Dick Merriwell's Pranks; Or, Lively Times in the OrientStandish, Burt L.
General
Dick Merriwell's Pranks; Or, Lively Times in the Orient
Standish, Burt L.
Adventure stories; Americans -- Middle East -- Juvenile fiction; Boys -- Juvenile fiction; Mystery fiction
“When the door is opened,” he finally said, “step quickly across and
into a doorway directly opposite.”
They were ready. The door was opened, and, without loss of time, they
crossed a space of about three feet between the two buildings and
entered the doorway spoken of by Assouan.
The black man followed them as soon as he had closed the door after
leaving the storehouse. They found they had stepped into a room where,
sitting cross-legged on the floor, an old sandal maker was at work. To
their surprise, this old man, after looking at them curiously, kept on
about 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 signal
from the sandal maker. Then Assouan again instructed his disguised
companions 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 stood
wide open. A middle-aged Syrian woman was working at a rude loom,
weaving some sort of goods. Two girls, one about thirteen and the other
eight or nine, were sorting and preparing the strands used by the woman
in her work.
The woman glanced at Assouan, but seemed to give none of the others a
look. Dick fancied an expression of alarm swept over her face, but she
continued stolidly and steadily about her work.
The children stared at them until the woman spoke in a low tone of
command, seeming to rebuke them for their rudeness, after which they
resumed the work of sorting and preparing the strands.
Assouan tossed a piece of silver before the woman, but she kept at her
work, 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 old
Armenian, doddered along behind him. Buckhart, as a respectable young
Greek, kept by himself, taking the opposite side of the street. Dick
imitated the shiftless, shuffling walk of the young vagabonds of the
city, thus making his assumed character seem real, and followed them all
at a little distance.
The street was well filled—almost crowded—with excited people, who were
talking of the murder of the Pasha and the belief that those concerned
in the murder were trapped in the German hotel.
Although the people were speaking in various languages, Dick understood
something of what was being said, and he realized that he was surrounded
by Moslems.
Although Abraham had performed his work well, he had made a mistake in
disguising the old professor as an Armenian. The Turks were aroused.
Although they were stirred up against foreigners, their hatred for the
Armenians was liable to burst forth any moment.
Thus it happened that a group of young men suddenly stopped the
disguised professor and began hustling him about.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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