Eaten up with anxiety as to the fate of Bob, a prisoner in the midst of the fighting so far as they knew, the boys no longer could contain their impatience. They saw a revolutionary return down the pass, making his way over the barrier of men and horses at the bend, picking a careful passage over the rocks below, and moving to report to Captain Amanassar. “Come on, Jack, let’s hear what he has to say,” begged Frank. “I know your Dad told us to stay here, but the Arabs can look after the horses and I’ll go crazy if I don’t do something.” Jack felt pretty nearly as cut up over the failure to rescue Bob, as did his comrade, and nodded in sympathy. “All right,” he said. “We’ll go up and ask Dad what the messenger reports. Hardly likely, though, that he has any word of Bob.” When they reached Mr. Hampton’s side, the messenger already had made his report. Jepthah, interpreting the reason for their approach, turned to them with a grave face. “There is no sign of your comrade,” he said. “I asked the messenger particularly. He is not among either the prisoners or the fallen. Some of the Janissaries escaped, and evidently they have borne him with them. They will make their way to Athensi. We cannot stop them. They have broken down a bridge which we recently rebuilt across a deep chasm and for a time our advance is held up. Athensi lies many miles away, however, and we shall be able to gain the interior before fresh forces can be thrown against us. The Sacrificial Games still are more than a month away, and in the meantime something can be done toward effecting a rescue.” With this, Jepthah returned to Captain Amanassar’s side, while Mr. Hampton joined the boys. He reported that Captain Amanassar was going forward to join the revolutionaries, a portion of whom would be sent back to clear the pass so that the horses could be taken into the mountains. Aware now that betrayal of their plans by spies of the Oligarchy in their ranks had been more general than supposed, Captain Amanassar found it necessary to re-arrange his campaign. Originally, he had intended entirely to abandon Korakum. Its peculiar position, in an outer valley, leading only by the Great Road to the desert and by the subterranean river to Athensi, made it a poor basis of operations from which to conduct a revolution among the countrymen of the many interior valleys and plateaus against the central authority of the Oligarchy. All this he and Jepthah had explained to Mr. Hampton. By placing a guard over the pass just captured, the revolutionaries would be able to prevent any forces sent out from Athensi via the river and Korakum from attacking them in the rear.