CONCLUSION
Fully half an hour had passed when Davis suddenly uttered a low
"Sh-h-h!"
"I hear voices again," whispered Dan.
"So do I, now. I wonder where they are?"
"Let's creep around this corridor. Speak only in whispers until we find
out whether they are friends or enemies."
After making the turn the lads found they could hear the voices more
plainly. A moment more and their groping fingers made the discovery that
they were touching wood.
"It's a door," whispered Dan. "Be ready to meet some trouble. I'm going
in."
The door opened with a great noise, it's rusty hinges squeaking
warningly.
Two Bedouins were sitting cross-legged on the stone floor. Above their
heads hung a smoky oil lamp, while about the walls were weapons.
"We have lost our way," said Dan courteously. "If you will show us the
way out we will pay you well."
With an angry exclamation the two Bedouins sprang to their feet, making
a dash for their revolvers in a niche in the wall. Davis caught the
significance of the movement.
"Down them, Sam!"
"I'm on the job," howled Hickey, as he landed on the back of the man
nearest him.
At the same instant Dan had hurled himself at the other man. There had
been no time for further explanations.
There followed a few minutes of desperate, silent struggling, and then
Sam suddenly uttered a yell of triumph.
"I--I've got him this time. I've----"
Ere he had finished the sentence there came a thud. Hickey had, by a
clever wrestling trick, thrown his man, the fellow's head striking the
floor so heavily that he lost consciousness.
A moment later Dan succeeded in throwing his man over flat on his face.
"Tear up some of those robes over there and make me a rope, quick," he
commanded.
With the rope so made Dan bound the hands of the prisoners behind their
backs.
"I don't know whether you understand English or not. I reckon you do,"
announced Dan, after they had shaken Sam's man back to consciousness.
"We want you to lead us out of this place. We have your guns, and if you
cut up any we shall be obliged to shoot. If you behave yourselves we
will let you go when we get outside, providing you are not wanted by the
police. Now go."
"And if you take us to any of your fellows we will shoot you first, then
take our chances with the rest," added Sam.
The captives made no reply, but the boys were satisfied, from the
expression on their faces, that they understood. The Bedouin inclined
his head toward a passageway, and the strange procession started.
Some twenty minutes later they stepped out into the fresh night air of
the desert.
"This is great," breathed Hickey, with a glowing face. "Shall we take
these fellows along with us?"
"No, we will keep our word to them."
They untied the Bedouins, and the fellows slunk away and disappeared.
Dan uttered a loud hello.
"That you, Dynamite?" came an answer from one of the jackies who had
been left outside.
With shouts of delight the party assembled, and all hands listened
wonderingly to the story the boys had to tell. The guides told Dan and
Sam that they had unearthed the lair of one of the worst bands that ever
infested the desert in the vicinity of the Pyramids.
As a result of the information they gave, the band of brigands was
routed from their hiding place for good and all.
Late that afternoon the lads once more set foot on the deck of the "Long
Island," and the battleship shortly afterwards got under way. At muster
that afternoon Dan and Sam were once more called before the captain.
"I have this day received an order from the Navy Department," began the
captain. "It provides that for gallant service and quick wit Gunner's
Mate Davis is to be promoted to Chief Turret Captain. He will assume his
duties to-morrow morning. Coxswain Hickey is promoted to Gunner's Mate
first class. Lads, I congratulate you."
The bugle blew and the men marched from the deck.
That night Dan Davis climbed into his hammock for the last time. On the
following night he would take possession of a real berth in the chief
petty officers' quarters.