CHAPTER XXI
Captured!
To the two boys, who had hoped against hope that their parched throatscould be relieved, the priceless water tasted like nectar. They hadfelt sure that grim tragedy was near. Now their spirits were restoredto a new high level, and they considered themselves equal to anything.
At last, when they had fully quenched their thirst, they glanced aboutthe cavern.
Near the edge of the pool were the tracks of wild animals, which hadevidently made this place a frequent haunt. The youths did notrecognize all the imprints, but Joe stoutly declared that gazelles hadbeen there.
"Doesn't seem pleasant to know that we've been drinking after wildanimals, does it?" laughed Bob.
"No. But we won't think of that, especially since our thirst was sogreat. Then, too, it's not likely that many germs are to be found awayout here in the desert mountains."
The youths stretched out on the cool white sand beside the pool. Theatmosphere in the cavern was such a departure from the fierce outsideheat that they were content idly to while the time away, despite thefact that they should be getting back to camp. At times they bent overto drink of the refreshing water, delightfully knowing that they couldhave all they wanted.
Then they grew drowsy and gradually fell asleep, a thing that theyshould not have done.
At last they were awakened--suddenly! Every nerve in their bodiesseemed tense. Something told them not to move.
Slowly they edged around and looked toward the back of the cave. Thenthey started, as a savage growl rent the air. A fierce tiger cat wascrouched ready to spring. It had evidently come to the pool for waterwhen it had discovered the youths.
There was no time to take aim with their rifles, for the beast wouldbe upon them.
Slowly Bob reached for his pistol, and Joe followed suit. At last theboys were ready for action.
With a quick motion Bob whirled about and took hasty aim; then fired.A second later the report of Joe's gun rang out.
"Missed!" cried Joe in horror. "Both shots missed!"
"Well, we won't miss again," said Bob, gritting his teeth. "We've gotto stop him."
Bob jumped to his feet and took aim. Five shots followed in rapidsuccession. Joe continued the defense with his revolver.
When the deadly fire ceased, the tiger cat was literally riddled withbullets. It gave a convulsive twitch and rolled over, dead.
"Finally stopped him," muttered Joe, his face wet with perspiration."And a powerful fellow, too."
"One can do a lot of things if he has to," remarked Bob, putting hisgun back in its holster.
The youths lost no time in getting out of the cave. They would haveliked to remain in its cool retreat much longer, but they realizedthat it was necessary to get back to camp.
"Won't our dads and the others be tickled beyond words when we tellthem we've found water!" smiled Joe, as they crawled through thenarrow passageway.
"Tickled is too weak to describe it," said Bob. "I bet old Tishmakwill hug us to death."
At last they reached the outside and turned their footsteps towardcamp. It was but a short distance away, beyond the tall precipice atthe entrance to the cave. The youths put unusual energy into theirlegs and in but a few moments were met by all of their friends. Theirfathers, in particular, rushed forward anxiously.
"Where have you been so long?" demanded Mr. Holton, vexed to theutmost that the young men should stay away from camp for an indefiniteperiod without giving an explanation of where they were going.
Joe's father's temper was also wrought up.
"Did something hold you back?" he asked.
"Yes," Joe answered quietly. "Several things kept us from returningsooner. But it may interest you more if we tell you that we've foundwater."
"Water!" Mr. Lewis was all excitement. "You mean--you actually havelocated a well?"
Mr. Holton and Dr. Kirshner listened breathlessly. Fekmah translatedjoyfully to Tishmak.
"Not exactly a well," returned Bob, "but something just as good. Anunderground pool. And how cool it is! Come on," he added. "I knowyou're all dying for a drink."
Hastily the men followed their young companions over to the largecliff. Then, after crawling through the small opening, they foundthemselves at the edge of the pool of bubbling water.
For a moment the men could hardly believe their eyes. At last! Water!
Suddenly, as though urged on by some unseen power, they bent down anddrank until they could hold no more. It was pleasure unthinkable!
At last Dr. Kirshner straightened up.
"I've never had such enjoyment in years," he said happily, and thenadded: "Lucky that our thirst was no worse than it was, or it wouldhave been necessary to restrain ourselves from drinking too much atonce."
When the men had finished drinking, they glanced about the cave. Theirflashlights fell on the body of the tiger cat, and they looked up insurprise.
"What's this?" inquired Mr. Lewis, pointing to the bullet-riddledcarcass.
Bob and Joe smiled.
"That old boy tried to make us remain for dinner, but we fooled him,"explained Bob. "We had to empty our revolvers to stop him, though."
There was a clamor of excited questions, and the youths were forced torelate every detail of the encounter. When they had finished, thenaturalists bent over to examine the striped skin.
"Too bad, but I'm afraid you've put too many bullets in him for us touse the skin," said Mr. Holton regretfully. "And a large specimen,too. But then," he went on, "we won't think of that when your liveshung in the balance."
The explorers spent a few minutes sitting in the cool white sand. Thenthey went back outside to get the water containers.
They had had an uneasy feeling that perhaps the camels had beenmolested during their stay in the cavern, and gave a sigh of reliefupon seeing them sitting peacefully near the tent.
As it was getting late, camp was broken, and the dromedaries were ledto the entrance of the cave. The water containers were carried in tothe pool and filled to capacity with what stood between the explorersand death.
"Now that everything is in readiness, I suppose we must be getting onour way," said Dr. Kirshner. "But I must admit I hate to leave thatpool behind. Somehow I've become greatly attached to it."
"Does seem too bad," Mr. Lewis agreed. "But I suppose we will findother wells and sources of water. Where is the next one, Fekmah?"
"Many miles away," the Arab returned. "But come to think of it,Tishmak says one around here near. If it very far away, we go to it."
When the question was put to him, the guide replied that the well wasbut a few miles away. He considered it unnecessary to find it, asanother was a day's journey in their direction. He informed them thatsince it was very large, it could not be easily covered up by the twothieves.
With one last look at the high precipice, the explorers turned thecamels back on the lane between the mountains. With the right kind ofluck they would come to the gorge of Arak some time the next day, andanother landmark on Fekmah's duplicate map would have been noted.
As they penetrated farther into the mountains, the scenery became morebeautiful. There were many wonders that caused the explorers to gaspin astonishment.
"The Ahaggar range is of larger extent than the Alps," said Dr.Kirshner, as they circled about among the rugged cliffs. "And althoughnot of extremely high altitude, these Saharan mountains have many showpoints that cannot be found elsewhere."
"And they are comparatively unknown to the outside world," put in Bob."Why, the average person doesn't even dream of mountains being in theheart of the old Sahara."
All along the way Bob and Joe took motion pictures of the many strangemarvels of nature. They photographed the tall peaks, the deep gorges,and the narrow valleys. They turned the cameras on the many ancientinscriptions that were of so much interest to the archaeologist.
"We've run off a good many hundred feet of film," remarked Joe, afterthe cameras had "purred" for an unusually long period as t
he youthsfilmed a deep canyon through which they passed. "In fact, if they hadgiven us twice as much film we could easily have used it all."
Bob nodded.
"And there's less danger of losing it in a hot, dry region like this,"he said. "Isn't at all to be compared with the damp, tropical climateof Brazil."
Slowly the country became more rough, until that evening, after themeal, the adventurers found it very difficult to pick out a waybetween the many large rocks. On one occasion they passed through adark tunnel-like passage beneath high, overhanging peaks, and hadliterally to feel their way through. There was not the faintest ray ofmoonlight to lighten the deep passageway.
When they finally came to the other end they gave sighs of relief thatat last the moon could again be seen. But now something else hinderedprogress. A peculiar desert plant, with sharp, poisonous needles and arather disagreeable odor, had been known previously to the explorers.Now, as they emerged from the dark recesses of the tunnel, they cameupon large clusters of these plants. Everywhere the dromedaries went,it seemed, they were forced to tramp through these formidable shrubs.
"It's a wonder they can stand it," said Joe, shaking his head. "Theirfeet are already swollen almost double."
"Be tragedy if the animals would have to stop," the other youth said."It would mean our end, I guess."
"They'll make it all right," put in Mr. Lewis, who was riding at therear with the boys. "But, needless to say, we couldn't walk on them."
Suddenly, as they came to the edge of a dry river bed, Dr. Kirshnerhalted his camel and looked about on the ground. The others waited amoment to see what he had discovered.
"An ancient tool of flint," he announced, commanding his camel tokneel.
The archaeologist picked up the instrument and examined it carefullywith the aid of a flashlight. It was about a foot long and shaped toresemble a crescent. The inner edge was as sharp as a razor.
"Doubtless some kind of a knife," Dr. Kirshner said, as the otherscrowded around him. "Shaped out of flint by people of the Neolithicage. Perhaps it was used to harvest crops."
"Crops? In the desert?" Bob was amazed.
The scholar nodded.
"It is firmly believed that primitive people lived in what is now thedesert rather than along river valleys of more modern prominence. Ofcourse the Sahara was at that time much less arid, or dry, than it istoday."
Dr. Kirshner searched about for other relics, but found none.
"It is strange how that tool got on the surface of the ground," heremarked, as they turned the dromedaries ahead. "Other expeditionshave penetrated into this region, and it is quite obvious that theywould have found it had it been in sight."
"Perhaps a rainstorm washed it out of the ground," suggested Mr.Holton.
They rode until late that night, for they were anxious to come to thegorge of Arak some time the next day.
"We should see it tomorrow afternoon," predicted Fekmah.
Notwithstanding this, they rode all the next morning without coming tothe landmark. Finally Tishmak gave up in disgust and stopped in theshade of an overhanging rock. It was nearly noon, and the necessity toget a meal was becoming more apparent.
When they had finished eating they continued to rest in the tent. Atthis high altitude the sun was less hot than it had been on theplateaux, and it would have been possible to ride farther. But theyhad become accustomed to the usual afternoon rest and were loath todepart from this regularity.
But Dr. Kirshner had sat only a few minutes before he got up andstretched. Mr. Holton and Mr. Lewis were asleep, but Fekmah andTishmak remained awake. Bob and Joe sat in one corner of the tent,sleepily gazing out at the distant peaks.
"I'm going out and look around," Dr. Kirshner said to them. "Care togo along?"
Bob replied in the negative, but Joe arose and walked over to hisrifle.
"Don't stay too long," advised Bob, as Joe and the archaeologiststarted out.
They were familiar with the country in the immediate vicinity of camp.As there was nothing of new interest to be found there, they hikedfarther to the south. The scientist wished particularly to find moreancient inscriptions, and, if possible, other evidences of ancientcivilizations.
"What's this?" cried Joe, slapping his hand to his face. "Well I'llbe---- Some kind of a fly."
"It is a wonder we haven't come across insect pests long before this,"Dr. Kirshner said. "They are very common all through this section."
The flies had been discovered while they were trudging through a long,hot passageway between two high wall-like rocks. Now, as the twoadventurers passed farther on, they came into more of the insects,which swarmed about as if thirsty for human blood.
"Ought to have some kind of a spray," remarked Joe, pushing them awayin great numbers.
"We have, in camp," his friend said. "If the pests bother us muchwe'll have to make use of it."
After an hour's hike they came to another dry river bed, and againDr. Kirshner found flint implements scattered about. Joe had a smallmotion-picture camera with him, and at the scientist's request hefilmed the half-buried primitive tools as they lay hardly visible inthe sand.
"I want proof that these antiquities came from the Sahara," Dr.Kirshner said, placing them in the small box he carried over hisshoulder for the purpose.
A little later Joe started to take a motion picture of a small animalthat darted across the river bed, but cried out in disgust.
"A pesky fly got in front of the lens," the youth explained. "Lookedas big as an elephant."
"One scene ruined," laughed the archaeologist. "But you'll have to getused to that."
The adventurers stopped here and there to rest and sip a small amountof water. Then they would hike on, always on the lookout for theunusual.
They had just rounded the corner of a tall, cone-shaped peak when Joestopped and pointed to the sand near by.
Dr. Kirshner's jaw dropped in surprise.
"Footprints!" he cried. "Human footprints!"
He had hardly uttered the words when there came a chorus of yells frombehind a large rock. A moment later ten or twelve rough-looking Arabsdarted out and surrounded the Americans. The natives at once disarmedthe whites by sheer force and then displayed long knivesthreateningly.
The Arabs chattered ominous words, which caused Dr. Kirshner to startin alarm and fear.
"We are being captured!" he exclaimed excitedly. "These Arabs arehired by the two thieves who stole Fekmah's map!"