ONCE more the morning brought change of scene, and when our friends looked shoreward on the first of December they saw the ruined forts and rockbound coast of Saffi before them, surpassing in beauty any place they had yet seen.
An air of romance seemed to pervade the spot and suggest bygone histories to the mind, and if the stones of Saffi could have spoken no doubt they would have told thrilling stories of love and war, brave deeds, and dark ones, too, of treachery and revenge, for Saffi is a very old town and must have had a checkereda history.
But that sunny morning everything was calm and bright, and the boat which put off from the shore came on a peaceful errand. They watched it as it made a dash through the surf which fringed the coast; wave after wave seemed to break over it, but the rowers held on their way, and were soon alongside with their wares, which they had somehow managed to keep quite dry.
At other ports the natives had been permitted to display the things they offered for sale on the promenade deck, but at Saffi the salesman had to set up shop on the lower deck.
The special kind of pottery known as Saffi ware, baskets and beadwork, were temptingly displayed, and were well worth inspection. The ware was rather coarse looking and much of it was adorned all over with blue lines and curves, but the vases were of quaint Eastern shapes, many of them being models of water-bottles made with very narrow necks, so that the water may keep cool and fresh. His baskets, too, were very suitable for taking home as presents; but the man in charge looked either sulky or ill, and to begin with prices were high, and Nora had to visit him several times before he became reasonable enough to trade with.
Shopping in Morocco is very different from shopping in England, as Elizabeth had already found out when bargaining for a specially elegant pair of native slippers embroidered all over with finely worked stitchings of silver thread. People in the East are seldom in a hurry, they like to take plenty of time over everything they do, and would not at all enjoy telling the real price of a thing straight away.
However, in the end the man from Saffi sold quite a lot of his goods, and we will hope that he was as well satisfied with the money he got for them as the passengers were with their purchases.
It was a little tantalizing to be so near to Saffi and yet unable to go ashore, but the swell made landing dangerous, and the only one who attempted it was a lady, who was taken in a small boat to the end of a little pier which was being built; she was then put in a large basket and landed by means of a crane.
But after all, it was very delightful on board, for the sky was blue above, and the sea was blue around, and the spray along the coast kept rising in clouds of snow-white smoke that shone in the sunlight. Besides, they could see the people moving about on the shore.
They were interested in watching a man plowing with a yoke of oxen, and then, at sunset, the sound of a bell was wafted to them across the water, and they saw people approaching the city from all quarters, some walking, some on mules or camels, but all trending in one direction, for work was at an end for the day, and all must re-enter the town.
After dinner the three friends repaired to their favorite evening resort on the upper deck, where they reveled in the glory of the starlit sky and enjoyed the quiet beauty of the night.
Since her first landing in Morocco, Nora had thought much of the verse that says that God "has made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth." She had realized, as perhaps never before, the kindred ship of the whole human race as being the offspring of God, though at the same time a fallen race as descendants of Adam, for "ALL have sinned." But, blessed be God, "Christ died for ALL," and "God now commandeth ALL men everywhere to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”