vourite refused, under the plea that she had been forbidden to
give him anything.

This was true; for, as he had declined to accept of anything at the
hands of those claiming to be his masters, they had determined to starve
him into submission.

Fatima's refusal to obey him caused Golah his greatest chagrin. Ever
accustomed to prompt and slavish obedience from others, the idea of his
own wife, his favourite too, denying his modest request, almost drove
him frantic.

"I am your husband," he cried, "and whom should you obey but me?
Fatima! I commanded you to bring me some water!"

"And I command you not to do it," said the Arab sheik, who, standing
near by, had heard the order.

Fatima was an artful, selfish woman, who had gained some influence over
her husband by flattering his vanity, and professing a love she had
never felt.

She had acted with slavish obedience to him when he was all-powerful;
but now that he was himself a slave, her submission had been transferred
with perfect facility to the chief of the band who had captured him.

It was now that Golah began to realise the fact that he was a conquered
man.

His heart was nearly bursting with rage, shame, and disappointment; for
nothing could so plainly awaken him to the comprehension of his real
position as the fact that Fatima, his favourite, she who had ever
professed for him so much love and obedience, now refused to attend to
his simplest request.

After making one more violent and ineffectual effort at breaking his
bonds, he sank down upon the earth and remained silent, bitterly
contemplating the degraded condition into which he had fallen.

The Krooman, who was a very sharp observer of passing events, and had an
extensive knowledge of peculiar specimens of human nature, closely
watched the behaviour of the black sheik.

"He no like us," he remarked to the whites. "He nebba be slave.
Bom-bye you see him go dead."

CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR.

TWO FAITHFUL WIVES.

While Golah's mind appeared to be stunned almost to unconsciousness by
the refusal of Fatima to obey his orders, his other two wives were
moving about, as if engaged in some domestic duty.

Presently the woman he had buried in the sand was seen going towards him
with a calabash of water, followed by the other, who carried a dish of
sangleh.

One of the Arabs, perceiving their intention, ran up, and, in an angry
tone, commanded them to retire to their tents. The two women persiste