CHAPTER XXIV
A Dangerous Undertaking
Urging his dromedary on to the utmost, the youth was carried over thenarrow valley at a pace that ate up the distance surprisingly. Infact, never had he traveled so rapidly on camelback.
When he was several hundred feet away, he glanced back, to see thattwo of the Arabs were pursuing him desperately. At the start he hadput a good distance between himself and his enemies, but now thelatter were gaining swiftly. They were more familiar with the countryand knew better how to command their camels to move fast.
"If I can only make that little canyon," the youth thought, bendinglow so as to lessen the wind resistance.
The canyon was near now, but a hurried look over his shoulder told Bobthat the Arabs were near also. If he could only get there!
He lashed the dromedary with a new determination and entered thenarrow way between the mountains just as the Arabs passed over a smallgrove of low shrubs some two hundred feet away.
Bob knew that this was a very short canyon and that there werenumerous large rocks and crevices at the opposite end. Perhaps hecould successfully evade his pursuers by hiding in one of theseopenings in the mountainsides.
Sharp jagged crags protruded from all sides of the thread-likepassageway between the high walls. It was very dangerous to ride withmuch speed in such a place, but the chance had to be taken.
He reached the other end of the passage with but a moment to spare.Immediately his dromedary was cut over to the right behind abarrel-like rock. But the youth did not stop there; he wound in andout among the many huge boulders.
At last he came to a stop in a large crevice between two imposingslabs of stone. With every nerve on edge, the young man listened.
"They're coming!" he thought, getting out his revolver. "But theywon't get me if I can help it!"
But he was in a very secure hideout, and it was unlikely that theArabs would locate it. Still he realized that they probably knew thisregion better than did he.
As Bob waited breathlessly, his mind was in a whirl. Who were theseArabs? What did they want? Why had they descended upon the littleexploring party so mysteriously? Bob did not know what to make of thesituation, but he knew that danger was at hand. What further added tohis perplexity was the fact that Arabs did not normally inhabit theSahara so far south as this.
Suddenly he started, as a thought struck him. Was it--the two thieveswho stole Fekmah's map? Entirely possible, of course.
Then a strange thing happened. As though informed by some unseenpower, Bob grasped the whole situation. He saw Dr. Kirshner and Joe inthe clutches of the two thieves, being held as prisoners. He visionedhis father, Mr. Lewis, and Tishmak riding away under the guard of theArabs.
"Those thieves did it, then, to keep us away from the hiddentreasure," thought the youth, and he could not have had a moreaccurate realization.
For some time he listened closely for any sound from the two Arabs whohad pursued him. He thought once he heard the footsteps of camels, butwas not sure.
What was he to do next? He was now doubly glad that good fortune hadenabled him to escape from the would-be captors. If the Arabs had beennomad plunderers, he would probably not have suffered much byremaining with his father and the others. But as it was, there was apossibility of bringing rescue to his friends.
"How am I to do it?" the youth mused, trying to remain calm.
Suddenly the far-away noise of footsteps came to his ears, and he knewthat the two Arabs who had followed him had given up and wereabandoning the chase to join their friends back in the valley.
After several minutes of waiting, Bob got off his camel and tetheredthe brute to a small protruding rock. Then he walked over to somedistance beyond the mountain near which he had been hiding.
He glanced up to the top of the peak and saw that it was unusuallyhigh. The sides stretched almost straight up.
"If I could only get to the top of some tall mountain," Bob thought,his eyes scanning the landscape. "Then I might be able to see whereDad and the others will be taken."
The peak before him offered no footholds and therefore could notpossibly be scaled. He looked about for other sky-piercing hills. Atlast his eyes fell on one about a hundred yards away, and he resolvedto inspect it.
"Looks like there might be a chance there," the youth thought and thenwalked over and untied his dromedary.
He rode over to the mountain, every step bringing new hope. The peak,rocky as it was, was rather gradual and not straight up, as were manyothers in the vicinity.
Once more the camel was tied by the rocky side, and Bob moved over togaze up to the top. The dizzy height almost took his breath away. Buthe saw at once that it would be possible to climb to the very summitof this imposing peak of rock.
Bracing himself to the task that was before him, Bob began thedangerous ascent, slowly, at first, and then climbing faster. It wasexhausting, fear-inspiring, but he went bravely up. There was nooption in this case. He must observe where his father and the otherswould be taken by their Arab captors.
"If I can only get up in time," the young man thought, as he soughtout a means to ascend a five-foot plate of smooth stone that wasdirectly above him.
To do this, it was necessary to edge on around the mountainside untilhe came to a rough, gradual section. Then climbing becamecomparatively easy.
Once, when he was but a third of the way up, he glanced back over hisshoulder to the ground below and almost lost his balance. But hecaught himself with a quick motion, and after resting a moment fromthe terrific strain, continued the climb. That glance to the groundhad revealed that he was several hundred feet up. How easy it wouldbe to slip backwards!
Another hundred feet and he found himself on a wide shelf, whichseemed to encircle the peak. A short rest was taken here, and in theend he felt much better for it.
"Wonder if I can get down from here?" the boy mused, again taking upthe climb. "I'll find some way, though," was his conclusion.
For a few more hundred feet the way was very gradual, with many rocksof different sizes affording footholds. But as he came to a sharpbreak in the side of the mountain, the lofty pointed crag shaped upstraighter and more jagged. Once he thought he had gone as far aspossible, but finally managed to get to the brink of a slab that hadthreatened to hinder his progress.
"On to the top," he thought, bringing his foot up another notch withdifficulty.
At last, panting and perspiring, he ascended the last stretch and tookhis position on the flat surface of a platform-like formation. Then heturned to look below.
A cry of astonishment came from his lips as he saw that he washundreds and hundreds of feet in the air. Far, far below, he coulddimly make out his dromedary by the outermost side of the mountain.The beast seemed no larger than an ant.
"I wonder if Dad and the others can be seen," he mused, turning hisgaze in the opposite direction.
"Yes!" he muttered excitedly. "There they are."
He had caught sight of his father and friends being led up the valleyby their Arab captors. The camels on which they rode seemed onlycrawling, so small did they appear.
As usual, his binoculars were strapped over his shoulder, and he tookthem out to get a closer view. Through them he could see the worriedexpressions on his friends' faces, and the surly grins of the Arabs.
There was a sort of narrow ledge that passed up the little valley andaround the mountain. It was up this that the captives were being led.
"There's probably a hideout somewhere around here," the youth thought,shifting his eyes from the camel procession to the rugged countryahead.
From his lofty perch it might be possible to get a glimpse of thehidden cave in which were the riches. Bob scanned the landscape abouthim but finally gave up and again followed the movements of hisfriends and the Arabs.
"If it's anywhere around here, it's concealed from view," he thought.
The youth was crouching low behind a flat shelf of rock, so as to beinvisible to the Arabs
if they should happen to look up in thatdirection. He knew that their seeing him would spell his doom.
As Bob watched the line of camels and their riders, it seemed thatthey were making no time at all; yet he knew that they were windingaround the mountain as fast as possible.
Up, up, up they went, but always in sight. Bob noticed that they weregradually moving away from him, and he wondered if he would be able tofollow their movements to the end.
"If I can't, I'll have to change peaks," he thought, although herealized that this would be difficult and dangerous.
The Arabs and their captives were now nearing a high wall of rock thatwould prevent them from being seen. But it would be for only a shorttime--if they did not stop opposite it.
After what seemed like hours to Bob, they emerged again into view,this time at the brink of a high cliff.
"Hope they don't step off of there," the youth breathed, his heart inhis mouth.
At last, just as the sun was beginning to sink behind the distantpeaks, the camels and their riders came to a stop at an opening in amountainside that evidently led into a cave.
Hardly able to hold the binoculars steady, Bob watched breathlessly,almost expecting to catch sight of Joe and Dr. Kirshner. But thoseindividuals did not make an appearance. Bob did not doubt, however,that they were in the cave.
A moment later, captors and captives dismounted from their dromedariesand walked through the opening out of sight.
Bob waited silently for another half-hour, thinking that it might bepossible that this was only a temporary prison. But when at the end ofthat time no one had left the cave, he was convinced that this was apermanent hideout.
"Now I suppose it's up to me to get down from here right away," Bobthought, gliding silently off the shelf and onto a narrow ridge thatwas directly below.
Carefully he felt his way down with great difficulty. As he hadsurmised, the descent would prove much harder than the ascent.
Once his heart sank, as he saw that a five-foot wall of stone wasdirectly below him. But then he suddenly remembered that a little tohis right there were protruding rocks that would offer footholds. Heedged around, and in a short time was again climbing steadily down.
The minutes passed. When he was a third of the way to the bottom,darkness began to fall rapidly. He realized that he could not get tothe base of the peak before pitch darkness would envelop him.
"But I've got to keep going down," he told himself, franticallyfeeling his way among the rocks.
For the past five minutes he had been getting drowsy, sleepy. Theday's strain was beginning to tell on him. With an effort he kepthimself awake. He knew the grim consequences if he should suddenlyfall asleep while making the dangerous descent of the peak.
He was half of the way down; now two thirds. But a few more hundredfeet remained, and he braced himself and continued his slow, carefulmovement.
"Not much more now," he observed, glancing down. "Ought to make it ina few more minutes."
Long before, darkness had come upon him, making the frequent use ofhis small flashlight necessary. Even then it was a hard task.
"Must be almost to the bottom," he thought, when another fifteenminutes had passed.
He flashed the light downward and saw that fifty feet still remained.Again he bent his efforts upon the descent that was still before him,and in no time had covered most of the distance.
But just when he prepared to use his flashlight, a small rock gave wayfrom under his left foot. He tried vainly to catch hold of a sharpcrag, and then felt himself falling!
Captured by the Arabs Page 24
