hwoman.

A shore-boat was alongside--a sort of canoe turned up at both ends, and
flat-bottomed. An old Moor sat in her. Sidy had bribed him to put us
on shore, and to ask no questions. He told him that we were Moors, who
had had business on board the brig, and that we desired to land without
notice. He accordingly pulled to an unfrequented part of the harbour,
and we stepped on shore, as we believed, unnoticed. The captain and
Sidy led the way, I following in the character of a servant. Of course,
if spoken to, I was to be dumb. We passed along a narrow sandy road,
with low stone walls on either side skirting the town, till we arrived
at the entrance of a house of somewhat larger dimensions than those of
the neighbouring edifices. This, I found, was the residence of a German
renegade and a merchant, who had, by Sidy's means, been bribed to assist
us.

We were ushered into his presence as Moorish guests come to visit him.
He was seated cross-legged on a cushion at one end of a room, with a
large pipe by his side. The apartment was not very finely furnished,
seeing that it had little else in it besides a few other cushions like
the one he sat on. Certainly he looked exactly like an old Moor, and I
could not persuade myself that he was not one. He invited us to sit
down; which the captain and Sidy did near him, while I tucked my legs
under me at a distance. After he had bowed and talked a little through
the interpreter, he clapped his hands, and some slaves brought each of
us a pipe--not an unpleasant thing just then to my taste. Again he
clapped his hands, and the slaves brought in some low, odd, little
tables, one of which was placed before each of us. There was a bowl of
porridge, and some plates with little lumps of fried meat, and rice, and
dates, but not a drop of grog or liquor of any sort. Afterwards,
however, coffee was brought to us in cups scarcely bigger than thimbles;
but it did little more than just warm up my tongue. As soon as the
slaves had withdrawn, I was not a little surprised to hear the seeming
Moor address the captain in tolerable English.

"So you want to find one of your captured countrymen?" said he. "Well,
to-morrow morning I start on a journey to visit a friend who has one as
a slave. His description answers that of him whom you seek. I will
obtain for you a short conversation with him. You must contrive the
means of rescuing him. I can do no more."

After some further t