pletely captivated by the hope, which Foster's words about her prospective deliverance, had inspired within her, and so she believed every word of Foster. She said to him,
"If what you say is true, why not let that boat come near us, so that we may get into it? If you will do so, I will amply reward you."
"By God, I cannot do that," said Foster. "If your men can once get hold of me, they will surely put an end to my life."
"I will prevent them from doing you any harm," replied Dalani with charming innocence.
"They will not listen to you," said Foster. "The people of your country have no regard for women's word!"
"In that case, you better drop us down on the shore, and go away," suggested Dalani, with her usual simplicity.
Dalani lost her sense through extreme impatience. She could not, therefore, carefully consider the good and evil of what she was going to do. She did not think, even for a moment, that she would be quite in a wide sea, if the boat, suspected to be the Nawab's, were actually not his; it did not, in fact, at all come to her mind that the boat might
226
