  Much of the fight for possession of the gateway to the pass was out of sight of the boys. For a time, they could see the figures of the dismounted revolutionaries creeping over the rocky road, hugging the walls, until they reached the barrier of fallen Janissaries and horses. Across this barrier there flashed a continuous fire of weapons for some time, with no advantage to either side, so far as was apparent to those left in the plain. Then a new element entered the situation with a distant sound of rifle fire, as the party of revolutionaries who had been sent to the west came into action at the rear of the Janissaries. These revolutionaries, the boys later learned, had clambered like goats up the face of the cliff and gained a position on the rocky western wall of the pass, from which they were enabled to assail the Janissaries in the rear. A sudden burst of cheering in the distance was followed by the swarming of the revolutionaries in the pass across the wall of dead and wounded. Man after man disappeared without opposition, passing across the fallen and vanishing into the pass beyond the bend. Then for some time the sound of firing continued, growing ever more distant, until it no longer came back to those below. Once more stillness descended in the hot desert and the narrow pass, now lying in shadow as the sun wheeled to the west and the steep western wall of rock cut off its rays. Only the horses, the Arabs on camel back circling slowly about them, Captain Amanassar, Jepthah and Mr. Hampton, three tiny figures afoot at the base of the pass, and the dead, remained. Eaten up with anxiety as to the fate of Bob, a prisoner in the midst of the fighting so far as they knew, the boys no longer could contain their impatience. They saw a revolutionary return down the pass, making his way over the barrier of men and horses at the bend, picking a careful passage over the rocks below, and moving to report to Captain Amanassar. “Come on, Jack, let’s hear what he has to say,” begged Frank. “I know your Dad told us to stay here, but the Arabs can look after the horses and I’ll go crazy if I don’t do something.” Jack felt pretty nearly as cut up over the failure to rescue Bob, as did his comrade, and nodded in sympathy. “All right,” he said. “We’ll go up and ask Dad what the messenger reports. Hardly likely, though, that he has any word of Bob.” When they reached Mr. Hampton’s side, the messenger already had made his report. Jepthah, interpreting the reason for their approach, turned to them with a grave face. “There is no sign of your comrade,” he said. “I asked the messenger particularly. He is not among either the prisoners or the fallen. Some of the Janissaries escaped, and evidently they have borne him with them. They will make their way to Athensi. We cannot stop them. They have broken down a bridge which we recently rebuilt across a deep chasm and for a time our advance is held up. Athensi lies many miles away, however, and we shall be able to gain the interior before fresh forces can be thrown against us. The Sacrificial Games still are more than a month away, and in the meantime something can be done toward effecting a rescue.” With this, Jepthah returned to Captain Amanassar’s side, while Mr. Hampton joined the boys. He reported that Captain Amanassar was going forward to join the revolutionaries, a portion of whom would be sent back to clear the pass so that the horses could be taken into the mountains. Aware now that betrayal of their plans by spies of the Oligarchy in their ranks had been more general than supposed, Captain Amanassar found it necessary to re-arrange his campaign. Originally, he had intended entirely to abandon Korakum. Its peculiar position, in an outer valley, leading only by the Great Road to the desert and by the subterranean river to Athensi, made it a poor basis of operations from which to conduct a revolution among the countrymen of the many interior valleys and plateaus against the central authority of the Oligarchy. All this he and Jepthah had explained to Mr. Hampton. By placing a guard over the pass just captured, the revolutionaries would be able to prevent any forces sent out from Athensi via the river and Korakum from attacking them in the rear. A chance suggestion made by Mr. Hampton had taken root. If the spies, as now was apparent, had betrayed the revolutionists’ plans, then the Oligarchs would not be looking for attack from Korakum along the subterranean river. Therefore, Mr. Hampton had suggested the possibility of making such an attack at a later date in conjunction with an attack in force from the field. “They expect,” he told the boys, “to be able to raise a considerable army of ten thousand or more countrymen, for the country groans under the misrule of the Oligarchs and is ripe for revolution. It awaits only the coming of a leader supported by determined captains, and in Captain Amanassar and his hundred men I feel certain such leaders have been found.” Accordingly, it had been decided not to abandon Korakum entirely, but to place a guard over the subterranean river for the purpose of capturing any Janissaries who might negotiate its passage from the interior, and of retaining control of that underground water thoroughfare to Athensi. Mr. Hampton, the boys and the Arabs were to form a portion of this guard, as Jack’s father had assured Captain Amanassar he would co-operate with the revolutionaries, at least as long as there was a possibility of effecting Bob’s rescue. “It is pretty certain,” he explained, “that Bob was captured to participate in the Sacrificial Games. Such being the case, his life will be jealously guarded until the time of the Games arrives. That gives us a full month more. Certainly, some way of saving him will develop in that time. Perhaps, the revolutionists will be successful and then, of course, the men destined to participate in the Games will be set free.” Jack and Frank could do nothing except acquiesce gloomingly. “But think of Bob’s feelings all that time, as he sees the end draw nearer with no word of hope from us,” said Frank. “Maybe,” added Jack “when he is in prison he will be able to rig up his radio set and we can send him a message of comfort, something to tell him we are working to rescue him.” “Maybe,” said Frank, sadly. “But we wouldn’t know whether he got our message or not. Well, come on. If it’s back to Korakum, we’ll finish putting the radio apparatus in shape.” Side by side, silent, each immersed in sad thoughts, Jack and Frank led the way on the return, followed by their companions. |
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