Dick Merriwell's Pranks Part 39

Merriwell turned to the black messenger.

"Is Abraham a man of education?" he asked.

"He has traveled," was the answer.

"Do you know if he can read English?"

"I do not know, but it may be that he can."

"Wait."

d.i.c.k strode to the desk, seized a pad of paper and a pencil and wrote rapidly. In a few moments he had finished.

"What are you trying to do, Richard?" asked the old professor, who had been nervously walking about the room. "You have not sought my advice."

"There is no time for that now, professor," declared the boy.

He thrust the folded paper into one of a.s.souan's huge hands.

"Carry that to Abraham without delay if you wish to aid me," he directed. "Let no other person see it. Time is precious."

The black man bowed low and hurried from the room.

"It is possible that the preservation of our lives depends on the success of this scheme," said d.i.c.k. "I wrote urging Abraham to come and bring disguises for five of us, including one woman, explaining briefly that we desired to escape by pa.s.sing through the streets of the city in open day."

"No use! no use!" exclaimed Zenas hopelessly. "It is the wild project of harebrained youth. We cannot escape that way. If we try it, we'll simply fall into the hands of the enraged populace and be torn to pieces."

"Well, we'll make the attempt if Abraham comes and rigs us out for it,"

said d.i.c.k decisively. "I hope he'll come. I know a message from Ras al Had will influence him some, and on top of that I have promised to pay him a liberal sum. If he disappoints us, our fate will lie in the hands of the American consul, and it's likely he may be unable to do a thing for us."

CHAPTER XIX-BRAD AND NADIA

In an astonishingly brief time a.s.souan returned, with the old Jew at his heels.

Abraham was carrying a heavy bundle. He looked rather pale and frightened.

"My tear poy," he said, "vy haf you got yourself indo such a pad sc.r.a.pe?

If I hat known last nighdt vat you vas intending to do, I would nefer hat anyt'ing to do vit id. So helup me, I vos in dancher to pe murtered vor id. If id vos voundt oudt I had somedings to do vid disguisin' you as a girl, and that you dit vool der Pasha that vay, dey vould tear mine shop down un drag me t'rough der streets. I haf peen in terror off my life efer since I heardt vot had habbened. I vould gif somedings handsome if you vos a t'ousandt miles vrom Damascus this minute. Id vos to helup you get avay that I came ven a.s.souan toldt me an' gafe me your writings. I haf peen to Enklandt and America, and I read your writings vell."

"Then don't lose time in talk," said d.i.c.k; "but get about the job of rigging us up. Fix us so we can escape, and you will be in no danger of exposure."

The boy realized that it was fear, more than anything else, that had brought Abraham to them in this time of trouble. The Jew believed that d.i.c.k, should he be seized by the officers of the city, as an accomplice in the murder of Hafsa Pasha, would then tell how, disguised as a girl, he had deceived the Pasha. He would be compelled to state where he obtained the disguise, and that would turn the wrath of the enraged Moslems against old Abraham.

"You said dere vas fife peoples to be disguised," said the Jew.

"Yes."

"I see only t'ree."

"Brad, call Budthorne and his sister."

Dunbar and Nadia appeared in a few minutes, and d.i.c.k explained his plan of escaping in disguise.

"Do you think it necessary?" asked Dunbar. "It seems to me that we are safe now, for the soldiers are guarding the hotel, and the mob is held in check."

Then d.i.c.k was compelled to tell that the soldiers were guarding the hotel while waiting for the governing Pasha's order to arrest the foreigners supposed to be concerned in the murder of Hafsa Pasha.

"It is Nadia we must get out of here, first," said d.i.c.k. "You should be ready to take any risk to get her away."

When Budthorne was satisfied that Merriwell was not mistaken he immediately urged his sister to permit herself to be disguised and to follow the advice of the clear-headed American lad.

Realizing her own frightful peril at last, the girl willingly consented.

"It will pe easy to disguise her," declared Abraham.

"Then," said d.i.c.k, "lose no time in making her up. Disguise Budthorne, also, and let a.s.souan conduct them from the hotel while you are rigging the rest of us up. He should be able to conduct them to some place of safety and then return for us. Can you do so, a.s.souan?"

The black man declared that he could.

The old Jew opened his pack and spread out his supply of costumes. He swiftly prepared for work.

In truth, it was an easy matter to disguise Nadia. Over her regular clothes he hastily fastened a loose dress, like that worn by a Turkish woman of middle cla.s.s, placed a high fezlike cap on her head, and arranged a heavy veil over her face below the eyes, the brows and lashes of which he had touched up with pencils, giving them the peculiar cast seen in those of Moslem women.

All this was done so swiftly and so completely changed Nadia that the watchers were astounded.

Abraham lost no time.

"Nexdt," he called.

d.i.c.k pushed Budthorne forward.

Buckhart improved the opportunity to take charge of the girl. They stepped outside the room, while Abraham went to work on Dunbar without delay.

Excited people were still moving about in the hotel. The sound of many voices came to the boy and girl. Some one was at the foot of the stairs.

Brad urged Nadia into her own room, the door of which was standing ajar.

She grasped his hand and drew him after her, whispering:

"I am terribly frightened now, Brad. Don't leave me alone."

"All right," said the Texan. "Don't you be frightened. We're going to get you out of this sc.r.a.pe all right. My pard has a long head on his shoulders."

"d.i.c.k is a wonderful boy," declared the girl.