  In advance of the mounted re-inforcements from the other pass, which still were some distance in the rear, the four adventurers entered the Great Road and started at a trot up the gradual ascent, Bob in the lead. “Don’t hear any firing yet, do you?” he shouted over his shoulder to the others. “You fellows have got revolvers, but I’m going to hop ahead and root for one in the luggage.” Frank had explained about the grove where their own party was encamped and where the radio had been set up. It was here Bob intended to look for his automatic, which he had not taken with him when departing from the distant oasis on that memorable ostrich hunt. “Not much use this, unless at close quarters,” he called, waving a short, heavy sword of hard wood—a dummy weapon which he had been using against a trainer when rescued from the Coliseum. “Might brain a man with it, but that’s all.” With a farewell wave of the wooden sword, Bob’s naked figure drew away from the others. It was late afternoon, and the Great Road already lay in the shadow cast by the western wall of the pass. Hot though it was, the relief from the heat of the desert was instantaneous, and the others felt it at once and began to increase their speed. As they passed abreast of the grove, Bob emerged, flourishing his automatic, the dummy sword left behind. As he fell in beside them he cried with a grin: “Well, I’m all dressed up now.” Despite their labored breathing, the others could not restrain a laugh at the ridiculous idea of a naked man considering himself dressed with a revolver. After all, their services were not needed. When they arrived at the barricade, they found the defenders still awaiting the attack which had failed to materialize. Jack’s earlier arrival with Roy Stone’s message that he intended to drop gas bombs in the midst of the Janissaries had given them the solution of the mystery, and the explanation of the fliers regarding the damage wrought was greeted with delight. The little band had suffered slightly by comparison with the terrible execution they had worked among the Janissaries at the tunnel exit of the subterranean river. Yet their losses had been severe enough. Lieutenant Horeb and one of his men had been killed; Akmet, two other Arabs, and three revolutionists had suffered dangerous, though not fatal, injuries, and not one had escaped without some slight wound. To the boys the fact that Mr. Hampton, praised by all for covering the retreat with his repeater, had come through safely with no more than a flesh wound in the calf of his right leg, was a matter for the greatest thankfulness. As the three of them foregathered with Mr. Hampton and Roy Stone, a little to one side of the main group, the thought occurred to all that they had reason, indeed, for gratitude at having passed practically unscathed through their numerous and deadly perils. Mr. Hampton, who was not given to outward religious manifestations, said simply: “Almighty Providence has looked after us all, fellows, and we mustn’t forget to give thanks.” And for a moment, each bowed his head and voiced the thankfulness in his heart in his own way. A clatter of approaching hoofs rang in the road, and up dashed the score of hard-riding horsemen from the other pass, for whom Jepthah had despatched the messenger. A condensed account of events was given their leader, a lean hard-bitten man older than the majority of the young revolutionists whom, the boys later learned was Maspah, a nobleman whose gorge had risen at the terrible punishment meted out by the Oligarchy to those earlier exiles who had shown kindness to Professor Souchard and aided his return to civilization, and who forthwith had fled to join the little outlaw bands which finally concentrated at Korakum under Captain Amanassar and launched the revolution. His eyes gleamed when he was told of the demoralization wrought among the Janissaries by the dropping of the gas bombs. While waiting the arrival of the footmen, peasants armed with bows and arrows and numbering 200, he had the breach re-opened to admit the passage of his horsemen. In the meantime, too, scouts were sent ahead with glasses furnished by Amrath and Mr. Hampton, who had worn his in a case slung over his shoulder, to mount into the tops of a grove of date palms just beyond the mouth of the pass and inspect the valley. They returned presently with word that in the distance, where the gas bombs had fallen, the Great Road was still littered with men, but that to the left of this spot, in the cleared space in front of the ruins of the ancient temple, where the revolutionists had been accustomed to hold their meetings, officers were re-assembling the scattered Janissaries not struck down by the gas. A considerable number, perhaps four or five hundred, were collecting. Lieutenant Maspah looked thoughtful. “They will be better armed than we,” he said. “Yet we have thirty horsemen, which gives us a big advantage and if we strike at once we shall have the advantage of surprise, while if we delay they will recover from their demoralization. Ah, here come the footmen,” he added. “I shall attack at once.” Only four of the camels of the Hampton party had been brought in, the others having lumbered away to their grazing grounds in a distant portion of the valley when their masters had been wounded. Akmet and his two companions had been carried to the barricade on the camels of their comrades. But from mounting these four camels, Ali and his remaining Arabs could not be dissuaded. Their blood was up and they wanted a hand in the last phase of the battle. This left no mounts for the boys and Roy Stone, which caused Bob, who wanted to “take a crack” at the bloody rascals, as he expressed it, to grumble exceedingly. Mr. Hampton, however, was pleased that it should be so, as he felt the lives of all had been risked sufficiently. Besides, he had undertaken to look after the wounded, who as yet lay on the roadside in the shadow of the western wall, and he needed aid to transport them to the shade of their own camp in the grove where, with medical instruments and drugs, he could make shift to probe wounds, extract bullets, bandage and do his best to ease pain. “The four of you,” he said to his son and Frank, Bob and Roy, “can do vastly more good helping me than out there in Korakum. We need litters to move these fellows to the grove, so hurry back, cut down some of those young trees coming up in the brush, and then return. Make your best speed, too. I’ll go along and get out my supplies and have everything ready to do what I can when you bring me the wounded.” An hour later, word arrived by messenger sent back by Amrath, who knew Mr. Hampton would be anxious to hear the result of the battle, that the Janissaries had put up only a feeble resistance in their demoralized state and that, after being badly cut up by the horsemen, they had surrendered. A little later Ali and his Arabs returned, unwounded, swaggering a bit, and gave them a lurid account of the fight. |
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