Finally their anxiety caused them to move forward and inspect the belongings.
“Good thing we didn’t have the treasure map,” remarked Mr. Lewis, examining the contents of a small black bag. “It wouldn’t be here now.”
At the end of their inspection the explorers found that nothing had been taken from their belongings. It appeared that the crafty Arabs wished only the treasure map, and that, not being able to find it, they had left without any other spoils.
“They sure acted in wild haste,” observed Mr. Holton. “It’s almost impossible to see how all this could have been torn up so quickly. It wasn’t five minutes from the time that you boys told of seeing the men that we were up here.”
“Trust the Arabs to do that,” said Dr. Kirshner, with a dry smile.
The scientists’ possessions were placed back in their proper places, and then they went to inspect the room occupied by Bob and Joe.
“Probably nothing taken from here, either,” was the opinion expressed by Mr. Holton, and he proved right, as they later found.
“This shows that these Arabs are desperate characters, and will probably stop at nothing,” said Dr. Kirshner, after a moment of thought. “We must be extremely careful to lock everything up from now on. It may even mean that we’ll have to watch ourselves, too.”
“What do you mean?” asked Joe.