"Yah, yah; dat's one to me, Massa Jack," exclaimed Tinker, for he it was who had thus saved Jack's life.
Jack caught up Abdullah's sword, and, by a desperate charge, cut through the opposing Turks, now "demoralised" by the loss of their leader, and regained his Bedouin and English friends.
By this time the heat was very great.
The sky was like a dome of steel.
The sands of the desert burnt under the fierce sun.
The dust flew in clouds, save where the blood of the wounded and dying had soaked into the arid soil.
Taking advantage of the confusion that now reigned in the Turkish force, the English and Arabs made a last desperate effort to escape their foes.
With a yell of defiance, the fierce Bedouins, led by Kara-al-Zariel, dashed through the ranks of the enemy, dealing destruction right and left.
Taking advantage of the disconcerted state of the foe, Jack and his friends were enabled again to join their Arab allies, and the retreat of the whole party towards the shore began in good earnest.
They would soon have distanced their now exhausted foes, but ere the English vessel could be reached, another large body of Turks came up to the attack.