“More than satisfied. But about our disguises, our provisions for the journey, and other preparations? We have done nothing yet.”
“There is nothing to do,” said the professor quietly.
“But our disguises?” said the doctor anxiously.
“Ibrahim will see to all that. We don’t want to draw anyone’s attention to the task we have in hand. If we did the news would spread, and run like wildfire amongst the people, perhaps reach the enemy’s camp.”
“But can we leave everything to this Arab Sheikh?”
“Everything,” said the professor, “as I have left things again and again. Here is our position: I am known here, and it is no novelty for me to go upon an expedition with this old guide. So all we have to do is to eat our dinner in peace, and when Ibrahim comes, mount our beasts and go off in the moonlight and silently steal away through the further parts of the city, and in a very short time be swallowed up in the mysterious gloom, travelling onward over the sand.”
“All night?” said the doctor.
“Yes, all night, and in good time in the morning we shall have reached the tents of the Sheikh, where we shall have an early meal and sleep. When we shall go on depends upon the preparations there. These will be extremely simple, but they will be sufficient. Make your minds easy, and throw all the arrangement of the journey upon Ibrahim and me. He will do his best, but as he said to me an hour ago, the success of our adventure must be left to fate.”
“But our preparations seem so small,” said Frank uneasily.
“Preparations for desert journeys are small from an Englishman’s point of view. A man here takes his camel, a bag of meal and another of dates, with a waterskin to fill when it is more than a day’s journey to the next well. The Sheikh expressed himself satisfied with our baggage, but in his eyes it is very large.”