Dick Merriwell's Pranks Part 33

"See that man?" he cried-"the one who is urging the mob on?"

"I sure see the varmint," nodded Buckhart.

"Well, he's the old wretch who bribed Ras al Had's black men to betray Nadia and myself."

"That dog, eh?" growled the Texan, taking something from his pocket.

"Well, I reckon I can just about shoot a couple of holes through his big ears at this distance."

Professor Gunn uttered a squawk of terror and clutched the wrist of the grim-faced boy from the Panhandle country.

"You're crazy, Bradley!" he gasped. "You're mad!"

"I admit the accusation," said Buckhart. "I am mad-a heap mad."

"If you were to fire at that man it would precipitate the destruction of this hotel and the murder of every inmate!"

"The professor is right, Brad," said d.i.c.k quietly. "Put up your gun."

"I'd certain like to--"

"Never mind that. Put up the weapon and bide your time. You may be compelled to use it in self-defense before this day is over. Hear those creatures!"

The mob was howling:

"Death to the foreigners!"

"Kill the infidels!"

"Burn their hotel!"

"Destroy them! Destroy them!"

"Death to the unbelievers!"

Wildly waving his arms, the crooked old Turk shrilly yelled:

"They have defiled our city and our temples! They have basely murdered one of the true faith!"

"Ah-yah!" snarled the mob.

Then some one hurled a stone. There was a crash of gla.s.s in the lower part of the hotel. A volley of stones followed, smashing gla.s.s and raining against the building in a shower.

"It begins to look pretty bad," confessed d.i.c.k.

Dunbar Budthorne, followed by Nadia, came hurrying into the room.

Budthorne was agitated and his sister was very pale.

"What is happening?" asked Dunbar.

"Take a look out of this window and you will see," answered d.i.c.k.

Nadia pressed forward to look, but drew back, shuddering.

Brad sought to rea.s.sure her.

"It's only a lot of crazy fools," he said. "Don't be frightened, Nadia."

"But they are mad! They mean to destroy the hotel and murder us all!"

"I don't reckon the governor will permit that."

"Can we do nothing?" asked Budthorne. "Can't we apply to the American consul?"

"We tried that yesterday when Nadia disappeared," reminded d.i.c.k, "and the American consul was out of the city."

"Then there is the British consul. Surely he will act if we call on him."

"I doubt if he has the power," said Professor Gunn. "We are in a terrible predicament. I fear the horror of 1860 is about to be repeated."

"What happened in 1860?" asked Dunbar.

"Six thousand unarmed and unoffending Christians and foreigners were ma.s.sacred in Damascus, and nearly twice as many more outside the city, in Syria."

"Oh, dreadful!" gasped Nadia, growing faint and being a.s.sisted to a chair by Buckhart. "What if it happens again? Oh, I believe it is going to happen!"

At this juncture a fiercer outburst of noise rose from the street, and again d.i.c.k Merriwell looked out of the window, the others pressing close behind him.

It seemed that some one from the hotel had ventured to step outside to address the crowd. Instantly his words were drowned by howls, and shrieks, and curses, while a shower of missiles drove him back to shelter.

Then some one espied the little group in the upper window and called attention to it. Instantly the crowd began shouting insults at our friends and shaking their fists at them.

"Take Nadia back from the window, Brad," advised d.i.c.k, in a low tone.

"Keep her mind distracted as much as possible from this."

Again Buckhart conducted the girl to a chair.

"Better all get back," said Professor Gunn. "We're just adding to their fury by standing in the window and watching them."

They moved back a little, but the mob continued to rage and snarl, like a pack of infuriated wild animals.

"Was no one punished for the other ma.s.sacre?" asked d.i.c.k.

"The powers of Europe finally interfered," answered the professor. "The Turkish government was compelled to punish some one, so Ahmad Pasha, the governor, lost his head. That was about the extent of the punishing."

"Well the present governor ought to remember Ahmad Pasha. If he isn't careful he may lose his head."

The whole hotel was in a state of great excitement, as d.i.c.k learned by stepping outside the room, and listening. Women were weeping and wailing, while white-faced men hurried hither and thither, up and down, without seeming able to decide on anything. He heard two men talking, and one was telling the other that already the mob had murdered a man in the open street.

"It's pretty serious," d.i.c.k decided. "Once let a mob like that get a taste of blood, and there is no telling where the affair will end. I fear this will be a b.l.o.o.d.y day for Damascus. If they begin killing, the odds are against any one of us escaping with his life."