Dick Merriwell's Pranks: or, Lively Times in the Orient

“If he plays me double I’ll never again have the least confidence in human nature!” he mentally cried.

But when an hour passed and the missing boy and girl failed to return to the hotel Buckhart began to share the alarm of the professor and Budthorne.

“If anything happens to that boy I’ll never forgive myself!” said the old pedagogue.

“We must look for them,” said Dunbar. “You know what took place at the railway station. What if some of Hafsa Pasha’s tools found Dick and Nadia alone and unprotected?”

Suddenly Brad Buckhart reassumed his Western manners.

“Whoop!” he cried. “Let’s amble forth on the warpath! Let’s take to the trail and go out for scalps! I’m ready, and you know I can scrap some, if I don’t shine resplendent at a soirée. I’m in right good humor for a scrimmage.”

Together they left the hotel and started to return to the bazaar; but they had not proceeded far when they were stopped by the appearance of an open carriage, in which were Dick and Ras al Had.

Dick called to them, and the carriage stopped. Young Merriwell sprang down.

Budthorne, pale and shaking with apprehension, rushed forward and clutched him, demanding to know what had become of Nadia.

Dick told the whole story in as few words as possible.

As he listened Brad Buckhart grew ashen. He realized that Dick and Nadia had become separated from the professor and Budthorne through their efforts to follow and overtake him. By running away in such a childish manner he had led them into all that trouble, the end of which had been the disappearance of the girl.

“Fool! fool!” he groaned. “I am to blame for it all!”

CHAPTER XIV – DICK DISOBEYS

Late that day, as the grateful shadows of approaching night were settling over Damascus, Ras al Had came quietly to the hotel, and was highly satisfied to find Dick Merriwell there. He drew the boy aside, saying he wished to speak with him in private.

“I have found one of the dogs who betrayed me,” said the old sheik. “Would you behold him? Would you hear what he has to say?”

“Yes, yes.”

“Do you trust me now?”

“Of course I do!”

“Do you trust me completely?”

“Yes.”

“Then tell your friends not to worry about you, even though you leave them and do not return with the passing of another day. If you ask questions now I shall know you do not trust me, even though you say so.”

Dick asked no questions.

Thus far everything possible had been done for Nadia. Her disappearance had been reported, and they had received the assurance that an earnest effort would be made to find her and return her in safety to her friends. Dick had made a formal complaint of the assault, and was informed that the whole matter should be investigated and the guilty parties punished.

They all knew, however, that they were not liable to receive anything more than promises from the Turkish authorities. This being the case, they were compelled to rely mainly on the American consul and the promise of Ras al Had, the sheik.

It is probable that Dick Merriwell was the only one who really placed any confidence in the old Arab.

Brad Buckhart was immovable in his conviction that the sheik was concerned in the dastardly work.

Knowing Brad would raise a disturbance, Dick told the professor that he might be gone for twenty-four hours. Immediately Zenas made an effort to exercise his authority over the boy.

“You shall not go, Richard!” he exclaimed. “I forbid it!”

“I am sorry you forbid it, professor, for you know I dislike to disobey you.”

“Eh? Hum! haw! Why, why, you don’t mean to tell me to my face that you will defy me?”

“No, sir; I do not defy you. Circumstances make it necessary for me to disobey you, and so – ”

“You shall not do it! I won’t have it! Your brother looks to me to bring you back safely to him, and I – ”

“Were my brother here he would approve of what I am doing.”

“Well, what are you doing? Where are you going?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Haw! hum! I positively decline to let you leave this hotel!”

“I can’t help that. Look after Budthorne. He’s nearly distracted. Tell him to brace up. Somehow I have confidence that we’ll be able to find Nadia. You’ll have your hands full taking care of Brad.”

“I need you to help me. The boy is crazy.”

“He blames himself for what happened, and he always will blame himself unless Nadia is found.”

“I can’t do anything with him. He’s like a mad bull. Richard, you are the only one who can handle him. Don’t leave me!”

“I must.”

“Why, I thought you an obedient boy! I never fancied you would set yourself up in defiance of me.”

“You do not understand, professor; I am doing what I firmly believe is for the best.”

Zenas wrung his hands.

“If we ever get out of this mess,” he declared, “I’m going to take you back home just as fast as possible.”

“All right; but that is something to be considered later.”

“You should be there. You should be in school at Fardale this day.”

“You forget that I was expelled, professor.”

“By that old dunkhead, Gooch! Wait till we get home. I’m going to have a little session with Barnaby Gooch, and also with Chester Arlington. Your turn is coming, Richard – that is if you do not throw your life away in some reckless folly. Do be cautious, Richard! Listen to me!”

Dick did his best to reassure the old man, but Zenas clutched his arm and attempted to cling to him, still urging and entreating.

Swiftly the boy released the fingers of the old pedagogue.

“I’ll come back all right in time,” he said, and then hastened away.

Gunn hurried after him out of the hotel. He saw Dick spring upon the back of a horse. Another horse, with a dark, silent man on its back, stood near. Both animals were off in a moment, disappearing with their riders into the dusky shadows of a street leading to the north.

Zenas Gunn stood trembling in front of the hotel. His heart was heavy with dread.

“Oh, Richard!” he murmured pathetically; “Heaven guard you! You are brave unto recklessness, and I fear that some day your recklessness will bring ruin upon you.”

At the side of Ras al Had Dick Merriwell rode through Damascus. They were on the outskirts of the city when the aged sheik drew rein.

“We stop here,” he said.

Immediately two men appeared to take the horses.

They dismounted.

“Follow, boy,” commanded the sheik.

Dick did not hesitate about obeying. He kept at the heels of the Arab, who entered some straw-thatched sheds. It was very dark under the shed, not even the light of the stars penetrating there.

Ras al Had uttered a call, and soon a man came hurrying with a fluttering light. He was black as midnight, with thick lips, and huge gold rings in his ears. He salaamed before the sheik.

“Hold the light, Assouan,” directed Ras al Had. “Let us behold the dog who betrayed me.”

Then he touched the arm of the American boy and made a gesture toward the ground not far from their feet.

Assouan held the light as commanded, and it fell on a spectacle that caused Dick to recoil and utter a cry of horror.

Face downward on the ground, his arms and legs outspread, with his wrists and ankles bound to stout stakes, was a black man, stripped of clothing. His back was covered with blood.

“You see what happens to curs who betray Ras al Had,” said the sheik, in a harsh voice.

“Heavens!” gasped Dick. “The miserable wretch has been beaten until his back is all cut up!”

“He was lashed until the pain loosened his tongue and he confessed,” said the sheik. “This man was one of the four I sent to escort you and the maiden.”

“You – you compelled him to tell what has become of her?”

“I wrung it from his lips.”

“What did he tell?”

“You shall hear.”

Ras al Had touched the wretched victim with a staff which he took from one corner of the shed.

The man did not stir.

“Look, thou dog!” said the sheik; “art longing for further punishment? Then speak promptly, or I swear by the beard of the Prophet that thou shalt be cut into a thousand pieces! Who paid thee to choke the infidel lad?”

“Why, it’s the fellow who nearly murdered me!” exclaimed Dick, for he had not recognized the mutilated wretch.

“The same,” said the sheik. “Why doesn’t he speak? Assouan, bring the whip.”

The black man with the light hastened to obey. The whip, a long, wicked-looking affair, with a rawhide lash into which were knotted many pieces of lead, was quickly produced.

Ras al Had took the spluttering light from Assouan’s hand.

“Stand ready,” he directed. “When I bid you strike have no mercy.”

Dick’s blood was cold in his body. The situation was one to fill him with horror. He was alone in that wretched shed, his companions a merciless Arab, a black man of the desert, and the helpless wretch bound outspread on the bare ground. It was night, and the moon had not yet risen. Beneath the shed the darkness was dispelled only by the flaring light, which cast many grotesque shadows dancing on the walls.

Again Ras al Had bade the man speak. In return there was neither sound nor movement.

“Strike, Assouan – strike!” said the sheik coldly.

Assouan lifted the whip.

Dick could stand no more of it, and he stepped in front of the black man, crying:

“Hold! This is too much! Tell me, Ras al Had, what he confessed, but do not carry this thing further!”

A strange look of mingled surprise and rage at this interference settled on the face of the old Arab. He opened his lips to speak, but at this moment the man on the ground groaned and mumbled a few broken words.

Instantly Ras al Had bent over the wretch, holding the light so it fell on the man’s face. The traitor’s head had dropped over to one side, his lips were open, showing his gleaming teeth, while his eyes glittered glassily.

The sheik poked a finger at those wide-open, glittering eyes. They did not blink. Then Ras al Had rose and said very quietly:

“It is too late. He will speak no more. He is dead.”

Dick felt ill, and hurried out of the shed into the open air.

The old sheik followed.

“Although he is dead,” he said, “I can tell you what he confessed. The name of the crooked old Turk who paid them to attack you and carry the maiden away is Abu Hammed. Hammed is in the employ of Hafsa Pasha. The girl is to be kept somewhere until the excitement dies down, and then she will be added to Hafsa Pasha’s harem. He thinks that by that time he can win her over so she will be willing and glad to live a life of ease in the harem.”

“If you had only learned where they took her – ”

“Wait. I told you of my friend who just arrived in Damascus with many beautiful girls, one of which he has brought for Hafsa Pasha.”

“Yes.”

“Hafsa Pasha will visit the house where those girls are to-night. I have not forgotten the fate of my brother far away in Persia. Some day my sword shall drink the blood of Hafsa Pasha; but first I would find a way to compel him to tell where the maid you seek is hidden.”

“Wait!” cried Dick, struck by a sudden idea. “It might be done! I believe it can be! It’s worth trying!”

“Of what do you speak?”

“I have a plan.”

“Unfold it.”

“Can’t you get me into the house where those girls are?”

“Of what good would that be?”

“I’ll go disguised as a girl.”

“A girl?”

“Yes.”

“But – ”

“It will not be the first time I have made up as a girl, and they say I make a pretty girl, too. If you know where I can get the outfit, I’ll make up as a girl and go there. Can’t you arrange it so I’ll fall beneath the notice of Hafsa Pasha? If his attention is called to me I’ll do my part.”

“What will you do?”

“I’ll fool him. I’ll get him to buy me and take me to his harem. I’ll win his confidence and find out where Nadia is hidden.”

“It is a desperate venture.”

“But I’ll play my part, depend on it. Wait until you see me made up as a girl. If you are not satisfied then you may refuse to go on with the scheme.”

The old Arab seemed to catch some of the boy’s enthusiasm.

“Very well,” he said. “If it costs you your life, I cannot feel that I am to bear the blame. It is your plan. I’ll take you without delay to a place where you may dress and prepare for the deception. But you shall have assistants, hairdressers, dressmakers, anything you need to make your disguise perfect.”

Ras al Had then spoke to Assouan, giving him some directions in regard to the dead man in the shed.

Dick followed his strange companion through a number of crooked streets. Finally they reached the door of a house, to which they were admitted on knocking.

The sheik conferred with a gnarled and crooked old Jew, explaining that he wished the boy to be dressed and made up like a girl. The old Jew seemed puzzled and surprised, but agreed, for a price, to attempt the transformation.

Time was passing, and the sheik did not haggle. He simply insisted that the job should be thoroughly done, and the boy should be made up as carefully and tastily as if he were in truth a girl.

Then he left Dick in the old Jew’s hands, saying he would hasten to complete the necessary arrangements and then return for the transformed boy.

Less than an hour later the aged sheik again knocked at the Jew’s door and was admitted. He was informed that the boy would soon be ready to accompany him, but that he would have to wait a few minutes while the finishing touches of the disguise were being put on.

The Jew asked him if he had any objections to waiting in a room with a young lady customer, and Ras al Had soon found himself in a small apartment, in a corner of which sat a girl in street costume. Apparently she was a foreigner, for her flesh was dazzlingly fair, and her clothes, from the beautiful hat on her head to the high-heeled boots on her feet, had a distinct Parisian touch.

The sheik remained standing, quite aware that the girl was surveying him with evident interest or curiosity. His one glance had shown him that she was unusually handsome, with dark hair and eyes.

Finally she heaved a sigh and moved impatiently.

“Dear me!” she said, in perfect English. “This is very tiresome. I’ve waited nearly an hour. Won’t you sit down, sir?”

Ras al Had bowed very low and took a seat upon the floor.

“How funny!” laughed the girl, with a fetching little shrug of her shoulders. “All you dark gentlemen decline to sit on chairs. You always sit on the floor or the ground, and cross your legs.”

Again he bowed, without speaking.

“Don’t you understand English?”

“Very well, madam.”

“I’m no madam; I’m a miss. I’m looking for a husband. I don’t suppose you know where I can find a man with plenty of rocks? I’m out for the coin.”

The Arab glanced at her keenly, wondering if she could be in earnest.

She fluttered her fan and smiled over the top of it with a bewitching look.

“You’re not much of a talker, are you?” she went on. “Well, never mind. American girls can speak for themselves, and the men, too.”

“Are you from America, miss?”

“Sure thing. I’m from Cleveland, Ohio. Really, I started out to travel round the world, writing newspaper letters for the home papers; but all the papers have cut me off, and I’m stranded. I don’t care about going back home, for I made up my mind to catch a rich husband on the trip. Now, if you could put me next with some old gazabo who has lots of the needful, and I succeeded in raking him in, I’d willingly make it worth your while.”

Ras al Had drew a deep breath of wonderment. Although he did not fully understand her, he comprehended that this was one of the free-and-easy young ladies of the Western world of whom he had heard. She was young and bewitching in appearance, but her manner of talk seemed to betray a knowledge of the world one would not suspect her to possess.

The sheik shook his head.

“I can give you no assistance,” he declared.

She laughed and sprang up, crossing the floor toward him.

He rose hastily.

“I don’t believe you know me,” said the girl. “We have met before, and I am sure, as a special favor, you will aid me in capturing a rich husband.”

He retreated before her, but she followed him up, and actually pinned him in a corner.

“Come, now!” she cried, with a dazzling smile that showed her perfect teeth; “you can’t get out of it. I’m not particular, and I’ll marry almost anybody with the dust. I’d even marry Hafsa Pasha, and you can fix that up for me.”

He protested that it was impossible, and his manner caused the girl to laugh still more heartily.

“How do I look?” she asked. “Is this get-up all right?”

“Indeed, you should have no trouble in getting a rich husband,” said the sheik.

“Then take me to the house of your friend, where I am to meet Hafsa Pasha.”

“You – you – ”

“I am the boy you brought here to be changed into a girl.”

“Allah have mercy! Impossible!”

The “girl” was in truth Dick Merriwell, and he laughed heartily over the amazement of the old Arab. Even then Ras al Had seemed to doubt his senses; but the Jew came in, grinning and rubbing his hands together, and stood waiting for his price.

“Wonderful!” murmured the sheik. “Why, you play the part so well that any man might be deceived. It is worth the money, Abraham. Now I believe you will succeed, boy, in your daring scheme. But I shall try to be near you, for you may suddenly need the aid of my arm and my sword.”

CHAPTER XV – PURCHASING A HUMAN BEING

In a large room of many mirrors with frescoed ceilings of bright colors, the floors covered with Turkish rugs, and the place lavishly furnished in Oriental style, were gathered seventeen girls of various races and still more varying beauty. The cheeks of some were dusky, while others were wonderfully fair. All were attired in such fine clothes as seemed best to enhance their good looks. They were taking their ease on divans and couches, some of them smoking cigarettes, some conversing, some remaining proudly apart from the others.

These were the girls brought to Damascus by the trader, and all were for sale, like so many cattle.

To this house came various wealthy men, who inspected the girls critically, surveying them and taking note of their charms, much after the manner of men who purchase horses in open market. The old trader was on hand to dilate on the attractions of each girl and to listen to such offers as the gentlemen chose to make.

In Damascus, as in many other parts of the Orient, this was regarded as a legitimate business. To the would-be purchasers and the old trader there was nothing of a shameful nature in connection with it. The girls thus sold would be taken to the various homes of their purchasers, there to become legitimate wives, after the custom of the country.

One girl, dressed in unusual taste, sat apart from the others, seeming too proud to attempt to enter into conversation with them. She was very pretty, and many were the envious glances cast toward her by the others.

She had lately been added to their number, and already they were gossiping that she was an English girl who found herself penniless in the country, and was willing to become the wife of some rich man.

The old trader seemed to know he had secured a prize in this girl, for the price he demanded for her was so high that several visitors who had been attracted by her and were willing to pay unusually well to secure her, were compelled to content themselves with others, although they all relinquished the hope of purchasing her with expressions of regret.

Finally a man of dignified bearing and polished appearance came sauntering into the room and paused, glancing around in a careless manner.

The moment the old trader saw this man he hastened to him, rubbing his hands and bowing very low.

“Welcome, most noble Pasha!” he exclaimed. “I am sure I shall this night have the pleasure of beholding thy pleasure. Never before has any man brought to Damascus such a collection of feminine loveliness. Verily they are pearls beyond price.”

“So I have heard, Bilmah,” was the answer. “Already I have met two who have looked on your pearls, and they informed me that you had here one that was almost priceless in your estimation. My curiosity has been greatly aroused. I would look on this English maiden.”

“Oh, there are others equally beautiful,” the trader hastened to declare – “many others. Look, yonder is a fair Circassian. I bought her from her father, and paid him – ”

“Never mind her. I am not looking for a Circassian. They weary me. I have traveled in the West, and the women of those lands interest me. I would see the English maiden.”

“But first thou shouldst see – ”

“Not another one, old man! Show me the one I wish to see.”

“But, great Pasha, it was understood between us that I should bring thither for thee the fairest Circassian I could discover – ”

The visitor cut the old man short.

“You are wasting my time, old man. Unless you show me at once the English maiden I will depart.”

The trader made a gesture of resignation.

“Come!” he said.

The visitor followed him until they paused before the divan on which sat the girl who had attracted so much attention and admiration.

“Behold her!” said Bilmah.

The girl glanced up shyly over her outspread fan, giving the Turk a sidelong glance from her fine, black eyes, in the depths of which there was a strange light that fascinated him.

Hafsa Pasha bowed very low, his hand on his heart.

“So this is the one whose charms I heard extolled ere I crossed the threshold of this house?” he said. “You are English, they tell me. It is most astonishing to find an English girl here.”

“I suppose it is,” she answered, in a very low voice that was full of strange music and gave him a decided thrill.

He sat on the floor at her feet, rolling a cigarette.

“Tell me how it happens that you are here,” he urged.

“I cannot,” she answered, in apparent great confusion. “It is a tale of misfortune. Speak of something else.”

“Are you aware what you are doing?”

“Fully.”

“Do you know that once you have entered the harem of any man who may purchase you there can be no backing out – no escape?”

“I have thought of it all.”

“And you will not be the only wife of the husband who secures you.”

“I know.”

“Still, I cannot understand you. It is utterly unlike one of your blood to do such a thing. There must be a reason for it.”

“Of course there is. Perhaps I have a brother or a friend who is in deep distress and needs money at once. Perhaps I have arranged with the trader that a certain portion of the price paid for me shall be sent at once to this person. Does that not offer an explanation?”

Hafsa Pasha lighted his cigarette and eyed her attentively.

“I have been told that the price Bilmah demands is exorbitant. Still, under certain circumstances you might be worth it to me.”

“What are the circumstances?”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“If I purchase you you will be mine to do as I command.”

“Of course.”

“Possibly I have somewhere another English-speaking maiden who rebels against my authority and refuses to bow unto me.”

“Another?” laughed the girl behind her fan. “You must be fond of the English.”

“Were I to purchase you, I should expect you to become without delay the companion of this other girl. I should expect you to exert your influence upon her to lead her to submit to her lot.”

“I see nothing very hard in that.”

“But she might tell you a woeful tale of an imaginary wrong. She might seek to arouse your sympathy. She might claim that she had been captured and imprisoned against her will.”

“I am growing interested. If you can afford to pay the price demanded for me, you must be a very rich man.”

“I am far from poor.”

“You are kind to your wives?”

“I am gentleness itself.”

“They have every comfort and luxury in the home you provide for them?”

“No woman can ask for more.”

“Then this girl should soon learn to be contented and happy. She has some peculiar ideas in her head just now, but she will get over them. If you purchase me, I shall do everything in my power for her.”

“You Western women are remarkable. No woman of the East would talk to me like this. I almost fear you. I seem to feel that you possess a strange power that our women know nothing of.”