“I pray so, Excellency,” said the Sheikh, and he too left.
But the day glided by and the night had come, a day and night of wild turmoil and anxiety; and in this great emergency the Sheikh did not return.
His absence at this extremely critical time came upon the party like a shock, for it was only now that they fully realised the full value of the services he had rendered, and surmises as to the cause of his absence were discussed one after the other.
One of the first things proposed when night closed in was to consult the officer of the guard. But here a difficulty arose at once—their interpreter was missing. The professor’s knowledge of Arabic was extensive and he had picked up a few words of the dialect used by the Baggara; but he got on with the guard with the greatest difficulty, and the Sheikh’s young men were completely wanting in the lingual powers of their chief.
“You must let me question him,” said Harry. “He seems to have no suspicion of our having been friends.”
“I don’t know that,” said Frank and the professor, almost in a breath.
“But we have been most careful over keeping up my character of the Hakim’s patient.”
“Yes,” said Frank, “but this man is wonderfully quiet and observant. I half fancy that he is suspicious, after all.”
“He cannot be,” said Harry. “He knows that I was sent here, and can by no means have the most remote idea of why you came.”
“I don’t know,” said the professor, shaking his head.