  Jack Hampton wearily passed a hand across his eyes. Would they never sight the oasis at which Ali had promised they would arrive at the end of the day’s march? Even after many days of travel on camel-back, Jack had not become sufficiently accustomed to the soft-footed swaying brute to make a long day’s ride a pleasure. And this was a long day’s ride indeed. Except for a brief halt at noon the caravan had been on the march across the lifeless sand dunes of the desert, unbroken by trees, rocks, animals or human beings, unbroken by anything, in fact, except occasional stunted bushes, since dawn. In another half hour the sun would descend, and if the promised oasis were not sighted by then, they would be forced to spend another night on the desert. Looking back from his position at the head of the column, Jack could see Bob Temple and Frank Merrick, both mounted as was he, behind them a half dozen shuffling camels with astride each among the bundles a swarthy Arab enfolded in the inevitable jillab, from the folds of which stuck out a long-barrelled rifle, and bringing up the rear Jack’s father and Ali, his head man, both engaged in conversation. The loop aerial rigged up on Frank’s camel caught Jack’s gaze, and his eyes brightened. He decided he would break the monotony of this desert travel by kidding his friend. And with that purpose in view, he halted his camel, to await Frank’s approach. To himself Jack chuckled as he thought of the bewilderment and wonder which Frank had aroused amongst the camel drivers by his aerial. Attached to a light frame strapped to the camel’s hump, ground wire trailing between the animal’s feet, Frank had rigged up the set the day before upon Ali’s declaration that another day would see them at the Oasis Aiz-Or. He wanted to be in a position to receive any message which Professor Souchard, a Swiss savant, who awaited their coming, might send out. For with him Professor Souchard had a duplex radio apparatus for both sending and receiving, which the boys jointly had devised. Many months before Professor Souchard had entered the Sahara to prepare for their coming. Not that it was his first visit to the Great Desert, however. On the contrary, twenty years of his life had been spent in poking about its endless reaches in search of the ruins of an incredibly ancient city which he had reason to believe had been founded in prehistoric times by colonists from the lost continent of Atlantis, that fabled land in the Atlantic ocean which had been the seat of all civilization and had been swallowed up in a tremendous cataclysm of Nature giving rise to the universal legends of The Flood. Toward the end of his period of explorations, Professor Souchard had come to an oasis lying far from the few known routes, the Oasis of Aiz-Or, inhabited by a small desert tribe. From it he had glimpsed far to the southward the peaks of a mountain range. When he asked the Arabs what mountains lay there, they had replied it was the Land of Shaitun, which in English means Satan. The mountains were accursed said the Arabs, and all who ventured near were never heard of again. At least five days’ travel intervened, said Professor Souchard’s hosts, with no water holes in the direct route, although three small springs bubbling from beneath great rocks lay somewhere between the oasis and the mountain wall. But without guides, a traveller would be unable to find them. Nothing daunted, Professor Souchard accompanied by his faithful companion, Ben Hassim, had set out. For the mountains of Shaitun, he believed, were unknown to geographers. And the ancient Egyptian inscriptions which spoke of the great city of the past for which he had been searching through the years referred to the mountains surrounding it. Perhaps, therefore, the city he sought was within that mountain wall. The scientist and Ben Hassim finally did manage to attain to the foot of the mountain wall, which rose unbroken from the plain, on the fifth day. But their supply of water was exhausted, they were semi-delirious. For two days they travelled along the base of the wall, seeking some pass or valley which pierced the barrier. At length on the seventh day they came upon a stone-paved road and, scarcely able to believe the evidence of their senses, they began to follow along it into the mountains. Before proceeding far, however, they were overcome by fever and thirst and fell insensible. In this condition, they were found and rescued. Upon recovery they found themselves amidst great stone ruins of ponderous architecture, in the midst of a luxuriant valley watered by a broad stream encircling one side, which emerged from a tunnel in the mountains and disappeared again into the mountains, not to reach the surface more. Their rescuers were kindly men, several of whom possessed a good command of English, and they were white. But as Professor Souchard’s knowledge of English was strictly limited, they could not understand each other well. However, while being nursed back to strength, the scientist managed to make out that his rescuers were political refugees from another city in the heart of the mountains known as Athensi, and that in this city and the plateaus surrounding it dwelt a white race of semi-civilized people ruled over by a religious Oligarchy. His rescuers were men of superior intelligence and a high state of culture and that they had travelled about the world was apparent. With his slight knowledge of English and a smattering of their tongue which he picked up, he was able to come to that conclusion. To him it became apparent that the ruined city of Korakum, overgrown by rank jungle growth and in the midst of which the Athensian exiles cultivated little patches of garden, was the city he had been seeking. But the little he could learn of Athensi fired his imagination. Apparently, at some dim age in the past the settlers of this ruined city which had been called Korakum had withdrawn into the mountain country and built Athensi, where were palaces, temples, a vast Coliseum, above all, a great Library housing thousands of papyrus rolls. If he could only gain access to Athensi, thought Professor Souchard, what wonders and mysteries of the ancient world, perhaps of a civilization existing in Atlantis before the Flood, would be revealed. However, on his recovery, the exiles told him it was best for him to depart before the Athensian authorities discovered his presence, as they wished to preserve isolation from the outside world and did not want their secret discovered. Therefore, after supplying him with water and food, they started him and Ben Hassim on the return journey. Well did Jack recall the arrival of Professor Souchard at his father’s home on Long Island with this tale. Mr. Hampton, himself an explorer and engineer of wide reputation, had been enthusiastic. He had promised the scientist, whose funds had become exhausted and who was unable to obtain backing for further explorations in war-exhausted Europe, to finance an expedition to Athensi. With this promise, Professor Souchard had returned to Africa, and as soon as he could put his affairs in shape for prolonged absence, Mr. Hampton had followed. With him he had taken Jack and the latter’s close chums, Bob Temple and Frank Merrick. Those of our readers familiar with the three Radio Boys by reason of following their adventures chronicled in “The Radio Boys on the Mexican Border,” “With the Revenue Guards,” “On Secret Service Duty,” “In Search of the Inca Treasure” and “Rescuing the Lost Expedition,” will realize that three more reliable young fellows in just such a situation could not be found. Jack and Bob were both six feet tall, and Bob in addition was possessed of extraordinary strength. As for Frank, an orphan, who made his home with Bob on the Temple estate, adjoining that of the Hamptons’ near Southampton, Long Island, what he lacked in inches and girth, was made up in quickness of intellect. All three were students at Yale. This was the way matters stood, with the party at length after its trip across the Sahara from Khartum drawing near the Oasis Aiz-Or, when Jack paused to await the approach of his comrades. As Frank drew nearer, Jack smiled. He was thinking of the other’s comical appearance. Wrapped in the voluminous jillab which all wore as it provided greater protection against sand and heat than European clothing, Frank was crowned by a sun helmet, startling by contrast, and beneath it wore headphones clamped over his ears. Jack was on the point of calling out some laughing remark about the latter’s vain wait for a message from Professor Souchard, when Frank’s face suddenly betrayed alarm. And with a shout he tore the headset from his ears, sending the sun helmet spinning out on the floor of the desert. Turning about, he beckoned wildly for Mr. Hampton and Ali to approach. “What is it?” shouted Jack. “What did you hear?” For, that Frank had received some message filling him with alarm was apparent. Frank did not reply. His face grew pale beneath the heavy tan. |
|
