“ As you gaze on these shores can you not feel your quivering inner self writhing with the shocking realization of the innumerable excruciating horrors which have stained the shuddering years during which the power of the Turk has been supreme in this sanguine land? Do you not hear within the citadel of your soul a clarion call to duty?
“Are you not oppressed by an intense and all-controlling yearning to do something for the poor, downtrodden Armenians who have been mercilessly ground beneath the iron heel of these heartless hordes of the sultan? ”

“ A moment later one of you will be a dead man, while the other will be unharmed. Does that suit you better, major?”
“It’s unusual—decidedly unusual, suh! No, suh, it does not suit me at all, suh! I prefer the eggs.”
“Good!” whispered Zenas. “So do I!”
“Then take your positions, gentlemen,” ordered Dick.
Aziz Achmet threw up his hands, shaking his head in a baffled manner.
“Oh, these Americans, these Americans!” he muttered, retreating. “I had hoped they might destroy each other, which would save me further trouble with them. Now they are going to fight a duel with rotten eggs! Pah!” ”

“ He is wounded unto death! He is dying! Hear him gurgle, and groan, and gasp for breath! It is a horrible tragedy!”
“Great horn spoon!” exclaimed Buckhart. “Sarah Ann is on deck, pard.”
“She has arrived too late to prevent the fearful deed,” said Dick.
The lady from Boston saw Professor Gunn. She shook her clenched hands at him and screamed:
“You murderer! You have killed the poor major! You have slain the idol of my heart!”
“Great Cæsar!” gasped Zenas. “So she acknowledged that human wart as the idol of her heart! Well, she may take her idol, eggs and all!” ”

“ Hafsa Pasha, the handsome Turk, was near. He quoted poetry to her. She listened and was enchanted. She forgot me. They all do. Dick, you’re the only human being I ever knew who was staunch as the rock-ribbed hills. You never change, no matter what happens. All others are weak and vacillating. My confidence in human nature is pretty well shattered.”
“Oh, rats!” cried Dick. “Don’t get cynical, Brad! It doesn’t become you at all. You’re naturally the most optimistical chap in the world.”
“What do you think I’m going to do?” harshly demanded the Texan. ”

“ All day long you will labor like a camel beneath the scorching sun of Arabia, driven by black men, who will beat you when you falter. Your soft and tender hands will become hardened and calloused. Your fine shoulders will become stooped and your back bent. Your rounded, muscular body will grow thin and emaciated. But the distress of body that must suffer will not compare with your distress of mind. Think of it!
“Think of yourself, a wretched and hopeless slave, lost in the desert, weary and footsore, trying to sleep at night, but haunted with dreams of your home far across the ocean. ”

“ The black man with the light hastened to obey. The whip, a long, wicked-looking affair, with a rawhide lash into which were knotted many pieces of lead, was quickly produced.
Ras al Had took the spluttering light from Assouan’s hand.
“Stand ready,” he directed. “When I bid you strike have no mercy.”
Dick’s blood was cold in his body. The situation was one to fill him with horror. He was alone in that wretched shed, his companions a merciless Arab, a black man of the desert, and the helpless wretch bound outspread on the bare ground. It was night, and the moon had not yet risen. ”

“ Perhaps she’s playing a clever game by pretending to have any interest in me and seeming indifferent to Dick. A girl best attracts a fellow by seeming indifferent to him. The girl who pursues a chap is bound to lose him, nine times out of ten. It’s the fellow who wants to do the pursuing. He loves the chase and the zest of it. Some girls know this, and they play the timid deer to perfection. Nadia Budthorne is right clever, and I’ll wager something this little game is no secret to her. ”

“ Dick’s eyes began to shine.
“Can you do that, Assouan?” he asked.
“So I have said.”
“Wait a moment; let me consult with my friend.”
He drew Buckhart aside.
“Brad,” he said, “I have an idea.”
“Fire her at me, partner,” invited the Texan.
“If old Abraham can do the trick—if he can bring disguises enough—why should not we all make up and endeavor to get away before we are apprehended by order of the governing Pasha? Old Abraham will do almost anything for money. Let him bring disguises for us, for the professor, and for Budthorne and Nadia. ”

“ Good! It’s the very place for us to visit this day. Wait; I’ll send for Mustapha. Hope he’s not engaged, for we must go over into Stamboul, and I do not fancy visiting that place without a good guide and interpreter.”
“I should say not!” exclaimed Dick. “If ever there was a place just made to get lost in it’s Stamboul, with its maze of narrow, crooked, unnamed streets and unnumbered houses.”
“Correct, pard,” agreed Brad. “I can get lost quicker and a heap sight worse in Stamboul than on a trackless desert. We sure must take a dragoman if we’re going to amble over there.” ”

“ The Spaniard uttered these final words with a sneer.
“Do you think so?” said Dick, and Bunol failed to note the deadly gleam in the dark eyes of the trapped boy.
“I know it,” nodded Miguel. “So I shall give you no chance to escape. You shall meet a fate worse than death. After I have seen you cut up with whips, I shall leave you to that fate. Do you not suspect what it is?”
“No.”
“Then I will tell you. These Bedouins are men who deal in slaves. You will be taken from Syria into Arabia and sold as a slave to black men. There can be no escape. You will become a beast of burden. ”

“ He pressed to Dick’s side, hissing:
“Something crooked, pard! I’m afraid we’re trapped!”
“Why should we be disarmed?” demanded Dick. “We are harmless and——”
“It is the rule,” said Ali Beha grimly. “No one not of our people shall be permitted to carry arms while among us. There can be no exception for thee.”
“It sure is a trap!” whispered the Texan. “If we give up our arms, we’re goners!”
Dick thought swiftly, and he decided at once that resistance was folly. Were they to attempt it, they would be crushed, perhaps murdered, in a twinkling. ”

“ The woman gave a little scream, the major uttered a smothered oath, the professor gasped for breath, while both Dick and Brad sat bolt upright, their nerves tense.
“Answer at once!” commanded the unseen speaker. “It is your only hope of escaping. Among the Armenians we have enough so-called missionaries, and, therefore, the woman from Boston is not wanted. In the other boat are the old man and the boys against whom the secret police have been warned. It will be easy to cause all of you to vanish from the face of the earth; yet if you pledge yourselves to leave Turkey, you shall be spared.” ”

“ It was truly surprising that the sheik had dared array himself against the priests before the temple. Had he not done so in order to deceive and betray the infidels more completely? Was it not possible the old scoundrel had realized that any harm befalling the boy and girl in the vicinity of the bazaars might bring swift retribution on the offenders, for which reason he had entered into the affair, held the mob in check for the time being, finally to decoy the victims into a part of the city where they could be murdered with very little chance that the crime would ever be punished? ”

“ Professor Gunn was greatly excited.
“Then show us—show us!” he fluttered. “We’ll be glad enough to get out.”
“It would do you no good as you now are, for you would be compelled to appear on the open streets, and the people of the city are greatly aroused against foreigners. You would be attacked on the street. Better the mercy of the soldiers than that of the mob.”
“Then you cannot help us, after all!”
“My instructions were to aid only the boy who restored life to the noble sheik when he was struck by the iron chariot of the infidels.” ”

“ It brought them quickly to other rooms and other doors that yielded to the hand of the black leader. They were bewildered, for none save Assouan knew whither they were going. Their wild rush hither and thither seemed aimless. At last, in a storeroom, where there were boxes and bales and casks, the sheik’s messenger thrust a bale aside and seized an iron ring that seemed set in the floor. With a surge, he lifted a trapdoor, beneath which was a place of utter darkness. ”

“ Brad and Dick held a consultation in low tones.
“We’re tricked, pard,” said the Texan. “The Spanish snake and the dirty Turk have fooled us. What can we do? They’ve carried Nadia off. I’m for taking that Mohammedan varmint by the throat and squeezing the truth out of him.”
“I’m afraid we can’t get at the truth that way,” said Dick. “It is a bad piece of business.”
“Bad! Pard, if that Spaniard harms a hair of Nadia’s head I’ll skin him alive! You hear me warble! I’ll kill him by inches!”
Dick walked toward the stern of the yacht, which had swung quite close to the shore. ”

“ They were a struggling, snarling, shouting pack of Greeks, Armenians, Turks, Jews, and Italians, who literally fell on the bewildered passengers, as if seeking to rend them limb from limb. They raged, and shouted, and pushed, and in this confusion Dick and Brad managed to hustle the professor away, Fitts and Aziz Achmet being lost in the throng.
“Come now,” said Dick, “let’s get on shore in a hurry and see if we can’t keep clear of Major Mowbry Fitts, unless you are anxious to get yourself carved up or shot full of lead. He means business, and he really wants to fight you in a duel. ”

“ Many times have you brought disgrace and shame upon me, until I have come to hate you with a burning hatred. But for you, Nadia Budthorne would now be my wife.”
“And such a fate would be more terrible than death for any refined girl. When the officers come, you will denounce her if you denounce us. You cannot help it, for it is said that a girl was concerned in the affair that ended with the death of Hafsa Pasha. Are you wretch enough to send Nadia to her death?” ”

“ Some had heard the early mutterings of the storm and departed on the train for Beirut that day.
Professor Z. Gunn was in a state of great distress. He found Dick Merriwell and Brad Buckhart in earnest consultation in their room and seized each by an arm, exclaiming:
“This is what it has come to! You can see! We’re still in the sultan’s domain. There will be an uprising. These fanatical Mohammedans will massacre every Christian and foreigner they can find in the place! I feel it coming. The streets of Damascus will flow with blood before night!” ”

“ There was not one drop of cowardly blood in Brad’s body. If, on account of his assumed bluster and swagger, any one took him for a chap who would show the white feather in a pinch, that person was certain to be surprised and quite upset.
At school a few of the boys had fancied the Texan to be a bluffer, but when they had attempted to “call him,” he had given them, one and all, a setback by “making good.” Physical injury in a fist fight had never daunted him, and now, in the face of possible death, he was just as nervy and indifferent to the result. ”

“ The crowd was armed with clubs, sticks, stones, and so forth. A few flourished swords or other deadly weapons.
They are crying out in their indignation against the foreigners. A crooked, befezzed Turk was their leader. At sight of him Dick Merriwell uttered an exclamation.
“See that man?” he cried—“the one who is urging the mob on?”
“I sure see the varmint,” nodded Buckhart.
“Well, he’s the old wretch who bribed Ras al Had’s black men to betray Nadia and myself.” ”

“ Dick felt something touch his leg and glanced down. Dunbar Budthorne, agitated and cowering, was crouching on his knees in the shadow of the rail at the boy’s feet.
“Get up!” muttered Dick, in a low tone. “Don’t let them see they have frightened anybody. We must bluff this thing through.”
“They may begin shooting any moment,” chattered the cowering fellow. “If they do, they can pick us all off easily. You’ll be the first one killed, too, for Bunol thirsts for your blood.” ”

“ As Dick, Brad, and the professor followed Ali Beha, they looked back and saw the head of the train already in motion, with the camel drivers and their loaded “ships of the desert” falling into line in regular order.
“I certain am plenty glad to abandon camel riding,” grinned Brad. “I’d rather ride a pitching cayuse than a hump-backed camel, for a bucker won’t buck forever, while a camel does keep up that rocking, swaying, back-breaking movement just as long as he travels. ”

“ The account of the affair, as given by Budthorne to Merriwell and Buckhart, was true with the single exception of Dunbar’s statement that he had defended Nadia until struck down. This part of the story he had founded on Dick’s experience in defense of the girl in Damascus. His befuddled and unimaginable brain had been incapable of devising a different yarn.
“No wonder he fears you, Miguel Bunol!” panted the girl. “He has every reason to fear you.”
“That is no excuse for his cowardly conduct. No brave man ever deserts a lady in time of peril.” ”

“ A great sigh of regret came from Gunn.
“Well, professor,” said Coddington, “how did that hit you?”
“Great!” was the enthusiastic answer. “How often do they perform?”
“Whenever I bid them. I keep them to amuse me.”
“Shade of Absalom! If I owned this harem, I’d tire them out dancing. What’s next on the program?”
“I will call in some of my wives.”
“Were there any in that bevy?”
“Oh, no; those are nothing but dancing girls. The ladies of the harem are more select and beautiful.” ”

“ The “girl” was in truth Dick Merriwell, and he laughed heartily over the amazement of the old Arab. Even then Ras al Had seemed to doubt his senses; but the Jew came in, grinning and rubbing his hands together, and stood waiting for his price.
“Wonderful!” murmured the sheik. “Why, you play the part so well that any man might be deceived. It is worth the money, Abraham. Now I believe you will succeed, boy, in your daring scheme. ”

“ Give me your address in Constantinople, suh, that I may have a friend wait on yo’. This outrage shall be avenged in blood, suh!”
Dick was between them. He turned to the major.
“You have both made yourselves ridiculous,” he said. “It shall go no further. If you are not ashamed, I am ashamed for you.”
“I demand satisfaction!” palpitated Fitts. “I am from Mississippi, and no man can give me an insult and escape without meeting me in a duel.”
“The gentleman is quite right,” said the soft voice of Aziz Achmet, as the Turk stepped forward. ”

“ In a few moments the latter turned, saw Dick and his friends, and called:
“Mr. Merriwell is wanted.”
“What’s that?” gasped Buckhart, in the greatest amazement. “Did you hear it, pard? Did he say you were wanted?”
“That’s what he said,” nodded Dick.
Professor Gunn began to shake and choke.
“Richard, oh, Richard!” he exclaimed huskily. “These wild men have been sent to search the desert for you and take you back to Damascus! You are lost!”
“Great grizzlies!” burst from the Texan. “Is it possible that can be correct?”
“It may be,” said Dick quietly. ”

“ Dick was on the other side of Nadia.
“Sister!” exclaimed Dunbar huskily; “have those brutes——”
“I’m all right, brother,” she hastened to declare. “They did handle me roughly, but——”
“The brutes!” he grated. “Is there no protection for respectable travelers in this wretched city? This is the third offense, and this was more outrageous than the others. I couldn’t do a thing. Before I realized it the crowd had forced us apart.”
“It’s fortunate Dick and Brad were able to reach me,” she declared. “I was helpless in the hands of those black ruffians. ”

“ Two men with rawhide whips, each having many lashes, and the lashes being knotted full of bits of iron and lead, approached at a call from Ali Beha, who sat beneath an awning not far away.
Still supported, Bunol stepped before Dick.
“The revenge I promised you begins now!” he said. “But it shall be even worse than I intended. I care not if they whip you to death! I shall laugh at your shrieks and groans. Let them begin.”
One of the men was speaking to Ali Beha. The chief rose and followed this man a little apart, where he stood gazing toward a distant ridge, over which horsemen were riding. ”