At an early period in the discussions, he discovered that each of the four was to fall to different masters.
“You and me,” said he to Harry, “we no got two massas, only one.”
His words were soon after proved to be true. They were carried apart from each other, evidently with the design of being appropriated by different owners, and the fear that they might also be separated again came over them.
When the slaves, camels, tents, and articles that had been gathered from the wreck were distributed amongst the eleven Arabs, each one took the charge of his own; but there still remained Golah, his wives and their children, to be disposed of.
No one seemed desirous of becoming the owner of the black sheik and his wives. Even those who had said that he would make a valuable slave, appeared unwilling to take him, although induced to do so by the taunts of their companions.
The fact was, that they were afraid of him. He would be too difficult to manage; and none of them wished to be the master of one who obstinately refused both food and drink, and who so defiantly invoked upon the heads of his captors the curse of Mahomet, and swore by the beard of the Prophet that the moment his hands were free, he would kill the man who should dare to own or claim him as a slave.
Golah, with all his faults, was neither cunning nor deceitful; and, having a spirit too great to affect submission, he did not intend to yield.
He was arrogant, cruel, avaricious and vindictive; but the wrongs he did were always accomplished in a plain open-handed way, and never by stratagem or treachery.
By accepting the terms the Arabs had offered him, his strength, courage, and unconquerable will might afterwards have enabled him to obtain revenge upon his captors, and regain a portion of his property; but it was not in his nature to sham submission, even for the sake of gaining a future advantage.
As not one of the Arabs was willing to accept of him at the value at which he had been appraised, or to allow another to have him for less, it was finally decided that he should be retained as the common property of all, until he could be sold to some other tribe, when a distribution might be made of the proceeds of the sale. His wives and children were to be disposed of in like manner.