All this, of course, had been
communicated to the chief men of the different parties on the coast, of
which there were several, who had agreed to unite their forces to secure
the second ship, and then to divide the spoils.
When the Arabs reached the coast near the wreck, that morning, the elders
among them were not slow in comprehending the motives of the expedition;
and having gained a pretty accurate idea of the number of men employed
about the Dane, they had come to the just conclusion that few were left in
the vessel at anchor. They had carried off the spy-glass of their prize
too, and several among them knew its use, from having seen similar things
in other stranded ships. By means of this glass, they discovered the
number and quality of those on board the Montauk, as soon as there was
sufficient light, and directed their own operations accordingly. The
parties that had appeared and disappeared behind the sandy ridges of the
desert, about the time at which we have now arrived in the narrative, and
those who have been already mentioned in a previous chapter, were those
who came from the interior, and those who went in the direction of the
reef; the first of the latter of which Saunders had just discovered. Owing
to the rounded formation of the coast, and to the intervention of a
headland, the distance by water between the two ships was quite double
that by land between the two encampments, and those who now arrived
abreast of the packet, deliberately pitched their tents, as if they
depended more on a display of their numbers for success than on
concealment and as if they felt no apprehension of the return of the crew.
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