to their safety to the
merchant whose property the goods were, he at once said: "I know the
Turks, and will abide the consequences of the step;" although,
situated as we were, we could not shrink from the results, whatever
they might be, without incurring a much heavier loss, if not the
entire destruction of the vessel. Accordingly, the boats were got out,
and part of the cargo at once transferred to them, and conveyed to the
shore, I acting as cockswain on the occasion. As the foremost boat
approached, a number of turbaned figures were seen advancing, who, as
soon as it touched the beach, rushed into the surf, and, with a shout,
hauled it high and dry, and commenced at once to bear off its cargo to
a field in the immediate neighbourhood, above high-water mark.
Remonstrance or resistance would have been equally out of the
question, as neither understood a word the other said, and their
numbers were overpowering. So rapidly did the goods vanish from the
boat under their active operations, that I had not even time to take a
note of the particular packages. As soon as the boat was emptied of
its contents, they assisted in pushing it off again into deep water;
and in a very desponding state of mind regarding the ultimate fate of
the goods which I had left on shore, I returned to the ship. On
expressing my fears on that score to the merchant, who met me at the
gangway, he smiled, and said: "It's all right, I saw by the turbans
and dresses of the men who came down to you that they were Turks; and
I know, from experience, that we run no risk whatever in leaving the
goods under their self-imposed guardianship." As he was the party who
was most interested in the result, I said nothing more, but proceeded
to lighten the ship as speedily as possible, by making several
additional trips to the shore with as much of the cargo as enabled us
to get at the ballast; and on each occasion we received the same
prompt and energetic assistance from our turbaned allies, each
boat-load being carried to the corner of the field where the others
were deposited. It required two days to get the ship sufficiently
lightened of her ballast, so as to get her afloat again, and this we
were enabled to do without her sustaining any damage of a serious
nature, as the weather, fortunately for us, continued perfectly calm.

'During these two nights that the goods were left on shore, they were
watched by _two of the Turks alone_; and when we were ready for th