“I shall lay the matter before the French and British governments. Now that the Great War is over, it may receive attention. They can send embassies, supported with sufficient power to compel recognition. Then, it is possible, the Athensians will yield on being shown no menace to their freedom threatens, and may admit scientists to their mountains to study the ruins of Korakum and the library of Athensi, if such really exists.” “Dad,” asked Jack, after a pause, “I know I’ve spoken of this before, but I can’t get it out of my mind. Isn’t it possible the Professor may have been deluded, that all he told you was a creation of fancy?” “No, there was this raid on the oasis, the description of the raiders, this wounded captive, and Ali’s story of the annual visit of the Athensians to the slave marts of Gao.” “Granted all that,” Jack stubbornly objected, “yet it does seem nothing short of miraculous that a city such as Athensi should exist unknown to the rest of the world.” “Well, but, Jack,” interrupted Bob, while Mr. Hampton approvingly nodded, “look at Llassa, the Secret City of Thibet. Only one white man has ever penetrated it and lived to tell the tale. And that is in the heart of Asia, the oldest continent known to civilization, while here is Athensi in the heart of a continent which is still in many parts unexplored.” Jack threw up his hands in token of surrender. “All right, old thing,” he said. “I’m just as keen as you to carry this through, and I was just arguing. I do wish father would continue with it, but I suppose his plan is the best.” CHAPTER VII. CHASING OSTRICHES. “Ali, come here. Take a look through these glasses and tell me what you see,” called big Bob early one morning. As he spoke he was approaching the encampment, where the Arabs were preparing breakfast, at a run. Ali looked up inquiringly, and Bob grasped him by an arm and urged him forward, past the well, through the patches of garden stuff, down among a grove of fig trees, to the edge of the oasis. They were facing eastward, and the sun which had not been up long cast a dazzling radiance over the sand dunes. These latter lay scattered indiscriminately, like the waves in a choppy sea—great bare swellings of sand, with here and there low stunted clumps of bush. At first, gazing into the path of the sun, Ali could descry nothing, but under Bob’s direction he finally located what had attracted the other’s attention. This was a number of dark black objects seeming like bushes in motion. But Ali’s better-trained desert eye solved what had merely been a puzzle to Bob, and without taking the glasses from his eyes he exclaimed “Ostriches.” “Ostriches?” Big Bob could hardly believe he had heard aright. “Why, you don’t find ostriches here, do you? I thought the only ones left in Africa were the domesticated ones on South African farms.” Ali smiled.