Back to Civilization
At Joe's welcome declaration, the others ran over in a high state of
excitement.
There, directly at their feet, was a huge chest of metal, the lid of
which was pushed back. Piled up to the top were emeralds, diamonds,
and a myriad of other precious stones. There were gold coins, rifles
of ancient design, small silver boxes, and a hundred or more other
valuable trinkets.
For several minutes no one could speak. They were too amazed at the
value of the treasure. Finally Dr. Kirshner looked up.
"Thousands and thousands of dollars' worth," he muttered, as though he
could hardly believe his eyes. "And it has all survived through the
ages. In addition to the gold and precious gems, those rifles and
coins will be of enormous value as relics."
"Relics?" asked Joe.
"Yes. They date back to the Middle Ages. You see," he went on, "the
Tuaregs have always been fond of raiding caravans and cities. Whenever
they see an opportunity to take possession of riches, they go out at
once on a raid. The treasure in this cave was undoubtedly collected
many hundreds of years ago. That is why there are guns and implements
of the seventeenth century."
"How interesting!" exclaimed Mr. Lewis. "I suppose now you are doubly
glad we searched for this cave, because these relics will fit right in
with your work as an archæologist."
A thorough search of the cave was made, and the explorers discovered
many other articles of great worth.
"Now we'll carry this stuff out to the dromedaries," said Mr. Lewis.
"It isn't wise to leave it in here too long."
They had brought several large burlap bags, and the treasure was
divided into these. There were eight of them, each filled to capacity.
"Guess we'll have to make two trips," said Bob. "It'll be too much for
us to get it all out at once."
"We won't mind that," smiled Mr. Lewis. "The more there is the
better."
They carried out five of the sacks and then went back for the other
three. When finally everything had been taken from the cave, they
rested in the shade of the rocks.
A lunch was prepared of canned food that had been taken from the
supplies. All ate heartily, their eyes remaining much of the time on
the bags of riches.
"We may have to have more camels to get this stuff back to Wargla,"
remarked Mr. Holton. "I wonder if there is a chance of buying them
from the Tuaregs?"
"Probably is," Dr. Kirshner returned. "We'll see when we get these
riches back to camp."
The explorers thought it best to get the bags of riches to their camp
before going to the Tuareg village for camels. Despite the fact that
the natives were friendly, they might have the desire to raid the
American expedition for their precious find.
Camp was made several miles north of the Tuareg village. Then Bob, Dr.
Kirshner, and Joe started out to the habitation.
"Do you think they'll let us have the camels?" Joe asked, as they
moved out of sight of their camp.
The archæologist nodded.
"I'm inclined to think they will," he said. "We'll pay them a good
price for the animals, in addition to rewarding them for helping get
us out of captivity."
At last they rode into the village, to be met by the chieftain.
Dr. Kirshner told the native that he wished several more camels, and
that he would pay a good sum for them. He finished by presenting the
man with a number of large coins, treasured so highly by Tuaregs.
These, he said, were in return for the services of him and his people
in capturing the Arabs.
The chieftain was delighted and at once said that they could have the
camels. He walked out beyond the village to a large plain, where
several hundred _meharii_, or native dromedaries, were grazing on the
sparse vegetation. These were huge white animals, towering many inches
above the mounts of the explorers.
The Tuareg said the Americans could have the brutes for a very nominal
sum, and Dr. Kirshner at once accepted his offer. Secretly he knew he
was getting a bargain.
"Now to get back to camp," the scientist said, after bidding the tall
native good-bye.
When the three Americans rode within sight of the tent, their friends
were indeed surprised at sight of the large camels.
"You sure brought something back this time," observed Mr. Lewis.
"Never in my life have I seen camels of that size and strength."
"Just what we need," laughed Joe. "I don't know how we could have
managed without them."
They took it easy the remainder of that day. In the evening, Dr.
Kirshner called his friends together.
"I make a motion that we start back to Wargla," he said. "You
naturalists have collected scores of specimens of animals, Bob and Joe
have exposed hundreds of feet of motion-picture film, and I have made
numerous archæological observations. And to cap it all, we located the
hidden treasure. If there is anything else to keep us any longer, I
don't know what it is."
"You're right," agreed Mr. Holton. "We should be getting back home. On
the way, however, we can keep our eyes open for anything else that
might interest us."
It was decided not to leave until after a rest of two days. The
explorers were greatly fatigued after the eventful week, and were
content to do nothing but sit idly in the tent.
But when the morning set for their leaving arrived, they were
refreshed and ready for action.
"We've had a big time of it here," remarked Bob. "But somehow I'm
anxious to get back home."
After attending to last-minute preparations, the explorers got on
their dromedaries and turned the animals toward the north.
It was slow traveling through the Ahaggars, with the numerous jagged
rocks and peaks standing in their way. They were glad indeed when
finally they reached the end of the mountain range and rode over a
rocky plain.
"Now let's make time," said Mr. Holton. "We'll have it comparatively
easy from now on and should get to Wargla inside of a few weeks."
"And we're likely to have many more adventures before we again see
civilization," remarked Joe.
Notwithstanding this, the journey back to Wargla was made without
important incident, except that in a region of deep ravines Mr.
Lewis's camel missed its footing and came near plunging down a
twenty-foot crevice.
At Wargla the explorers remained for several days, boxing and crating
their specimens and antiquities. Here Fekmah divided the treasure
among himself and his friends. They begged him to take much the
largest share, but he firmly refused.
"If it had not been for you Americans, I would not have had any of the
hidden riches," he told them, as they sat in the station awaiting the
train to take them to the coast.
"It was Bob who did it," said Dr. Kirshner loyally. "It was he who got
us out of captivity and brought about the success of the expedition!"
THE END
BIBLIOGRAPHY
_Across the Sahara_, by Hanns Vischer--E. Arnold, London.
_Across the Sahara by Motor Car_, by Haardt--D. Appleton Co.
_Sands of Sahara_, by Sommerville--J. B. Lippincott.
_Camping in the Sahara_, by Hull--Dodd, Mead & Co.
_The Spell of Algeria and Tunisia_, by M. S. Mansfield--L. C.
Page Co.
_Encyclopedia Britannica._
Wood's _Natural History_--A. L. Burt.
_Elements of Zoölogy_, by Holder--American Book Co. (D.
Appleton.)
_The World and Its Peoples_--The Thompson Publishing Co., St.
Louis.
* * * * * *
Transcriber's note:
The four books in this series have been transcribed in the same
manner. This means that in some books, table of contents and or/list
of series names have been added.
Except in cases of obvious typographical errors, archaic and
inconsistent spelling has been retained.