Under other circumstances, Bob would have made a fight for his liberty with his bare hands. Those of our readers who have followed his career under other skies know well what a superb wrestler is Bob. And with the additional weight and strength of an added year or two, Bob was now a wrestler and boxer second to none. But even as the thought of grappling with the leader entered his head, he saw by the loosening of rifles in the hands of others that his first movement would bring a swarm of bullets his way. Or would they shoot? A new idea came to Bob. In this still desert air, the sound of shots would carry far. If his one lone shot of a minute before were to be succeeded by a volley, Ali and Jack would take alarm, and perhaps even back at the oasis the alarm would be given. This party consisted only of ten men. Perhaps, they preferred moving soundlessly rather than run the risk of bringing a party of equal strength upon them. Perhaps, they would not use their rifles at first, should he attack their leader, expecting to see him overcome. Well, if they only withheld their fire until he could grasp the rascal and seize his rifle, Bob wouldn’t care. With a weapon in his hand, he could go down fighting. What a fool he was, anyway, to have left the oasis without his automatic. One phase of the situation which Bob did not take into account was that, even if Ali and Jack managed to discover his predicament and either came to his rescue themselves or set out to rouse the oasis, the attacking party could escape because of the greater swiftness of their horses as compared to camels. Instead, as the leader of the attackers approached—a strikingly handsome young man, with a round firm face, hawklike nose and crisping brown hair, Bob set himself for a flying leap from the camel. The leader rode slightly in advance of the others, who mounted the sliding sand hill in a semicircle behind him, toward Bob sitting his camel on the top of the hill. Then an astonishing thing happened. “_Attendez, monsieur_,” called the leader, in French. “It will be useless to resist.” Now Bob had studied French. In fact, he could manage a conversation both in French and Spanish, although somewhat better in the latter language because of the opportunities he had to learn it at first hand when in South America, as narrated in “The Radio Boys Search for the Inca Treasure.” But hearing French from the lips of this Athensian almost bowled him from his seat in surprise.