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Adair immediately steered the boat towards the dhow, though he had little hope of reaching her in time to prevent her from running on destruction.
As if to protest against the frankly commercial atmosphere of everything and everybody at Abadan, a dhow that might have belonged to Sinbad the Sailor himself was making slow headway before the failing breeze under a huge spread of bellying canvas an apparition from another age, relieved boldly against the dark hull of a tank steamer.
Just as the boat left the side of the dhow, the midshipmen, uttering loud shouts, rushed out of their hiding-place; while the blacks, seeing them, ran on either side like a flock of scared sheep. The sailors in vain tried to reassure them; as they had not much time to do it, it was necessary to attack the boat before the Arabs reached the shore.
'Yes, of war between so-called Christian nations, I agreed. In an impulse I shook his hand. 'But there was a light, I said: 'I saw it. 'So did I, he said. 'Was it the light of a dhow? I wondered. 'No, he said, surprisingly, 'the dhow was on the other side of your ship. He pointed to the votive star. 'That star commemorates this sight of a light, or rather of a star, he said.
He was on the point of despatching another boat, when the look-out man from the signal-station reported that a dhow was in sight coming across from the mainland. Her arrival was eagerly looked for. There could be no doubt that she was a prize made by Green. This was ascertained positively to be the case, and in about an hour she came to an anchor off the island, having Green's boat astern.
At first they thought that I was a black man, for I had forgotten to rub the black off my face, and afterwards had more difficulty in getting that white than any other part of me. I could very easily talk with them, as I had learned to speak the lingo in very common use along the coast in those parts. "The dhow was, as I expected, a slaver.
They hailed, on the chance of their having been thrown overboard when the dhow had got more ahead, but no reply came to their shouts. They must either have been kept on board, or sunk immediately.
I had a little oil in a calabash, with which I knew I could soon make myself white, so I had no fear of being shipped on board as a slave. It was the evening before I came in sight of the dhow. She lay in a little bay about a quarter of a mile from the shore. There were no boats to be seen, and no means of communicating with her.
"We'll soon stop him from doing that," answered Rhymer. "You remain on board this craft with a couple of hands and I'll go after him. Cox and Stone, you stay with Mr Garth; into the boat the rest of you." The crew in another instant were in their seats, and shoving off, pulled away towards the other dhow.
A bright look-out was kept for slavers, and several suspicious-looking craft were overhauled, but as the black-looking individuals found on board appeared to be either part of the crew or passengers, they were allowed to proceed on their voyage. Some time before Zanzibar was reached, a dhow was seen early one morning becalmed.
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