It was decided that although three of them would have to ride after practically no sleep, it would be best to make an early start in the morning, and attempt to ride all the way to Bou Saada in one day.It would have been comparatively easy for the men, but for the girl it was sure to be a fatiguing journey.
She, however, was the most anxious to undertake it, for it seemed to her that she could not quickly enough reach the family and friends from whom she had been separated for two years.
It seemed to Tarzan that he had not closed his eyes before he was awakened, and in another hour the party was on its way south toward Bou Saada.For a few miles the road was good, and they made rapid progress, but suddenly it became only a waste of sand, into which the horses sank fetlock deep at nearly every step.In addition to Tarzan, Abdul, the sheik, and his daughter were four of the wild plainsmen of the sheik's tribe who had accompanied him upon the trip to Sidi Aissa.Thus, seven guns strong, they entertained little fear of attack by day, and if all went well they should reach Bou Saada before nightfall.
A brisk wind enveloped them in the blowing sand of the desert, until Tarzan's lips were parched and cracked.What little he could see of the surrounding country was far from alluring--a vast expanse of rough country, rolling in little, barren hillocks, and tufted here and there with clumps of dreary shrub.Far to the south rose the dim lines of the Saharan Atlas range.How different, thought Tarzan, from the gorgeous Africa of his boyhood!
Abdul, always on the alert, looked backward quite as often as he did ahead.At the top of each hillock that they mounted he would draw in his horse and, turning, scan the country to the rear with utmost care.At last his scrutiny was rewarded.
"Look!" he cried."There are six horsemen behind us.""Your friends of last evening, no doubt, monsieur," remarked Kadour ben Saden dryly to Tarzan.
"No doubt," replied the ape-man."I am sorry that my society should endanger the safety of your journey.At the next village I shall remain and question these gentlemen, while you ride on.There is no necessity for my being at Bou Saada tonight, and less still why you should not ride in peace.""If you stop we shall stop," said Kadour ben Saden."Until you are safe with your friends, or the enemy has left your trail, we shall remain with you.There is nothing more to say."Tarzan nodded his head.He was a man of few words, and possibly it was for this reason as much as any that Kadour ben Saden had taken to him, for if there be one thing that an Arab despises it is a talkative man.
All the balance of the day Abdul caught glimpses of the horsemen in their rear.They remained always at about the same distance.During the occasional halts for rest, and at the longer halt at noon, they approached no closer.
"They are waiting for darkness," said Kadour ben Saden.
And darkness came before they reached Bou Saada.The last glimpse that Abdul had of the grim, white-robed figures that trailed them, just before dusk made it impossible to distinguish them, had made it apparent that they were rapidly closing up the distance that intervened between them and their intended quarry.He whispered this fact to Tarzan, for he did not wish to alarm the girl.The ape-man drew back beside him.
"You will ride ahead with the others, Abdul," said Tarzan.
"This is my quarrel.I shall wait at the next convenient spot, and interview these fellows.""Then Abdul shall wait at thy side," replied the young Arab, nor would any threats or commands move him from his decision.
"Very well, then," replied Tarzan."Here is as good a place as we could wish.Here are rocks at the top of this hillock.
We shall remain hidden here and give an account of ourselves to these gentlemen when they appear."They drew in their horses and dismounted.The others riding ahead were already out of sight in the darkness.
Beyond them shone the lights of Bou Saada.Tarzan removed his rifle from its boot and loosened his revolver in its holster.
He ordered Abdul to withdraw behind the rocks with the horses, so that they should be shielded from the enemies'
bullets should they fire.The young Arab pretended to do as he was bid, but when he had fastened the two animals securely to a low shrub he crept back to lie on his belly a few paces behind Tarzan.
The ape-man stood erect in the middle of the road, waiting.
Nor did he have long to wait.The sound of galloping horses came suddenly out of the darkness below him, and a moment later he discerned the moving blotches of lighter color against the solid background of the night.
"Halt," he cried, "or we fire!"
The white figures came to a sudden stop, and for a moment there was silence.Then came the sound of a whispered council, and like ghosts the phantom riders dispersed in all directions.
Again the desert lay still about him, yet it was an ominous stillness that foreboded evil.
Abdul raised himself to one knee.Tarzan cocked his jungle-trained ears, and presently there came to him the sound of horses walking quietly through the sand to the east of him, to the west, to the north, and to the south.
They had been surrounded.Then a shot came from the direction in which he was looking, a bullet whirred through the air above his head, and he fired at the flash of the enemy's gun.
Instantly the soundless waste was torn with the quick staccato of guns upon every hand.Abdul and Tarzan fired only at the flashes--they could not yet see their foemen.
Presently it became evident that the attackers were circling their position, drawing closer and closer in as they began to realize the paltry numbers of the party which opposed them.
But one came too close, for Tarzan was accustomed to using his eyes in the darkness of the jungle night, than which there is no more utter darkness this side the grave, and with a cry of pain a saddle was emptied.