“Don’t be impatient,” said Mundey severely; “for all you know the treasure may be mined, and if we go digging it up without disconnecting the mine we would all go up together. Our job is to obey the Spook’s instructions, not to argue about them.”
“Do you think we shall find these arms which are guarding our treasure?” Moïse asked.
“I think so,” Mundey said. “You have done this sort of thing before, haven’t you, Bones?”
“Oh yes,” I answered.
The Cook arrived, walking gingerly on account of the bayonet. He spoke rapidly in Turkish to the Pimple, who turned to us and translated.
“The Cook wants to know what are we to do if the Spook leads to a harem?”
Mundey and I had the utmost difficulty in keeping our faces straight—we had not thought of such an enterprise.
“We can stop outside, I suppose,” said Mundey.
The Pimple translated to the Cook, who burst into a torrent of agitated Turkish.
“He is saying,” Pimple translated, “you will be entranced and the Spook says on no account must you be touched or spoken to. How then are we to stop you if you are making to go into the women’s quarters?”