elp is at hand, and put him out of his
misery. No, no, no; that sounds like putting him out of his misery
altogether. What do you think, Frank?"

"That we have been _very_ careful so far, and have at last been
thoroughly successful."

"Yes, yes; of course," cried the professor excitedly.

"Now we must be more cautious than ever."

"Exactly; we must tell Ibrahim not to do the slightest thing to excite
suspicion."

"I am not going to trust Ibrahim to communicate with Hal," said Frank
decisively. "I must do this myself."

"You?" cried the doctor in surprise; and the professor looked at him
wonderingly.

"Why do you both stare at me like that?" said Frank warmly. "How is
Ibrahim to get leave to speak to my brother?"

"For the matter of that," cried the professor testily, "how are you to
manage?"

"I don't know yet, but in a way I have been introduced there, and have
stood close to the poor fellow. Why may I not manage to go there again?
The Emir's son would take me anywhere I wished."

"That is true, Fred," said the doctor quietly.

"We cannot set anyone else to do this," cried Frank warmly. "This must
be my task."

"Well, I daresay you are right," said the professor; "your black skin is
a passport anywhere. But you must act at once."

"If I can," said Frank gravely. "There must be no undue haste."

"There I don't agree with you, my dear boy," said the professor, "for
these Emirs, even if they have homes in the city, are here to-day and
gone to-morrow, in these warlike times. They are wandering people, and
it would be horrible to awaken some morning and find that poor Hal was
gone."

"But we could trace him now," said the doctor warmly. "Hah! One begins
to breathe freely now that there is a bit of blue sky among the clouds."

"Well, perhaps you are right, Frank," said the professor, in a more
satisfied tone. "The lead belongs to you too after this discovery, but
you must be careful, lad."

"Try and trust me," was the reply; "but even now I am ready to think it
was all a dream."

"Here," cried the professor, "let us tell the Sheikh and poor Sam," and
hurrying to the window he beckoned both in from the grounds, where the
Sheikh was seeing to his treasured camels and Sam was looking on.

"Then hadn't I better begin to pack up at once, gentlemen?" said the
latter eagerly, after he had been twice checked in his exuberant joy.

"Begin to pack up?" said the professor wonderingly. "What for?"