So he made haste to leave the burial place and, taking Fatima with him, returned to the town in which he had purchased his physician’s disguise, and placed the girl in the charge of a poor but respectable woman. Then, with the last of Orbasan’s money he bought a horse, and set out once more for the robber’s dwelling place. He reached it in three days’ time, and, although an unexpected guest, was none the less a welcome one. He told Orbasan of his unsuccessful attempts to rescue his sister, and in spite of the gravity of the situation Orbasan could not refrain from laughing as he pictured his friend decked out as the physician Chakamankabudibaba. But he was enraged to hear of the treachery of the dwarf, and vowed he would hang him with his own hands, as soon as he could catch him. He promised Mustapha that as soon as he was rested and refreshed he would return with him and help him to carry out his designs. Accordingly on the following morning, Mustapha and Orbasan, accompanied by three of the latter’s bravest men, set out for the little town where Mustapha had left the rescued Fatima. They rode so fast that they reached it in two days’ time and, calling for Fatima, who was to show them the way, rode on to a little wood not far from Thiuli’s palace. Here they hid themselves until nightfall and then Fatima led the way to the brook which supplied the fountain. Very soon they found the entrance to the underground passage and prepared to descend. One of the men was left in charge of Fatima and the horses, and the rescued slave repeated her directions--They were to traverse the passage until they came to the pipes which supplied the fountain; having raised one of the flag-stones they would find themselves in the inner courtyard. They would see two towers to right and left of them and, passing through the sixth door from the right hand tower, they would come into the room where the real Fatima and Zoraida were shut up, watched by two black slaves. [Illustration: _Mustapha and the rescued girls slipped through the opening._ (P. 55.)] So, well-armed and carrying crowbars with them, Mustapha, Orbasan, and two other men climbed down into the underground passage. The water in the passage reached to their middles, but they were nevertheless able to move briskly forward. In half an hour’s time they had reached the end of the passage, immediately below the fountain, and then they began to use their crowbars. The stone-work was thick and very strong, but the efforts of the four men at length succeeded in forcing an opening sufficiently large for a man to crawl through. Orbasan crept through first and gave a hand to the others, and when they all four stood in the courtyard they gazed around them in order to determine which of the doors was the one described to them.