URGING his dromedary on to the utmost, the youth was carried over the narrow valley at a pace that ate up the distance surprisingly. In fact, never had he traveled so rapidly on camelback.
When he was several hundred feet away, he glanced back, to see that two of the Arabs were pursuing him desperately. At the start he had put a good distance between himself and his enemies, but now the latter were gaining swiftly. They were more familiar with the country and knew better how to command their camels to move fast.
“If I can only make that little canyon,” the youth thought, bending low so as to lessen the wind resistance.
The canyon was near now, but a hurried look over his shoulder told Bob that the Arabs were near also. If he could only get there!
He lashed the dromedary with a new determination and entered the narrow way between the mountains just as the Arabs passed over a small grove of low shrubs some two hundred feet away.
Bob knew that this was a very short canyon and that there were numerous large rocks and crevices at the opposite end. Perhaps he could successfully evade his pursuers by hiding in one of these openings in the mountainsides.
Sharp jagged crags protruded from all sides of the thread-like passageway between the high walls. It was very dangerous to ride with much speed in such a place, but the chance had to be taken.
He reached the other end of the passage with but a moment to spare. Immediately his dromedary was cut over to the right behind a barrel-like rock. But the youth did not stop there; he wound in and out among the many huge boulders.
At last he came to a stop in a large crevice between two imposing slabs of stone. With every nerve on edge, the young man listened.