But then master’s face fell.
“Ah! my dearest friend,” he said, “we may, after all, be counting our chickens before they are hatched.”
“Nay, nay, nay,” cried the priest. “I have set my heart upon having this strange adventure end well, and end well it must and shall.”
“Unless—”
“I know what you would say, captain. Unless Beebee has already been taken off. But I do not think this is at all likely. They do not do things very rapidly in Persia. They are a calm, contemplative kind of people. But, nevertheless, Beebee is doomed to a fate too horrible to think of if we do not rescue her.”
“Do you think,” said Edgar eagerly, “it will be very, very difficult?”
“I do think it will be somewhat difficult. But have heart and hope, my friend. Let me recall to you a motto that I have heard from your own lips.”
“And that is?”
“‘Whate’er a man dares he can do.’”