“Why not tackle the Chief yourself?” he suggested. “Here he comes now. Craig may be speaking the truth, but, on the other hand, it’s all to his interests to keep us away from the soldiers.”
The Professor rose at once to his feet and stepped out to where the Chief was giving orders.
“Chief,” he said, “my friends desire me to speak with you. We are worn out with our adventures. The young ladies who are with us are unused to and ill-prepared for this hard life. We beg that you will allow us to remain here and await the arrival of the English soldiers.”
The Chief turned his head. There was little friendliness in his tone.
“Wise man,” he replied, “I have sent you my bidding by him who is our honoured guest. I tell you frankly that I am not satisfied with the explanations I have received of your presence here.”
Feerda leaned forward, her beautiful eyes flashing in the dim light.
“Ah! but I know,” she cried, “they would bring harm to the master. I can read it in their hearts as I have heard it from their own lips.”
“What my daughter says is truth,” the Chief declared. “Back, wise man, and tell your friends that you ride with us to-night, either as guests or captives. You may take your choice.”
The Professor returned to where the others were eagerly awaiting him.
“It is useless,” he announced. “The girl, who is clearly enamoured of Craig, suspects us. So does the Chief. Perhaps, secretly, Craig himself is unwilling to leave us here. The Chief never changes his mind and he has spoken. We go either as his captives or his guests. I have heard it said,” the Professor added grimly, “that the Mongars never keep captives longer than twenty-four hours.”
They all rose at once to their feet, and a few moments later horses were brought. The little procession was already being formed in line. Craig approached them once more.
“You will mount now and ride in the middle of our caravan,” he directed. “The Chief does not trust you. If you value your lives, you will do as you are bidden.”
“I don’t like the idea of the jungle,” Lenora sighed.
“Gives me the creeps,” Laura admitted, as she climbed upon her horse. “Any wild animals there, Professor?”
The Professor became more cheerful.
“The animal life of the region we are about to traverse,” he observed, as they moved off, “is in some respects familiar to me. Twelve years ago I devoted some time to research a little to the westward of our present route. I will, if you choose, as we ride, give you a brief account of some of my discoveries.”
The two girls exchanged glances. Quest, who had intercepted them, turned his horse and rode in between the Professor and Lenora.
“Go right ahead, Professor,” he invited. “Fortunately the girls have got saddles like boxes—I think they both mean to go to sleep.”
“An intelligent listener of either sex,” the Professor said amiably, “will be a stimulus to my memory.”
2.
“You can call this fairyland, if you want,” Laura remarked, gazing around her; “I call it a nasty, damp, oozy spot.”
“It seemed very beautiful when we first came,” Lenora sighed, “but that was after the heat and glare of the desert. There does seem something a little unhealthy about it.”
“I’m just about fed up with Mongars,” Quest declared.
“We do nothing but lie about, and they won’t even let us fire a gun off.”
“Personally,” the Professor confessed, holding up a glass bottle in front of him from which a yellow beetle was making frantic efforts to escape, “I find this little patch of country unusually interesting. The specimen which I have here—I spare you the scientific name for him—belongs to a class of beetle which has for long eluded me.”
Laura regarded the specimen with disfavour.
“So far as I am concerned,” she observed, “I shouldn’t have cared if he’d eluded you a little longer. Don’t you dare let him out, Professor.”
“My dear young lady,” the Professor assured her, “the insect is perfectly secure. Through the cork, as you see, I have bored a couple of holes, hoping to keep him alive until we reach Port Said, when I can prepare him as a specimen.”
“Port Said!” Lenora murmured. “It sounds like heaven.”
Quest motioned them to sit a little nearer.
“Well,” he said, “I fancy we are all feeling about the same except the Professor, and even he wants to get some powder for his beetle. I had a moment’s talk with Craig this morning, and from what he says I fancy they mean to make a move a little further in before long. It’ll be all the more difficult to escape then.”
“You think we could get away?” Lenora whispered eagerly.
Quest glanced cautiously around. They were surrounded by thick vegetation, but they were only a very short distance from the camp.
“Seems to me,” he continued, “we shall have to try it some day or other and I’m all for trying it soon. Even if they caught us, I don’t believe they’d dare to kill us, with the English soldiers so close behind. I am going to get hold of two or three rifles and some ammunition. That’s easy, because they leave them about all the time. And what you girls want to do is to hide some food and get a bottle of water.”
“What about Craig?” the Professor asked.
“We are going to take him along,” Quest declared grimly. “He’s had the devil’s own luck so far, but it can’t last forever. I’ll see to that part of the business, if you others get ready and wait for me to give the signal…. What’s that?”
They all looked around. There had been a little rustling amongst the canopy of bushes. Quest peered through and returned, frowning.
“Feerda again,” he muttered. “She hangs around all the time, trying to listen to what we are saying. She couldn’t have heard this, though. Now, girls, remember. When the food is about this evening, see how much you can get hold of. I know just where to find the guns and the horses. Let’s separate now. The Professor and I will go on a beetle hunt.”
They dispersed in various directions. It was not until late in the evening, when the Mongars had withdrawn a little to indulge in their customary orgy of crooning songs, that they were absolutely alone. Quest looked out of the tent in which they had been sitting and came back again.
“Well?”
Laura lifted her skirt and showed an unusual projection underneath.
“Lenora and I have pinned up our petticoats,” she announced. “We’ve got plenty of food and a bottle of water.”
Quest threw open the white Arab cloak which he had been wearing. He had three rifles strapped around him.
“The Professor’s got the ammunition,” he said, “and we’ve five horses tethered a hundred paces along the track we came by, just behind the second tree turning to the left. I want you all to go there now at once and take the rifles. There isn’t a soul in the camp and you can carry them wrapped in this cloak. I’ll join you in ten minutes.”
“What about Craig?” the Professor enquired.
“I am seeing to him,” Quest replied.
Lenora hesitated.
“Isn’t it rather a risk?” she whispered fearfully.
Quest’s face was suddenly