“That is true,” smiled Frank; “and I fancy I have been taken for Mr. Parker by more than one person. Igela, Ben Ahmet and Ali Mustaf all believed that I was Parker. Ben Ahmet believed it, even though he had left Parker confined in the castle of Bab-el-Maroc, hundreds of miles away. Igela believed I had escaped from that castle and come here to Tangier, which explains some things she said to me. The whole matter is clearing up.”
It was clearing up, but, somehow, Frank felt as if he had lost something of wonderful value. He saw Igela in the arms of his counterpart and then he turned away.
Mr. Adams hastily and briefly explained how Igela’s father, having lost the wife he loved, and being very fond of his daughter, whom he regarded as a mere child, had carried her with him on one of his business expeditions to London. There she had met Frank Parker and had fallen in love with him. From that moment it was the girl’s aim and ambition to perfect herself in the English language, which she studied persistently, speaking it with her black servant, who had once been in England, and knew the language. This explained how it came about that the Pearl of Tangier could speak such perfect English.
Igela returned to Morocco with her father, but she did not forget Frank Parker, who had promised to come for her some day and take her away with him. Her father died, and she fell into the hands of her uncle. Then she wrote an appeal to Parker, telling him he must come soon, or she would be forced to marry.
Parker had traveled in France and Spain by himself; but he dared not tell his folks that he was going to Morocco and why he was going. He obtained consent to visit Paris, and, without delay, he hastened to Morocco, crossed the desert to Fez, saw Igela, tried to carry her off, was captured and confined in a dungeon, from which he was never to be released.
For an English youth he was a wonder. He found an opportunity to attack and slay the keeper who had brought him food, and he escaped in the man’s clothes. By rare fortune he had been able to get across the desert to Tangier.
When they had heard this story from the lips of Mr. Adams, Frank told how Igela had been rescued, and that it was likely the entire party would be branded as robbers with very little delay.
“You must all get out of the country immediately,” said Mr. Adams. “I know a very wealthy gentleman who is lying off Tangier in his steam yacht, in which he contemplates a cruise up the Mediterranean. You must get aboard that yacht without delay, and he must take you all away. If the girl goes she must be taken through Tangier as a boy—she must be disguised.”
Arrangements for the attempt were quickly made, and the party succeeded in getting on board the yacht, which carried them from Tangier to Marseilles, in France.
By that time Frank Parker had related his story in detail a score of times, and all confessed it a most wonderful and remarkable adventure.