He began to struggle with his thoughts. For himself he would not think of doing it—certainly not! But now it was a case of Nell, of her defense, her safety, and her life, for she certainly could not stand all these hardships and would surely die, either during the journey or in the midst of the wild, beastly tribes of Dervishes. What was the blood of such wretches in comparison with Nell’s life, and was it right to hesitate in such a case? For Nell! For Nell!
Then a thought flew like a flash of lightning through his head and made his hair stand on end. What would happen if one of these villains should point a knife at Nell’s breast and threaten to kill her if he, Stasch, would not surrender and give up the gun? What would happen then?
“In that case,” said the boy to himself, “I should give myself up at once.”
And at the thought of his helplessness he again threw himself down despairingly on the cloth rug.
The rays of moonlight now entered the opening of the cave at such an angle that it became dark inside. The Arabs still snored. Stasch lay quiet for a while, then a new thought dawned upon him.
Suppose he should creep out of the cave with the gun, hide himself between the rocks, and not kill the men, but only shoot down the camels? It is true it would be a shame to sacrifice the innocent animals, but what was to be done? People kill animals not only to save lives, but also for their meat. Now one thing was certain, that if he were to succeed in shooting down four or five camels, it would be impossible to continue the journey. Not one of the caravan would dare visit the villages on the river-banks to buy new camels. So Stasch would promise, in the names of their fathers, that the men should not be punished, but be rewarded, and the only thing left for them to do would be to return.
That was all very well, but supposing they did not give him time to make these promises, but murdered him in the first onset of their wrath?
However, they would have to give him time and listen to him, for with a gun in his hand he would be able to keep them at a safe distance until he had said all he wanted to. They would realize that the only way to save themselves would be to surrender. Then he would put himself at the head of the caravan and lead it straight to the Bahr Yoosuf and to the Nile. They were still quite a distance from there—some one or two days’ journey—for the Arabs had taken the precaution to travel quite far into the interior. But that was no matter; there would be several camels left, and on one of these Nell could ride. Stasch began to examine the Arabs carefully. They were all sleeping the sound sleep of utter exhaustion; but as the night would soon be over, they might awaken at any moment. Immediate action was necessary. It would not be difficult to take the cartridge case, for it lay by his side; but it would not be so easy to get the gun, which Chamis had placed farther away, on the other side. Stasch hoped that he would be able to take it away, but he decided not to remove it from its case or adjust the gun barrel until he should get some distance from the cave, for he feared the click of the steel might awaken the sleepers.
The moment had come. The boy crept over Chamis like a worm, and grasping the box by the handle, picked it up and slowly drew it over to his side. Though he clenched his teeth and tried to overcome his emotions, his heart and pulse beat quickly, everything grew dark before his eyes, and his breath came and went in rapid gasps, and when the straps which closed the box creaked a little, cold drops of sweat stood in beads on his forehead. This single second seemed to him as long as a century. But Chamis never moved. The box was lifted over him and placed beside the cartridge case.
Stasch breathed again. Half the work was done. Now it was necessary to creep quietly out of the cave, run a short distance, hide himself in the rocks, open the case, adjust the gun, load it, and put a number of cartridges in his pocket. Then the caravan would be at his mercy.