“Whoop-ee,” yelled Bob, enjoying himself to the full, and taking an animal delight in the fight. The blood in his veins sang in exultation. The heady wine of success against odds had intoxicated him.
Now to turn the horse for the oasis and flee, with his captive.
The next moment a crashing blow descended on his head from the rear, and he pitched forward against the Athensian. In a unconquerable haze against which he fought but without success, he felt himself falling, and then felt strong arms encircle him from the side and lower him to the ground. The next moment he lost consciousness.
CHAPTER IX.
A PUZZLING PROPHECY.
For a long time before regaining full consciousness, Bob was confusedly aware of pain. He had nightmare impressions, the sort of feelings one experiences in a dream when undergoing frightful experiences from which he is unable to free himself. To Bob it was as if he lay on a torture wrack, arms and legs pinioned, and head held in a vise. Try as he would to reach up a hand to free his head of the oppression it was impossible to do so. The stars seemed to whirl around him, each with the face of an Athensian, mocking him, while a red devil in a filmy cloud who seemed to bear a striking resemblance to the fallen Athensian leader hovered just above the tip of his nose, laughing at him.
All around the edges of his world—this world of pain of which he was the center—lay a thick cloud which his vision could not pierce. In it came and went the Athensian-faced stars.
Once he struggled back to full consciousness. His eyes opened and he was able to note his surroundings. Then he saw that he was bound to the saddle of his camel, lying forward, almost on his chest. His hands and feet were tied, and many lashings around his body prevented him from slipping off. He even was able to note that the lashings consisted of the rope lassoo with weighted ends with which he had planned to bring down an ostrich, supplemented by the coil of wire for aerial and ground, which had hung looped to his saddle.
On his head was his solar hat or sun helmet, at which he wondered dazedly. Evidently, the blow which had felled him had been broken by the helmet. Perhaps, even, it had fallen on the jutting rear brim, and thus had not crushed against his skull the little radio receiving set cunningly inserted in the crown so that to a casual glance it seemed merely a part of the helmet. If so——
But then consciousness failed, and Bob sank again into the nightmare of the wrack and the torture.
When again he was restored to consciousness, the rope and wire bindings holding him in the saddle had been loosed and strong hands were lifting him to the ground, which was no great distance away as the camel had been compelled to lie down.