Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 5.djvu/203

177 sell and buy. Then the captain turned to me and said, “Hark ye, thou art a stranger and poor and tellest us that thou hast undergone great hardships; wherefore I have a mind to advantage thee with somewhat that may further thee in thy native land, so thou wilt still pray for me.” “So be it,” answered I; “thou shalt have my prayers.” Quoth he, “Know then that there was with us a man, a traveller whom we lost, and we know not if he be alive or dead, for we have had no news of him; so I purpose to commit his goods to thy charge, that thou mayest sell them in the island. A part of the proceeds we will give thee for thy pains, and the rest we will keep till we return to Baghdad, where we will enquire for his family and deliver it to them. Dost thou agree to this?” I thanked him for his kindness and accepted his offer with gratitude, whereupon he bade the sailors and porters carry the bales in question ashore and deliver them to me. Quoth the ship’s clerk to him, “O master, what bales are these and what merchant’s name shall I write upon them?” “Write on them the name of Sindbad,” answered the captain, “him who was with us in the ship and whom we lost at such an island; for we mean this stranger to sell them, and we will give him a part of the price for his pains and keep the rest, till we return to Baghdad, where, if we find him we will pay it to him, and if not, we will make it over to his family.” And the clerk said, “It is well and justly thought.”

When I heard my name, I bethought me that these must be my goods; so I waited till all the merchants had landed and were gathered together, talking and chaffering; then, taking courage, I went up to the captain and said to him, “O my lord, knowest thou what manner of man was this Sindbad, whose goods thou hast committed to me to sell?” “I know nothing of him,” answered the captain, “save that he was a man from the city of Baghdad, Sindbad

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