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In the end, I was tired, cold, and hungry. One day, a 
good traveller found me, and he carried me to the next 
village. I had the best dinner in the world there, and it was 
wonderful to put on warm clothes, too! Two days later, I 
found the caravan again. My wife and young daughter 
were very happy to see me.
We journeyed to the town of Cambay, and carried all 
our beautiful gifts onto four ships. Then we 
sailed south to Calicut, and 
put everything on three 
big, Chinese ships there. I 
went to the mosque that 
afternoon and prayed 
for a good journey.
But before I got on 
the ship, something 
very bad happened! 
The weather suddenly 
changed, and the wind 
broke two of our ships 
on rocks by the coast. 
We lost everything – the 
gifts, the people, and the 
animals. The third ship – with 
my wife and daughter on it – sailed 
away, and I never saw it – or them – again.
I needed to go back to the Sultan and tell him about 
all this. But I was afraid. When the Sultan was angry, 
he often killed people.
‘So did you go back to Delhi, Uncle?’ I asked.
‘You can hear about that tomorrow, Ahmed,’ he smiled.
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alone with 
nobody
Chapter 4 - From the Maldives
to China
My uncle didn’t answer his door at once the next day. So 
I waited in the street, and I thought about the Sultan of
Delhi. In my head, I could see his big, angry face when he 
heard all about those three ships. 
Just then, my uncle opened the door. ‘Ah, hello, Ahmed. 
Come in, and sit down!’ he said, and then he began his 
story again:
Of course I couldn’t go back to the Sultan. That was 
dangerous. I needed to leave India at once, I knew. Then I 
remembered the holy man Burhan Al-Din’s words about 
visiting China. Perhaps I could go there alone, without 
the Sultan’s help.
First I sailed to the Maldives. They are truly wonderful 
islands and there are about 2,000 of them. The 
Maldives are famous for their beautiful shells. The 
people there don’t have gold money. For them, 
shells are money.
I stayed on the island of Male. I wanted 
only to visit the place, but the rulers there 
needed a new judge. When I arrived, 
they brought gifts of gold and pearls 
to my house. It wasn’t easy 
for me to leave the island 
after that. 
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