id not seem to be groundless,
for the other barge gave chase to them, and, having more rowers, soon
overtook them--keeping in a line between my brother's barge and the
shore. When the young girls perceived their danger, they jumped up with
cries and lamentations. It was in vain that Mustapha tried to quiet
them; in vain did he urge them to be quiet, as, by their running about,
the boat was in danger of upsetting. His entreaties were not listened
to; and when finally the other boat came near, they all rushed to the
further side of Mustapha's boat and capsized it.

But in the meantime the movements of the strange boat had been watched
from land, and as for some time past fears had been entertained of
corsairs, several barges pushed out from shore to render assistance to
my brother. They arrived just in time to pick up the drowning ones. In
the excitement, the hostile boat escaped; and in the two barges on
which the rescued had been placed, there was some uncertainty as to
whether all had been saved. These two boats were brought side by side,
and alas! it was found that my sister and one of her companions were
missing. At the same moment a man whom no one knew was discovered on
one of the barges. Mustapha's threats extorted from him the admission
that he belonged to the hostile ship that lay at anchor two miles to
the eastward, and that his companions, in their hasty flight, had left
him while he was in the very act of assisting the young girls out of
the water. He further said that he had seen two of them drawn into the
boat to which he belonged.

The anguish of my aged father was intense. Mustapha, too, was nearly
wild with grief--not alone because his beloved sister was lost, and he
must blame himself as the author of her misfortune, but the companion
of Fatima's sad fate was his betrothed, though he had never dared to
mention that circumstance to our father, as the young lady's parents
were poor and low-born.

But my father was a stern man. As soon as he was able to control his
grief, he sent for Mustapha, and said to him: "Your folly has robbed me
of the comfort of my old age, and the light of my eyes. Go! I banish
you forever from my sight; I curse you and all your descendants; and
only when you bring Fatima back to me, shall your father's curse be
lifted."

My brother had not expected this. He had already formed the resolution
of going in search of his sister and her friend, and had come to his
father intending