After a while the captain and the professor, taking Teddy along with them, went out to attend to the pressing matters in hand. Don stayed with his mother to tell her of his adventures in the Sahara and Brazil and the thousand other things that she was eager to know about.
The experience that Don’s uncles had acquired in their travels about the world stood them in good stead in the present situation. Professor Bruce knew the language almost as well as he did his own, and both were tactful and at the same time masterful in dealing with the native races of the East.
Before night fell they had learned by inquiries in the native quarters that a man corresponding to Richard Sturdy’s description had secured a small party to go with him on an exploring expedition. There had been no explicit mention of the Valley of the Kings, but the party had started south in that direction.
Had they noticed anything peculiar about the man? the professor asked.
“Well, Allah seems to have set a mark on him,” his informant replied. “His eyes were bright and he said that he was a king. But, after all, many kings visit Egypt. And then, all foreigners are queer. He promised to pay his men well and to double or treble their pay if he was successful in finding what he was going for. So there were plenty that were willing to go.”
This was much, but it was not enough, and the two American men, still accompanied by Teddy, prosecuted their researches untiringly until they found the wife of one of the party who had accompanied the bright-eyed man, and she had heard her husband say that he was going to the Valley of the Kings.
“So far, so good!” exclaimed Captain Sturdy, as, tired but exultant, they made their way to the European quarter.
“We at least have a goal to aim for,” declared the professor.
CHAPTER VIII
A Land of Wonders
“And now, Teddy,” said the captain, “we’ll send a cablegram to that father of yours and tell him all about his prodigal son and ask him whether you can go with us or whether we’ll have to bundle you back home.”