Ben Ali was frank, brutally frank. But he had Motor Matt's promise that he should go free, and he seemed to gloat over his evil deeds and to wish that not a detail be left out.
"She did not act, when she was in the aëroplane, as she did when she was in the parade," said Matt.
"I make her act different, sahib. I tell her how she was to be. I have de so great power I do that. Other fakirs not so great as Ben Ali."
"We've heard enough," said Matt. "Now, as yet, you have only partly earned your freedom, Ben Ali. You have still to do what I shall tell you."
"What is that, sahib?"
"You will, by the aid of hypnotism, undo all the evil you have done, as much as possible. For instance, you will impress on Haidee, as she stands there, the truth that she is Margaret Manners, and that she will remember it, and all her past, when she wakes. After that, you are to waken her and take yourself off."
"Yes," answered the Hindoo. "My freedom is dear to me. Perhaps"—and he smiled—"I have something yet to do with Motor Matt."
"If you cross my path again, Ben Ali," returned the king of the motor boys, "there will be no promise binding me to let you go free. If you are wise, you will stay away from me and my friends, and from Haidee."
"I take my chance, if that is it. To awaken Haidee I must be on my feet."
"You will lie as you are!" declared Matt sharply. "You can do your work as well this way as in any other."