CAUGHT.
HAROLD wished to try his Arabic on one of the Lascars who was near
the first boat, and find from him the cause of the tedious delay, but
was as unsuccessful as Europeans usually are when trying to extract
information from Orientals. Harold knew not whether the swarthy Arab
understood him or not; the man's eyes, and evidently his thoughts, were
wandering in the direction which the ladies were taking. The Lascar
looked like one on the watch for something, and all that Harold could
draw from him were the ejaculations common on Mahomedan lips, which
seem pious when translated, but which often with them express nothing
more than a shrug of the shoulders does with a European.
In the meantime, Robin, who had borrowed a gun from Captain Cenci,
was on the sharp look-out for game with which to mend the passengers'
scanty fare. But not a partridge rose, not a hare came in view.
Shelah, who liked to keep pretty near Robin, and was quite as eager
as himself to find some creature that might be turned into food,
suddenly exclaimed, pointing to the sand, "Partridges been here—look,
look!—Hadn't they big claws!"
Robin, gun in hand, went up to the spot. "Why, Lammikin," he cried,
"you are as good as a pointer! But these marks are left by much larger
birds than partridges; these are the prints of ostriches' feet in the
sand!"
"Oh! I want to see ostriches!" exclaimed Shelah, clapping her hands.
"I too should like to get a sight of these noble birds running before
the wind," said Robin, looking, but vainly, in every direction. "They
say that a horseman can hardly overtake this swift bird of the desert."
"Oh! I do so want to find an ostrich's egg," cried Shelah, with
sparkling eyes. "There was one in our house, brought from a long way
off; it was as big as this—" She put her clenched fists together. "It
would make a famous breakfast. I'll find two eggs, Robin; one for
myself and one for you," and off ran the eager child on her quest.
"Don't wander far, Lammikin," shouted Robin after her; "we must
look-out for the white signal on the ship."
But to tell Shelah to take any course appeared to be the sure way to
make her wish to take another. Her ambition to find a big egg, and her
desire to have a good breakfast, made Lammikin run off in the track
marked by the ostriches' feet.
"Oh! That child, where is she running, and without her shoes!"
exclaimed Miss Petty. "Shelah! Shelah O'More!" she shouted, but the
little madcap, hearing her call, only ran the faster. Poor Miss Petty
gave chase; and presently, at some little distance from the shore,
there was heard the noise of roaring and scolding, and was seen an
evident scuffle, showing that the runaway Lammikin had been overtaken
by her guardian.
"There's the signal!" exclaimed Harold; "We must be off in the boat."
"Or the ship will be off without us!" cried Bolton. "The Principessa
will not wait. There are two boats; I'll row away at once in the
smaller; Hartley, you and your brother will look after the ladies, that
sort of thing is just in your line; I cannot play squire to Miss Petty,
nor nurse to Miss Shelah O'More."
Harold and Robin shouted loudly to the ladies, while busying themselves
with the larger boat, of which two men had been left in charge. It had
stuck in the sand, and was by no means easily to be again set afloat.
The four at first vainly exerted all their strength to move the boat,
and some time elapsed before they attained their object. In the midst
of his energetic exertions Robin raised his head, and looked in the
direction of Shelah and her guardian, who had just been joined by Mrs.
Evendale, who went, as usual, to act a peacemaker's part.
"I say, Harold, what means that cloud of dust in the distance
approaching as if towards us. It is coming fast!"
"I see camels—mounted camels; yes—a party of Arabs!" exclaimed Harold
Hartley, and, with the sailors, he redoubled his efforts to float the
boat, whilst Robin dashed off to quicken the return of the ladies.
Mrs. Evendale also had seen the signal, and was urging to speed Miss
Petty, who was dragging Shelah towards the beach.
But at that moment Miss Petty made a discovery which seemed to take
from her all power of attending to anything else. In the late struggle
with Shelah, the pin of Miss Petty's filagree brooch had given way, and
the ornament itself had fallen, she knew not where.
"Oh! My peacock! My beautiful peacock! I have lost it!" exclaimed Miss
Petty, in sore distress, looking to right and left on the sand.
"We cannot stay—we must not stay;" urged Mrs. Evendale; "the vessel is
getting up steam!"
"I must find my peacock!" cried Theresa passionately. "I would not lose
it for worlds! It must have dropped where I caught up that child!" And
she began hurriedly to retrace her steps inland, notwithstanding the
expostulations of her companion and the repeated loud warning shouts
from the shore.
"Oh, leave the brooch and let us hasten back to the boat; there may be
danger!" exclaimed Mrs. Evendale, who now saw the ominous cloud of dust
coming towards them.
Breathless and panting, Robin dashed up to the ladies. He had his gun
in his hand.
"Mrs. Evendale, fly!" he gasped. "Take Shelah; I will look after Miss
Petty. There is not a moment to lose; the Bedouins are upon us!"
But the precious time in which escape might have been made had already
been lost! Harold had just succeeded in floating the second boat (the
small one was on its way to the steamer) when he saw that the English
party was surrounded. The report of Robin's gun, which accidentally
went off from his arm being suddenly snatched at by Shelah, alarmed
Harold for his brother's safety, and made Hartley hasten off to his
aid, but only to share his fate.
There was no fighting, for the number of the Arabs made resistance
utterly hopeless. The second boat was pushed off towards the ship,
leaving the party of travellers in the hands of the sons of the desert.
A wild-looking band they were, Bedouins of the Shararat tribe, with
swarthy features and narrow eyes, some of the most uncouth of the
warlike descendants of Ishmael. Long shirts, which had apparently never
been washed, were surmounted by tattered cloaks, striped white and
brown. From leathern girdles hung formidable knives. The head-gear of
most of the men consisted of a black kerchief, fastened on by a twist
of camel's hair. One Arab, a petty chief, grasped a long-barrelled
matchlock; others of the Bedouins were armed with sharp-pointed spears;
the band looked like Eastern banditti intent on spoil.
Miss Petty evidently attracted more attention than any other of the
captives; a dozen rough hands were laid upon her, and she screamed so
loudly and shrilly as to be heard even in the ship. The Arabs eagerly
searched her for jewels, and many an angry ejaculation was uttered when
it was found that what she wore were of but trifling value.
[Illustration: A wild-looking band they were, some of the most uncouth
of the warlike descendants of Ishmael.]
Indignantly the chief turned towards an Arab in whom the Hartleys
recognised one of the Lascars who had been sent to find a pilot. The
man, with rapid utterance, seemed to be making some explanations,
pointing towards the vessel which was now steaming away.
Harold, partly by catching the meaning of some words, partly by
guessing at that of the rest, made out the truth, which was that the
Arabs, under the traitor's guidance, had come from some distance in
hopes of making a prize of a wealthy princess loaded with jewels, for
whom an immense ransom might be exacted, and had lighted instead on
poor Miss Petty, whose misfortune it was, for once in her life, to be
mistaken for a lady of rank.
Robin indignantly looked towards the Italian steamer, which was now
making its way from the inhospitable shore of Arabia.
"Had she been manned by Englishmen, she would never have left us here
in the hands of savages! Oh, the ruffians!" he added fiercely, as he
saw an Arab tear the wedding-ring from Mrs. Evendale's unresisting hand.