At night the wind fell. Rather than attempting to row through the dark, and perhaps run aground or stray into some backwater, the raïs simply tied the galleot to a palm tree along the riverbank and then organized the Cabal into watches. The dragoons actually served as an outlying guard-post, as they were not keen to see the galleot’s cargo fall into the hands of some local Ali Baba and his forty thieves.