And at Zeila he has made his home ever since.
Fitting out from there he proceeded to the Arabian coast, and, at a point between Sheikh Sa'eed and Khor Omeira, the dhow ran short of water. Adan, with half a dozen sailors, put off in a boat for the mainland, and having filled the goat-skins they had brought with them at a well, they were about to look for firewood when a party of Arabs armed with guns appeared, and asked who the devil had given them permission to land there.
"We are getting water and collecting firewood," explained Adan, "and have no intention of staying here or of doing any harm."
"Well, we want to collect something from you," said the Arab Sheikh in charge. "Thirty riales you'll pay us, and a good supply of jowari grain must be landed for us from yonder dhow ere you ever set foot aboard her again."
"Ya, Sheikh," said poor Adan, "I have only three riales in the world. Here they are. Tie them up in your cloth like a good man, and in the name of God let us go in peace. We can do without the firewood to-day!"
"You pay us thirty riales, oh, sailor," said the Sheikh, "and you land the grain, or you die, together with these men who accompany you."
Well, Adan had no grain aboard his dhow, and would have been only too glad to get out of the position he found himself in by paying thirty riales had he had them.
"I was explaining this," he told me, "to the Sheikh, a very quick-tempered man, when without a word of warning, CHAP! he fired off his gun and hit me in the leg with the pieces of iron he'd loaded it with. I fell to the ground and lay like a log whilst my men took to their heels and made a run for the boat, with the Arab party hot on their tracks. Thinking I was dead the Sheikh paid no further attention to me. Aboard the dhow we had some Gras rifles, with which the sailors, who had not come ashore, opened fire, and easily drove off the Arabs, who were armed with old muzzle loaders. In the excitement that ensued I crawled the short distance to the beach, and the sailors seeing me, sent off a boat and I got away. But when I came back to Zeila the doctor cut off my leg, and Gyyed the carpenter made me this wooden one, which I can get about on quite comfortably. Thank God, I can still dive!"
"Do you mean to tell me," I exclaimed in astonishment, "that you still dive?"
"What else do you think I could do?" replied Adan. "It is my bread and butter."