202 SHIPWRECK OF BI. DE BRISSON. 
which lay at anchor off the coast, Avhen I was seized by two 
young Arabs, who took the greatest care of me ; and since 
that time I have been their slave. They appeared to be of a 
much milder disposition than the Arabs of the interior, and 
are much more industrious. They informed me, about a fort- 
night ago, that they were going to take me to the sultan, and 
I am inclined to believe that their reason for bringing me 
hither was because they had agreed upon this place of ren- 
dezvous with your master, after informing him that they had 
me in their possession." 
Sidy Mohammed's behavior, upon taking leave of me, was 
very affecting. "Adieu, my dear Brisson !" said he; "you 
are about to undertake a long journey. You will soon per- 
ceive that I had great reason to be afraid of it. I wish no 
danger may befall you, and that your passage by sea may be 
more fortunate than the last. Adieu ! forget not to send my 
wife the scarlet cloth. Charge it to the account of Sidy Selim, 
Once more adieu, my dear Brisson!" The tears which ac- 
companied his last words might have deceived me, had I not 
known what an adept he was in the art of dissimulation. 
After we ha,d been sixty-six days on our journey, my 
strength was exhausted, my legs were prodigiously swollen, 
my feet covered with running sores, and I should infallibly 
have sunk under my misfortunes, had not my master, to en- 
courage me, every now and then said, " Behold the sea ! Dost 
not thou see the ships ? Have a good heart ; we ar© ^.l^ost 
at our journey's end." Hope supported me, and when I 
least expected it, I beheld the element of which I had so much 
canse to complain. Upon quitting a labyrinth of broom 
bushes, we arrived at the top of a few little sand hills, when, 
to my inexpressible joy — a joy of which the reader can 
scarcely form any idea — I perceived the French colors, and 
those of several other nations, floating over the poops of dif- 
ferent vessels lying in the harbor of Mogador, which place I 
as yet knew only by the name of Saira. " Well, Brisson !" 
said my master, " art thou content ? Dost thou not see the 
vessels ? Are there any French ? I promised to conduct 
thee to the consul, and thou seest that I have kept my word. 
But who.t is the matter — thou art quite silent ?" Alas ! what 
could I answer 1 I could scarcely give vent to my tears ; 
and to articulate a word was impossible. I surveyed the sea, 
the colors, the ships, and the city, and thought that every 
thing I beheld was only an illusion. The unfortunate baker, 
equally affected and surprised, joined his sighs with mine, 
