Startled as he was by Kyle’s ominous command, Brick managed to get sufficient control of his muscles to obey and remained as he was, absolutely without movement. He dared not look up, and had not the slightest idea of what menaced him.

But Kyle saw and realized it to the full. Not more than six inches from Brick’s head was a huge tarantula. Its eight eyes were focused on Brick’s neck and the repulsive, hairy body was already flattened for a spring. The horrible creature was the very image of malignity.

Slowly, for fear of angering the tarantula and precipitating the tragedy that seemed so dreadfully near, Kyle raised the stick he was holding high above his head. Then with a movement like lightning he struck.

Fortunately, his aim was true, and he caught the hideous thing full and fair. It fell to the ground in a mangled mass, its horrible falces quivering convulsively, but now forever beyond the possibility of doing harm.

Brick shuddered and jumped to his feet as the creature fell beside him, almost brushing him as it passed.

“All right now, Brick!” exclaimed Kyle, with a voice somewhat broken, now that the strain had passed. “A second more though, and that thing would have been on your throat.”

“And from what I’ve heard of them, that would probably have been the end of me,” gasped Teddy, as he kicked the still writhing object out of reach and viewed it with a sense of sickening repulsion. “Kyle, I don’t know how to thank you enough. That’s the second time you’ve proved a mighty good friend in need.”

“It was just luck that I saw it when I did,” replied Kyle. “Luck, too, that I had this good stick in my hand.”

“But it was pluck, not luck, that made you keep your nerve and smash the creature,” replied Brick. “Lots of fellows would have been too scared to do anything. But let’s get away from here. There may be other little playfellows like that around, and one is enough for a morning.”

“Right you are!” exclaimed Kyle, as with a shiver of disgust he perceived another of the swollen, ugly creatures crawling far up the trunk of the tree.

“Look out!” screamed Brick.

Kyle dodged, but as he drew back he felt something hairy graze his cheek.

A tarantula had sprung, but Brick’s warning and Kyle’s quickness had made it miss its mark. It fell to the ground, and before it could renew the attack, Brick’s heel had crushed it.

That was enough for the boys, and they stood not on the order of their going but went at once.

The repairs were completed, the water tanks filled, and their supply of gasoline replenished shortly after noon. As they were anxious to be on their way, they left Wargla about five o’clock in the afternoon, despite the cordial urging of their hosts to stay over another day.

They had driven for perhaps an hour when they came to a little oasis in the desert where an influential Arab chief lived. He himself, with some of his tribe, had seen the coming of the party from afar and had come out to the edge of the oasis, making signals of friendship and welcome.

As it was the policy of Kyle’s uncles to gain, wherever possible, the goodwill of the nomads, the captain stopped his car when he came near the chief. The other cars drew up alongside.

The chief bowed low and spoke some words that were evidently in the nature of an invitation.

“What is it he is saying, Alam?” the captain asked of the master of camels.

“He tells us that a meal is ready,” answered Alam, “and asks us to stop and partake of it with him.”

The captain turned in some perplexity to the professor.

“What do you think, Amos?” he asked. “He seems a friendly fellow, and I don’t want to antagonize him. Yet I hate like the mischief to lose time.”

“I think it would be policy to accept the invitation,” replied the professor. “When you’re in Rome’, you know, do as the Romans do. We’ve got to conform to the customs of the country. He’d feel hurt if we refused his invitation and consider that we’d insulted him. It’s just touch and go whether we make of him a friend or an enemy, and we can’t have too many friends in the desert.”

The good sense of this was apparent, and as the boys also were eager to have a new experience and Alam, too, thought it expedient to comply, they accepted the invitation with thanks, and were led to the chief’s house, a low one-storied dwelling.

Their hearts misgave them though, when they saw the nature of the feast provided. There were several huge dishes of oily looking food, the nature of which could only be guessed at. The apartment was intolerably hot, and the flies settled over everything in swarms.

“I guess we’re in for it,” whispered Brick to Kyle.

“Looks like it,” was the reply. “But we can only die once, and we’ll have to go to it.”

One dish looked less uninviting than the others. It consisted of rice with spices.

“I’m going to take a stab at that,” remarked Kyle.

But he was mistaken if he thought he was going to be let off so easily. A low warning from Alam, passed around among the party, told them that they were expected to partake of everything that was on the table. Moreover, if they took only a small portion, some hospitably inclined subject of the chief was sure to heap their plate. It was one of the most trying ordeals through which they had ever passed, but they summoned up all their resolution and made martyrs of themselves for fear of offending their host.

At last most of the eatables had been disposed of, and they drew a sigh of relief.

“So far, so bad,” murmured Kyle to Brick.

“Never again,” vouchsafed Brick fervently.

But they discovered that there was more to come, and Kyle stifled a groan when a whole sheep, roasted, was produced and set with a flourish of pride on the table. This was evidently the main dish of the feast. It was prepared in strange fashion with much oil, of which they were already sick, and covered with chili peppers.

“Such a mess!” shuddered Brick.

“We’ve gone so far we’ll have to go a little further,” said Kyle, summoning up all his fortitude.

They worried through the feast as best they could, their repulsion not diminished by the manner of eating of their hosts. The chief ate with great gusto, smacking his lips and tossing pieces to his followers, of whom there were about a dozen present, who bolted them like so many wolves. It was evidently regarded by them as a gala occasion, and they made the most of it.

It was an enormous relief to the Americans when at last the repast was finished and, after elaborate thanks to their well-meaning host, they adjourned to the open air.

Here again, although they were impatient to be off, they had to wait for another half hour while the chief and his followers gathered about the car and examined with childish delight the brightly colored symbols painted on the sides. But their pleasure passed all bounds when the captain passed around some trinkets that he had brought along especially for that purpose.

Finally the compliments and bowings came to an end and the party climbed into the cars and were off, hooting their horns in farewell to the waving hands of their hosts.

“Well, that’s that,” remarked Kyle, as he threw in the clutch. “My curiosity as to Arab meals has been fully satisfied. If we don’t die of acute indigestion, we’ll be lucky.”

“It was tough,” agreed Brick, who had not suffered as much as the rest, because, from living with Alam, he had become somewhat accustomed to Arabian cookery. “But, at any rate, we’ve made a friend. We don’t know at what time his friendship may come in handy.”

The route they were now following was that of an old watercourse, known as the Wady Mia. The country was rougher than it had been at the start. The expanse of sand was dotted with dried shrubs and clumps of grasses, which, as Alam explained, made excellent food for camels, but made it much more difficult for automobile traveling.

This was compensated for somewhat, however, by the fact that the old watercourse furnished a landmark, and by following its outline they knew they were going in the right direction.

“Seems queer to think that there was once a rushing river along this old dried-up bed,” remarked Brick.

“It sure does,” agreed Kyle. “I’d give a good deal to see some water in there now. We could get plenty to drink, and then, too, we could take a bath whenever we wanted to. Uncle Amos says that at one time the whole Sahara was a place of rivers and lakes and farms and orchards, one of the most beautiful and fertile places in the world. And what is more, he says it may be again. There’s plenty of water deep down underneath the sand, and the French have already dug dozens of artesian wells and are planning to have a chain of them all over the desert.”

“Sounds like a dream,” said Brick.

“Maybe so,” agreed Kyle. “But science these days is making lots of dreams come true.”

The moon rose, and some of the mystery and enchantment of the night before descended upon them. It was almost as light as day, and the drivers had no trouble in keeping up the speed of their cars. But this day all had been without sleep, and they were more tired than usual when the horn of the captain’s car sounded the signal for a halt.

“What’s that?” asked Brick, after he and Kyle had climbed out of their car, pointing to something that sparkled silvery white in the moonlight.

Kyle gave one look and bounded toward it.

[Chapter 10 Maze: Help Kyle Escape]