Phalos bade them all a cordial good-bye just before they landed.
“Though it is really au revoir instead of good-bye,” he said, with a genial smile, “for I am going to hold you strictly to your promise to come to see me in Cairo as soon as you reach there, and, if possible, make my house your headquarters. I shall never forget,” he added, turning to Don and Teddy, “what you did for me in saving my—property and quite probably my life. You may count upon me for all I can do in helping you to find Mr. Sturdy.”
They thanked him, and promised that they would surely see him in Cairo.
They landed amid clamor and hubbub, the cries of porters and pleadings of beggars that are inseparable from all the seaports of the East. To these they paid no attention, but hailed a taxicab and drove through the large handsome streets of the European quarter to the hotel from which Mrs. Sturdy had dispatched her cablegram.
“Is a Mrs. Richard Sturdy among your guests?” asked the captain, as the party went up to the desk.
Don’s heart was in his throat as he listened for the answer.
“Yes,” was the reply. “Do you wish to see her?” and he reached for the desk telephone.
“No need of announcing us,” broke in Don. “These gentlemen are her brothers and I am her son. We will go right up, if you please.”
The clerk summoned a bellboy, who rose languidly and came toward them.
“Hurry, hurry!” urged Don, slipping a coin into his hand. “See how quickly you can lead us there.”