and told me to drink from thence. Though this trough was none of the
largest, and three cows were already drinking in it, I resolved to come
in for my share; and kneeling down, thrust my head between two of the
cows, and drank with great pleasure, until the water was nearly
exhausted, and the cows began to contend with each other for the last
mouthful.

In adventures of this nature, I passed the sultry month of May, during
which no material change took place in my situation. Ali still considered
me as a lawful prisoner; and Fatima, though she allowed me a larger
quantity of victuals than I had been accustomed to receive at Benowm, had
as yet said nothing on the subject of my release. In the meantime, the
frequent changes of the wind, the gathering clouds, and distant
lightning, with other appearances of approaching rain, indicated that the
wet season was at hand; when the Moors annually evacuate the country of
the Negroes, and return to the skirts of the Great Desert. This made me
consider that my fate was drawing towards a crisis, and I resolved to
wait for the event without any seeming uneasiness; but circumstances
occurred which produced a change in my favour, more suddenly than I had
foreseen, or had, reason to expect. The case was this; the fugitive
Kaartans, who had taken refuge in Ludamar, as I have related in Chapter
VIII., finding that the Moors were about to leave them, and dreading the
resentment of their own sovereign, whom they had so basely deserted,
offered to treat with Ali, for two hundred Moorish horsemen, to
co-operate with them in an effort to expel Daisy from Gedingooma; for
until Daisy should be vanquished or humbled, they considered that they
could neither return to their native towns, nor live in security in any
of the neighbouring kingdoms. With a view to extort money from these
people, by means of this treaty, Ali dispatched his son to Jarra, and
prepared to follow him in the course of a few days. This was an