CHAPTER XX--THE FLIGHT
"Too late!" groaned the professor, almost collapsing. "I feared it!"
"Thank goodness Nadia got out of the trap!" muttered Buckhart.
"If you do nod escape now id vas der death of Abraham!" groaned thefrightened Jew.
Dick sprang past Assouan and reached the door. He looked out and thenturned.
"What do you mean?" he demanded. "There is no one here."
"He is below," said the black man. "Be quick! There is still a smallchance for you."
"Come on, then!" exclaimed Brad.
But Dick saw the old professor had sunk down weakly on the couch, and heleaped to the side of Zenas.
"Come, professor!" he breathed, grasping the hand of the unnerved man.
"Go!" gasped the old pedagogue weakly. "Save yourself, if you can. Leaveme. My strength is gone. God bless you, Richard! If I am beheaded bythese fanatics, tell my wife--tell the boys----"
In spite of Professor Gunn's lack of nerve, in spite of the spells oftrepidation which seized him, in spite of his many weaknesses, the oldman had won a warm corner in Dick Merriwell's heart, and Dick was notthe boy to desert in time of peril any one for whom he had the slightestregard.
"I'll not tell them anything!" he said grimly. "If you do not brace upand attempt to escape, I'll remain here with you, and you know what thatmeans. You may not be harmed, for you were not present when Hafsa Pashawas slain; but as surely as I fall into the hands of the sultan'sofficers, there will be very little show for me. Unless you brace upnow, you may destroy me."
Dick spoke in this manner thinking it might be the best way to arousethe old man, and he made no mistake.
"I--I--I----" stammered the professor.
Brad urged them to hasten.
Suddenly Dick picked the professor up by main strength and placed him onhis feet. Supporting the old man, he hurried him toward the door.
Assouan had grown impatient and seemed ready to dart away. His eyes wererolling, showing the whites in a manner that betokened the man'snervousness and increasing fear. He urged them not to waste anothermoment.
Abraham was left praying in the room.
"Lead on," said Dick.
Suddenly Professor Gunn displayed an astonishing burst of energy. Hebroke from Dick and ran to Assouan, imploring the messenger of the sheikto make all haste.
Down the stairs sprang Assouan, and what seemed to be a trembling oldbeggar kept close at his heels. Buckhart came next, with Dick bringingup the rear.
At the foot of the stairs suddenly appeared a Turkish officer with adrawn sword. He did not attempt to stop Assouan, but lifted his swordand placed the point against the breast of the disguised professor,commanding him to halt.
At the same instant, it seemed, a human figure fairly shot over the headand shoulders of Buckhart, over the professor, and landed with fullforce on the officer, hurling the latter to the floor.
It was Dick Merriwell, who had acted with lightning-like swiftness.
The Turk was knocked senseless, and lay stretched on the floor at thefoot of the stairs, his sword beneath him.
Dick leaped up.
"Come on, professor!" he hissed. "Come on, Brad!"
He caught hold of Gunn once more, and away they went, finding it nosimple matter to keep track of the black man, who was now fleeing forhis own life.
Other inmates of the hotel, all in great alarm, got in their way, butwere thrust aside. They rushed through several rooms. Twice some onetried to stop them. They stumbled down some dark steps. Doors were flungopen before them and slammed behind them. Some curtains were thrustaside, disclosing a dark passage. Into this they plunged. It broughtthem quickly to other rooms and other doors that yielded to the hand ofthe black leader. They were bewildered, for none save Assouan knewwhither they were going. Their wild rush hither and thither seemedaimless. At last, in a storeroom, where there were boxes and bales andcasks, the sheik's messenger thrust a bale aside and seized an iron ringthat seemed set in the floor. With a surge, he lifted a trapdoor,beneath which was a place of utter darkness.
"Down!" he sibilated, pointing into the darkness. "Down, and wait for meto follow!"
Brad dropped through recklessly and disappeared. The professor followed,breathing a prayer.
Behind them there were cries and the sound of many feet. Their flighthad attracted attention. Several persons were coming, and they might beTurkish officers.
Dick slipped through the trap and dropped.
He fell on his hands and knees, and instantly realized that, were he tostand erect, his head and shoulders would protrude through the squareopening above.
He felt one of his companions at his side. He looked up and saw themuscular black man again moving the bale. Assouan sat with his legsdangling through the opening. The trapdoor was leaning against hisshoulder. He reached over, grasped the bale and pulled it against thedoor. Then, swiftly, yet with deliberation, he slid down through thetrap, permitting the door to close, with the tipped bale settling overit.
In the darkness, beneath, the four fugitives crouched on the bareground, hearing above their heads the feet of their pursuers.
After a time the tread of feet and murmur of voices ceased. Evidentlytheir pursuers had departed baffled.
Then Assouan whispered directions to them, and, one after the other, theblack man leading, they crawled many feet along what seemed to be atrenchlike passage beneath the building.
Finally Assouan paused. He rose, and they saw a gleam of light that camefaintly through another square opening. This dim light revealed theirconductor opening another trapdoor by lifting it. He stood erect, andthen sprang lightly up through the opening.
"Oh, Richard!" whispered Professor Gunn; "this is a terrible experience!If we escape with our lives, I shall always think of this day withunspeakable horror."
Assouan was stooping over the opening, with his hands outstretched. Hedirected them to rise and permit him to assist them.
Dick urged the professor onward. The black man grasped the hands of theold pedagogue and lifted him through the trap.
Buckhart needed no assistance, nor did Dick, who swiftly followed him.
Assouan closed the trapdoor behind him.
"Wherever are we?" inquired the Texan.
The black man explained that they were in a building that stood on theopposite side of a narrow street at the back of the German hotel.
They had actually crept through a passage that led beneath this street.
This passage had been made years before, by the former owner of thehotel, who feared a repetition of the massacre of 1860, and wished ameans of escaping from the building in case it should be assailed by amob. It was doubtful if the present proprietor knew of the existence ofthe passage.
The old sheik, Ras al Had, had chanced by accident to discover thepassage while storing goods in the building into which it led from thehotel. At the present time this building was used as a storehouse. Theroom in which they found themselves was poorly lighted. They were againamid boxes and bales of goods.
Outside, between them and the hotel, they heard the sound of manyvoices. The mob was there, but the soldiers were still holding the crowdin check.
"My goodness!" murmured Professor Gunn. "It seems to me that we're stillin a nasty scrape. We haven't escaped."
Without a word, the black man led the way to another part of thebuilding. A heavy door faced them in one dim corner. This door Assouanknew how to open, but he paused and listened some moments beforeunfastening it.
"When the door is opened," he finally said, "step quickly across andinto a doorway directly opposite."
They were ready. The door was opened, and, without loss of time, theycrossed a space of about three feet between the two buildings andentered the doorway spoken of by Assouan.
The black man followed them as soon as he had closed the door afterleaving the storehouse. They found they had stepped into a room where,sitting cross-legged on the floor, an old sandal maker was at
work. Totheir surprise, this old man, after looking at them curiously, kept onabout his labor without speaking a word.
Assouan explained that the man was a mute.
The black man made some signs, which were answered by a single signalfrom the sandal maker. Then Assouan again instructed his disguisedcompanions to follow him, pushed aside a curtain from a low doorway,stooped and passed into an adjoining room.
This room was on the front of the house. The door to the street stoodwide open. A middle-aged Syrian woman was working at a rude loom,weaving some sort of goods. Two girls, one about thirteen and the othereight or nine, were sorting and preparing the strands used by the womanin her work.
The woman glanced at Assouan, but seemed to give none of the others alook. Dick fancied an expression of alarm swept over her face, but shecontinued stolidly and steadily about her work.
The children stared at them until the woman spoke in a low tone ofcommand, seeming to rebuke them for their rudeness, after which theyresumed the work of sorting and preparing the strands.
Assouan tossed a piece of silver before the woman, but she kept at herwork, without seeming to notice it. Dick would have dropped more money,but the black man restrained him with a gesture and a shake of the head.They passed out upon the street, one at a time.
Assouan strode in advance. Professor Gunn, looking like a ragged oldArmenian, doddered along behind him. Buckhart, as a respectable youngGreek, kept by himself, taking the opposite side of the street. Dickimitated the shiftless, shuffling walk of the young vagabonds of thecity, thus making his assumed character seem real, and followed them allat a little distance.
The street was well filled--almost crowded--with excited people, whowere talking of the murder of the Pasha and the belief that thoseconcerned in the murder were trapped in the German hotel.
Although the people were speaking in various languages, Dick understoodsomething of what was being said, and he realized that he was surroundedby Moslems.
Although Abraham had performed his work well, he had made a mistake indisguising the old professor as an Armenian. The Turks were aroused.Although they were stirred up against foreigners, their hatred for theArmenians was liable to burst forth any moment.
Thus it happened that a group of young men suddenly stopped thedisguised professor and began hustling him about.
The old man said not a word, for he knew he would betray himself if heopened his mouth.
Brad Buckhart paused and watched proceedings, his hands clenched and hisaspect indicating that he was on the verge of pitching in and assistingZenas.
Dick made a warning gesture, which Brad saw. He also paused, but helooked on as if quite indifferent to what was taking place.
Assouan had disappeared. Fully understanding the terrible peril hiscompanions were in, he had no desire to become involved, and, therefore,he had hastened on.
Our friends were left to their fate in the streets of Damascus.