert looked pleasant; and I
dreaded nothing so much as falling in with some wandering parties of
Moors, who might convey me back to the land of thieves and murderers
from which I had just escaped.
I soon became sensible, however, that my situation was very
deplorable, for I had no means of procuring food nor prospect of
finding water. About ten o'clock, perceiving a herd of goats
feeding close to the road, I took a circuitous route to avoid being
seen, and continued travelling through the wilderness, directing my
course by compass nearly east-south-east, in order to reach as soon
as possible some town or village of the kingdom of Bambarra.
A little after noon, when the burning heat of the sun was reflected
with double violence from the hot sand, and the distant ridges of
the hills, seen through the ascending vapour, seemed to wave and
fluctuate like the unsettled sea, I became faint with thirst, and
climbed a tree in hopes of seeing distant smoke, or some other
appearance of a human habitation - but in vain: nothing appeared all
around but thick underwood and hillocks of white sand.
About four o'clock I came suddenly upon a large herd of goats, and
pulling my horse into a bush, I watched to observe if the keepers
were Moors or negroes. In a little time I perceived two Moorish
boys, and with some difficulty persuaded them to approach me. They
informed me that the herd belonged to Ali, and that they were going
to Deena, where the water was more plentiful, and where they
intended to stay until the rain had filled the pools in the desert.
They showed me their empty water-skins, and told me that they had
seen no water in the woods. This account afforded me but little
consolation; however, it was in vain to repine, and I pushed on as
fast as possible, in hopes of reaching some watering-place in the
course of the night. My thirst was by this time become
insufferable; my mouth was parched and inflamed; a sudden dimness
would frequently come over my eyes, with other symptoms of fainting;
and my horse being very much fatigued, I began seriously to
apprehend that I should perish of thirst. To relieve the burning
pain in my mouth and throat I chewed the leaves of different shrubs,
but found them all bitter, and of no service to me.
A little before sunset, having reached the top of a gentle rising, I
climbed a high tree, from the topmost branches of which I cast a
melancholy look over the barren wilderness, but without discovering
the most distant trace of a human dwelling. The same dismal
uniformity of shrubs and sand everywhere presented itself, and the
horizon was as level and uninterrupted as that of the sea.
Descending from the tree, I found my horse devouring the stubble and
brushwood with great avidity; and as I was now too faint to attempt
walking, and my horse too much fatigued to carry me I thought it but
an act of humanity, and perhaps the last I should ever have it in my
power to perform, to take off his bridle and let him shift for
himself, in doing which I was suddenly affected with sickness and
giddiness, and falling upon the sand, felt as if the hour of death
was fast approaching.
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