Chapter Fifty Two.
Captured again.
Golah’s fear of the Arabs met by the well had not been without a cause. His forced night march, to avoid meeting them again, had not secured the object for which it had been made.
Approaching from the direction of the rising sun, the Arabs had not been discovered in the distance; and Golah, occupied in overcoming the obstinate resistance of the white slaves, had allowed them to come quite near before they had been observed by him.
Leaving his captives, the sheik seized his musket, and followed by his son and brother-in-law rushed forward to protect his wives and property.
He was too late. Before he could reach them they were in the possession of others; and as he drew near the spot where they had been captured he saw a dozen muskets presented towards himself, and heard some one loudly commanding him in the name of the Prophet to approach in peace.
Golah had the discretion to yield to a destiny that could not be averted—the misfortune of being made a prisoner and plundered at the same time.
Calmly saying, “It is the will of God,” he sat down, and invited his captors to a conference on the terms of capitulation.