Dr. Kirshner shook his head.
“Looks like we’re not going to get back to camp today,” he said gravely. “Worst thing is, these rascals may hunt out our friends and capture them also. If we could just leave some word that would give them a hint to be on the lookout——”
The two Americans were forced along the narrow edge of a deep canyon, and more than once they felt that they were but an inch from death. Their tempers were thoroughly aroused, but they knew that they had no chance against such a horde.
“These fellows are a bit different from American roughnecks,” Dr. Kirshner said. “Arabs would not hesitate to stick a knife through you if not satisfied with your actions, but our own countrymen would ordinarily think twice before doing such a thing.”
The two explorers were in the midst of the group, with swarthy natives on each side of them. To attempt to break loose would indeed be futile.
“I wonder if we will be taken near the hidden riches?” muttered Joe, gazing ahead at the distant country.
“Hard telling,” the archæologist replied. “Of course it is possible, but I doubt it. Still they might purposefully show us the treasure to let us know how much we are missing.”
A half-hour’s traveling brought them to the base of an unusually high peak. It might, thought the Americans, be Mount Oudane or Illiman, as it was every inch of ten thousand feet.
There was a small well in a crevice between the rocks, and much to their great delight the prisoners were given the opportunity to drink to their hearts’ content. The water was unusually cool, protected as it was from the heat of the sun.