" the Captain continued, "and ordered
Brown to be sent up at once. The chief steward came himself instead. It
seems Brown went off without his wages but with a huge parcel of bedding,
on the first barge this morning, before any one was about."

Quest groaned as he turned away.

"Captain," he declared, "I am ashamed. He has been here all the time and
we've let him slip through our fingers. Girls," he went on briskly,
turning towards Laura, who had just come up, "India's off. We'll catch
this barge, if there's time. Our luggage can be put on shore when the boat
docks."

The Captain walked gloomily with them to the gangway.

"I shall miss you all," he told Laura.

She laughed in his face.

"If you ask me, I think you'll be glad to be rid of us."

"Not of you, Miss Laura," he insisted.

She made a little grimace.

"You're as bad as Mr. Harris," she declared. "We'll come for another trip
with you some day."

They left him leaning disconsolately over the rails. The Professor and
Quest sat side by side on one of the trunks which was piled up on the
barge.

"Professor," Quest asked, "how long would it take us to get to this Mongar
village you spoke about?"

"Two or three days, if we can get camels," the other replied. "I see you
agree with me, then, as to Craig's probable destination?"

Quest nodded.

"What sort of fellows are they, any way?" he asked. "Will it be safe for
us to push on alone?"

"With me," the Professor assured him, "you will be safe anywhere. I speak
a little of their language. I have lived with them. They are far more
civilized than some of the interior tribes."

"We'll find a comfortable hotel where we can leave the girls--" Quest
began.

"You can cut that out," Laura interrupted. "I don't know about the kid
here, but if you think I'm going to miss a camel ride across the desert,
you're dead wrong, so that's all there is to it."

Quest glanced towards Lenora. She leaned over and took his arm.

"I simply couldn't be left behind," she pleaded. "I've had quite enough of
that."

"The journey will not be an unpleasant one," the Professor declared
amiably, "and the riding of a camel is an accomplishment easily acquired.
So far as I am aware, too, the district which we shall have to traverse is
entirely peaceable."

They disembarked and were driven to the hotel, still discussing their
project. Afterwards they all wandered into the bazaars, along the narrow
streets, where dusky children