their day's work--for they had made a
good haul--and made all haste to return to their port, which was Tunis.
But before bearing up they set fire to our ship, and when we last saw
the _Delight_ she was blazing merrily. I make no doubt that she sank
shortly afterwards, leaving no trace behind."

"You'm wrong there, mate," broke in Jake Irwin. "Don't you mind that it
rained heavily soon afterwards? Well, the rain put out the fire, and an
English ship comin' up found her still smoulderin', with enough of her
left to show that she was the _Delight_. She brought the news of the
loss of the _Delight_ into Plymouth--I remember hearin' all about it,--
and it was thought she had took fire in the ordinary way, and that her
crew, havin' gone off in the boats, was a'terwards lost. No one ever
gave a thought to pirates or corsairs."

"Ah," resumed Evans, "would to God that that vessel had come up sooner!
We should have been saved--those left of us--from a living death that
lasted for many years. Yes, now you come to mention it, I remember the
rain; but we never dreamed that it would put out the fire, for we left
her burning furiously. Well, the other ship was too late, and it makes
no difference now. But, to get on with my yarn. We reached the port of
Tunis about ten days later, and there was much joy there when it was
found what a valuable cargo the corsair had brought back; and the joy
was all the greater because of the twelve white prisoners, for white
slaves are reckoned very valuable in those parts, and there hadn't been
any taken for a very long while. We were all put up to auction, and the
man who bid highest got the man he fancied. A big Moor from the
back-country took a liking for me, for I was a fine strapping youngster
then, although you mightn't think it to look at me now. Well, he bought
me, but me only; so I said good-bye to my comrades, never expecting to
see them again, and we set off with my master's caravan for the
interior.

"His home must have been some hundreds of miles in the interior, for it
took us over two months of travelling every day to get there. We struck
from the town of Tunis south-eastwards, as I could tell by the sun.
After travelling for a long time we came to a big river, with fields of
rice on each side of it, and beyond them the burning desert, with hills
and mountains behind that again. When we came to the river we left the
camels, and proceeded in boats until we came to a might