“Well,” said the doctor, “I have said very little, but I share Frank’s uneasiness. We seem to be making ridiculously small preparations. Surely we ought to go better prepared if we are to get to our journey’s end.”
“We shall never get to it if we do,” said the professor gruffly, “and the sooner you two try to fit yourselves to the necessities of a desert journey the better.”
“I’m ready to do anything,” said the doctor, “but I do not want to fail from doing too little.”
“What more would you do than Ibrahim is doing?”
“I can hardly say on the spur of the moment, but with the exception of my medicines and instruments, and Frank’s chemicals and things, we seem as if we are going on the march in the clothes we stand up in.”
“Yes,” said the professor coolly, “and those we are going to leave behind in Ibrahim’s tents.”
“Is all this true, Frank?” said the doctor.
“I suppose so,” was the reply; “but certainly things are moving far more rapidly than I anticipated.”
“It is what you wished,” said the professor.
“Then all we have to do now is to be ready?”