Harry was close to him.
A very few words now revealed to Mole the actual state of affairs.
"Oh, my boys, my boys," he exclaimed, "what I have suffered all through you. But still, Jack, my boy, I was not afraid of them. No, my boy, I intended to have fought to the last, and I have no doubt I should have killed a dozen or two of 'em."
"No doubt, sir; but let us get out of this," said Jack. "Come on."
"But my hands are fastened with these heavy chains," said Mole.
"Bring a hammer and a chisel, you fellows," called out Jack, "and we'll have 'em off in no time."
The ex-pasha was therefore operated upon, and in a few minutes the chains were off, and Mole was nearly a free man—not quite free, however, for by this time the whole neighbourhood was up in arms; the pasha had been roused in a hurry, and mustering his troops, had hurried off to the gaol.
"We shall have to fight for it, lads," cried Jack, drawing his Arab sabre; "we must cut our way through them, or we're lost to a certainty."
The Bedouins were prepared to follow their leader to the death.
The chief Zenaib, with his brother, Hadj Maimoun, led the desperate enterprise, and the numbers of their followers were now increased by all the escaped prisoners.