Jim Braid had not such patience. With this news upon his mind he could not stay idle while Harry and Fernando were asleep. Despite the advice of Cortes, he awoke them both, and told them what had happened.
"We must start at once!" cried Harry.
"There is no haste," said Fernando, with a shrug of his shoulders. "But, if you wish it, we will go."
They packed up their camp equipment and provisions, and their reserve ammunition, and these they loaded upon the camel. Then they set forward on their way, following a caravan route, whilst a full moon, red as blood, crept over the horizon and illumined the wasteland like a lantern.
In three hours they came to a place where a stone building, surrounded by a dozen trees, stood forth against the moonlight. Near by a hyena howled.
"The sheikh is within," said Cortes.
Drawing a little distance away, the four held consultation together. As far as they could make out, there was but one entrance to the temple, which was half in ruins. For all that, they thought it best to surround the place, and it was finally agreed that Harry Urquhart should enter the building, revolver in hand, whilst the other three guarded the walls to prevent the Arab's escape, should they have overlooked some other means of exit.
Leaving his rifle behind, with his revolver ready loaded in his hand, Harry passed on tiptoe through the entrance and found himself in a shallow, darkened chamber.
Though there was no roof to the building, the adjacent palm-trees shut out the light of the moon, and some seconds elapsed before the boy's eyes grew accustomed to the semi-darkness.
As far as he could make out, he was surrounded by high walls. Scattered here and there about the floor, upon which the sand of the desert lay like a thick, luxurious carpet, were great cylindrical boulders, which, in former times, had evidently composed the pillars that supported the roof. In the shadow of these boulders it was quite dark, and each shadow was large enough to conceal the form of a man.