He had not taken these steps without an object. Less superstitious than his black brother sheik, he knew there must be some natural explanation of the disappearance of the three castaways; and he had determined to seek, and if possible, to discover it.
It was not mere curiosity that prompted him to this determination. He had been all out of sorts, with himself, since losing Sailor Bill in the game of _helga_; and he was desirous of obtaining some compensation for his ill-luck, by capturing the three castaways who had so mysteriously disappeared.
As to their having either drowned themselves, or walked away over the waste of waters, the old sheik had seen too many Saäran summers and winters to give credence either to one tale or the other. He knew they would turn up again; and though he was not quite certain of the where, he more than half suspected it. He had kept his suspicions to himself,--not imparting them even to his own special followers. By the laws of the Saära, a slave taken by any one of the tribe belongs not to its chief, but to the individual who makes the capture. For this reason, had the cunning sexagenarian kept his thoughts to himself, and fallen _solus_ into the rear of the returning horde.
It might be supposed that he would have made some of his following privy to his plan,--for the sake of having help to effect such a wholesale capture. But no. His experience as a "Barbary wrecker" had taught him that there would be no danger,--no likelihood of resistance,--even though the castaways numbered thirty instead of three.
Armed with this confidence, and his long gun, he had returned down the ravine; and laid in wait near its mouth,--at a point where he commanded a view of the coast line, to the distance of more than a mile on each side of him.
His vigil was soon rewarded: by seeing the three individuals for whom it had been kept step forth from the sea,--as if emerging from its profoundest depths,--and stand conspicuously upon the beach.
He had waited for nothing more; but, giving the word to his maherry, had ridden out of the ravine, and was now advancing with all speed upon the tracks of the retreating mids.
In about threescore seconds from the time he was first seen pursuing them, the old sheik was up to the spot where our adventurers had awaited him.