He had scarcely done so, when the gate to the city opened and a crowd of soldiers and citizens carrying torches, rushed out.

They soon got on his trail and followed it to the old hulk which they surrounded with wild and discordant cries.

In the midst of all the hubbub, Paul heard a voice calling in English, and he stepped out to be met by the son of the American Consul, Colonel Mathews, who explained the cause of Boyton's appearance to the natives.
It was afterward learned that the peculiar cry of alarm given by the guard on the wall, was: "Awake, awake.

'Tis better to pray than to sleep, for the devil has landed in Tangier." All the explanation, however, did not prevent one of the natives from running back into the city with the statement that, he had actually seen a Christian walking on the sea.
When those on the boat heard all the commotion ashore, their anxiety for Paul was great.

They rightly apprehended that the superstitious feeling of the Moorish guard had been excited at the apparition of so strange an object emerging from the sea at that advanced hour of the night, and might lead them to resort to violence.
In answer to Mr.Matthew's invitation to enter the city as his guest, Paul told him that he must first paddle back to the boat and Mr.Mathews agreed to meet him there.