"This man wants to speak with you, Richard," said the old pedagogue. "He has a message for you."
d.i.c.k was very much surprised.
"A message for me?" he said. "Who from?"
"You should know," said the black man, in astonishingly good English.
"Look at me. We have met."
"Why, it"s a.s.souan!" cried Merriwell.
"I am a.s.souan," bowed the black man.
"But here-what are you doing here? How did you get here?"
"I came from my master, the great sheik."
"But he is in flight. He--"
"He sent me."
"Why?"
"I bring a message from him."
"What is it?"
"He fears greatly that you will find yourself in great peril here in Damascus, and that you may be slain."
"His fears seem to be well-founded. Is that all the message?"
"He commanded me to return to the city, seek you and learn if you were indeed in danger."
"I certainly appreciate the sheik"s thoughtful concern. We are indeed in danger, and by the time you can return, and so inform him, it will be too late for him to render any a.s.sistance, should he be so inclined."
"The n.o.ble sheik gave me instructions, in case I should find you in peril. He bade me suggest that you should attempt to escape from the city in disguise, at which you are exceeding clever."
"A great idea!" Merriwell exclaimed. "It might be done."
Then his face fell.
"But I am not the only one in danger, and I have no disguise save that which I used last night. I might make myself up like an English or American girl, but little good it would do, for the mob is aroused against foreigners, and a girl could not pa.s.s unmolested through the streets. Besides that, how could I get out of this hotel? The place is guarded."
"As to that," said a.s.souan, "I can show the way to leave the hotel un.o.bserved, even as I entered it."
"You did have to come in, that"s a fact. How did you pa.s.s the soldiers on guard?"
"There is a way. I know it."
"And you can show us how to leave this place without being stopped by the soldiers?"
"I can."
"That"s a plenty interesting!" muttered Buckhart.
Professor Gunn was greatly excited.
"Then show us-show us!" he fluttered. "We"ll be glad enough to get out."
"It would do you no good as you now are, for you would be compelled to appear on the open streets, and the people of the city are greatly aroused against foreigners. You would be attacked on the street. Better the mercy of the soldiers than that of the mob."
"Then you cannot help us, after all!"
"My instructions were to aid only the boy who restored life to the n.o.ble sheik when he was struck by the iron chariot of the infidels."
"Well," said d.i.c.k, "if Ras al Had fancied I would desert my friends in order to save myself, he made a mistake."
"If you remain, you may be beheaded."
"Unless there is some way for the whole of us to get out, I shall remain and take my chances."
a.s.souan regarded d.i.c.k with evident surprise.
"It is better that one should escape than that all should be slain," he declared.
"In order to escape, I would have to obtain some complete disguise that would enable me to pa.s.s along the streets of the city without molestation. How could I thus disguise myself?"
"Abraham, the Jew, who did so once before, could attend to that."
"Abraham? But I could not go to his place of business."
"I could bring him here."
d.i.c.k"s eyes began to shine.
"Can you do that, a.s.souan?" he asked.
"So I have said."
"Wait a moment; let me consult with my friend."
He drew Buckhart aside.
"Brad," he said, "I have an idea."
"Fire her at me, partner," invited the Texan.
"If old Abraham can do the trick-if he can bring disguises enough-why should not we all make up and endeavor to get away before we are apprehended by order of the governing Pasha? Old Abraham will do almost anything for money. Let him bring disguises for us, for the professor, and for Budthorne and Nadia. He ought to know how to rig us up so we can pa.s.s through the streets without bringing the fanatics down on us. I"ll instruct a.s.souan to bring the old Jew here in a hurry."
"It"s worth trying, d.i.c.k. Anything to save Nadia!"