At Alam Bokaru’s words there was a shout of delight from Kyle and Brick and a look of intense gratification on the faces of Captain Kane and Professor Bruce.

“Good for you, Alam!” exclaimed the captain, extending his hand. “As far as it is in our power, we’ll see that you never regret it. And now, let’s get down to business. There’s no end of things to be done and very little time to do them in.”

There followed a long and earnest conversation on ways and means, in which Alam’s knowledge and long experience proved to be invaluable.

The party already consisted of five persons, and as they had but three cars, each of which would have to be heavily loaded with oil, gasoline and supplies, it was desirable to limit the number who should go along as much as possible.

It was finally decided to take one other man, which would give two people to each car. Alam suggested a cousin of his, Abdullah by name, whom he recommended as brave and trustworthy. It was agreed that he should form one of the party.

The cars were to be driven by the captain, the professor and Kyle respectively. The latter was very young for the work, but both of his uncles knew that he could drive well, and they also had confidence in his coolness, courage and marksmanship, though they hoped that there would be no call for a display of the latter accomplishment.

An ample supply of firearms and ammunition was arranged for, however, in case of emergency. Alam himself was a much better shot than the average Arab. A couple of machine guns were to be taken along, and these, with their rain of bullets, would immensely increase the strength of the expedition. But it was agreed beforehand that there would be no use made of any weapon unless it became absolutely necessary to defend their lives. Both the captain and the professor had had many dealings with natives quite as wild as any with whom they were likely to be brought in contact, and their diplomacy had usually been sufficient for any situation that arose.

The captain was to lead the way in the first car, with Alam as his companion. Kyle and Brick were to follow in the second, and the professor and Abdullah were to bring up the rear in the third. In this way, the boys, in case danger threatened, would have reinforcements in front and back, and could thus be guarded against any surprise attack.

The providing of the food supplies was arranged for largely by Kyle’s uncles themselves; but Alam took it upon himself to suggest other things indispensable for a desert journey.

The guerba, or water skin, almost invariably used by the nomads was discarded, because of the inevitable loss by leakage, which in a long journey often proved a serious matter. In place of these, it was determined to use aluminum cylindrical vessels that could not burst and which would preserve the water to the last drop.

But there were the mesoueds, or leathern bags, to hold the supplies, the delous, or water buckets, also made of leather, and the long ropes of hide necessary to draw the water from the wells, some of which in the desert were more than three hundred feet in depth. All of these and a host of other necessities were suggested by Alam, and again and again Kyle’s uncles had reason to congratulate themselves on having secured for the expedition a guide so experienced and wise in desert needs.

They did not have to bother about tents, for these were already a part of the car’s equipment, one being rolled up on the side of each car. These could readily be set up with the aid of a few stout poles.

During the busy days that followed, the boys, as well as their elders, found their hands full in attending to errands in various quarters of the town. Brick proved of special value in this regard, as he had a sufficient smattering of the Arab tongue to make himself fairly well understood by the tradesmen, and he also knew enough of their cunning methods of bargaining not to be taken in.

One day, when the lads had been unusually busy for an hour or two and were hot and perspiring, they sat down on the sands in the shadow of the side of one of the little shops, the front of which faced the adjoining street.

“Uncle Frank said this morning that we would be ready to start day after to-morrow,” remarked Kyle.

“Can’t get off too soon,” replied Brick. “I’m just crazy to take up the hunt for my father. There isn’t a night now that I don’t dream about him.”

“I know just how you feel about it,” said Kyle sympathetically, as he thought of the many nights when he had had a similar dream of his missing father, mother and sister. “If we can only find your father alive and well and get him away from the Arabs, it won’t matter much whether we do the other things or not.”

“It’s awfully good of you to feel that way,” responded Brick, “Just the same, I hope you find the other things you’re after, too. Your uncle Frank would be mightily disappointed if he didn’t find the Cave of Emeralds.”

“Do you really think there is a Cave of Emeralds?” asked Kyle, with a slight touch of skepticism in his tone that was not lost on his companion.

“I’m sure there is,” declared Teddy stoutly. “My father had studied up the matter and he hadn’t the least doubt about it.”

“I wonder what the treasure will amount to, if we do find it,” remarked Kyle.

“I shouldn’t wonder if it might be hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Brick.

“Hundreds of thousands!” gasped Kyle. “Go on, you’re kidding me!”

“Honest Injun, no!” cried Brick. “It wouldn’t take more than a handful or two of emeralds to amount to that. Father was sure that if he found the Cave of Emeralds it would make him rich for life.”

“I wish we were out there in the desert now looking for it,” said Kyle, his imagination fired by the prospect.

“Only a little while to wait now.”

“What’s that noise?” asked Kyle suddenly.

“I don’t hear any noise.”

“Sounded like a shuffling or a rustling.” Kyle jumped to his feet and stepped briskly to the corner.

He was just in time to see several Arabs of the rougher sort scurrying into an alley on the further side of the building. There was an undeniable air of haste about them, as though they were anxious to escape discovery. The face of one of them, he noticed, was marked by a scar.

He hurried after them, but by the time he got to the entrance of the alley no one was in sight. The group had vanished as completely as though the earth had opened up and swallowed them. With a vague sense of uneasiness, he retraced his steps and rejoined his companion.

“What was it?” asked Brick quickly, as he noted the perturbed countenance of his friend.

“There was a bunch of Arabs there that seemed to have been snooping around and listening,” answered Kyle.

“I wonder if they were,” mused Brick, catching something of the apprehension that Kyle betrayed.

“There seems to have been no other reason for their disappearing in such a hurry when they heard me coming,” was the reply. “I tell you, Brick, we made a mistake by talking about those emeralds in a place where we might be overheard.”

“It was careless of us, for a fact,” admitted Brick. “But probably nothing will come of it. We didn’t mention the district in which the Cave of Emeralds is supposed to lie.”

“No; but we did say that we were going to look for them,” replied Kyle, “and all those fellows would have to do would be to get a lot of rascals together and try to follow us or ambush us.”

“Oh, I guess it won’t come to anything like that,” affirmed Brick, though he was far from feeling as confident as his words implied.

“At any rate, I’m going to tell my uncles all about it,” Kyle declared. “I hate to admit I’ve been so imprudent, but they ought to be put on their guard in case there should be any mischief brewing.”

He was as good as his word, and narrated the incident the moment he got back to the hotel. The professor was inclined to be a little grave, but the captain made light of it.

“Probably just a bunch of lazy Algerians, listening, if they listened at all, just out of curiosity,” he said, with a wave of his hand. “Probably by this time, even if they were able to make head or tail of it, they’ve forgotten all about the matter. At any rate, they’d have their work cut out for them, if they tried to follow us. We’d make five miles in the cars while they were making one with their camels. I guess we won’t have to worry about them, although I’m glad you told us, Kyle, and we’ll keep it in mind.”

During this period of busy preparation, the captain had not intermitted his efforts to get action on the part of the French and American Governments, looking towards the rescue of Mr. Allison. With his habitual energy, he bombarded the representatives of both with telegrams and as far as possible saw them in person. But all his effort proved unavailing, not because of any lack of sympathy or goodwill, but because of the physical difficulties in the way, the care each Government had to take not to infringe on the rights or wound the sensibilities of the other, and the remoteness of this section of the world from the immediate interests of both. Could the matter have been permitted to wait six months or a year, there is little doubt but what something would have been done. But this was out of the question, and at last, one day after a final and futile interview with the French authorities, the captain relinquished hope of any help outside himself and his companions.

Two days later, the party was ready to start. The cars were thoroughly equipped with all the supplies needed. They had been gone over with the utmost care to see that they were in perfect condition and they had been tried out by Kyle and his uncles over a twenty mile stretch of the desert. All were delighted at the ease with which they negotiated the obstacles that were a fair sample of any others they would be likely to encounter on their journey.

They left Tuggurt just at dawn. Despite the early hour, a large number of the French officials of the town were on hand to see them off and wish them good luck. There was quite a large gathering of natives, too, for, outside of the matter of the emeralds, there had been no attempt, which would have been fruitless in any event, to keep the projected expedition secret.

Abdullah, the cousin of Alam, had turned up, and was in the last car with the professor. He was a stalwart, clean-cut young fellow, and the party had taken a liking to him at once.

As Kyle and Brick were seated in the second car, waiting for the word, Kyle’s eye fell upon the face of a native in the fringe of the crowd. He nudged his companion.

“See who’s here!” he exclaimed. “The man with the scar! The same one you think tried to rob you and the same that I saw slinking into the alley the day we were talking about the emeralds.”

“Sure thing,” agreed Brick, as he singled out the man Kyle indicated. “Same old rascal turning up like a bad penny. Villainous face he has, all right.”

“I wish I knew just what thoughts are going on behind that face.”

“Regret that he didn’t get my watch probably.”

“Or plans perhaps to rob the bunch of us on a good deal bigger scale,” muttered Kyle, thinking of his unlucky slip on the question of the emeralds.

“Let him catch us,” laughed Brick. “He’d have his work cut out for him. It would be like a tortoise trying to catch a hare.”

“True enough,” assented Kyle. “But that wouldn’t stop him and his gang from laying for us on the way back.”

“That’s right! I never thought of that.”

At that moment the boys thoughts were taken off that unpleasant subject by the agreed-upon signal for starting, three loud blasts from the horn of the leading car. Kyle threw in the clutch, the captain and professor did the same, and the cars started forward, while a shout went up from the crowd.

“We’re off!” shouted Kyle, as he eased the car into its stride, accommodating his pace to that of the captain’s car in front.

“Off!” echoed Brick, his pulses throbbing with excitement. “Off to the desert! Off to find my father!”

[Chapter 08 Maze: Help Kyle Escape]