From it stepped first Roy Stone, tearing leather helmet and goggles from him and exposing a tanned face beaming at the greetings of the boys who were approaching at a tearing run, and then Amrath whom Stone assisted to alight. At sight of the latter Horeb who followed the boys let out a shout of joy, and the next moment the two revolutionists were clasped in each other’s arms, while their countrymen flocked about them, and from the mass came a confused clatter of Athensian language for all the world like an ignited pack of firecrackers. “Listen to ’em hit their bloomin’ language on the nose,” ejaculated Roy Stone, grinning. “Well, me lads,” he added, pumping away vigorously, for Jack and Frank each had seized a hand, “I’m tickled to death to see you, but if you let go a paw for a minute I’d like to shake Mr. Hampton’s hand, too. If you don’t mind, y’ know.” Whereat the boys released his hands and proceeded to thump him enthusiastically on the back, a procedure which Stone answered by whirling quick as a cat, and with a stoop and a sudden twist catching both by the legs and dumping them unceremoniously on the sand. A burst of laughter came from the Arabs. “Glory be that you arrived,” said Mr. Hampton, as he clasped the aviator’s hand and looked deep into his steady gray eyes. “For one thing,” he added, in an undertone, “you’ve already done them good. What they both need is a little play. They’re breaking their hearts over Bob’s predicament, and that trick you just played on them has made them laugh for the first time in many days.” Stone nodded understandingly and then, as the boys having risen to their feet joined him, still laughing, he said in a calm matter-of-fact tone: “No need to worry about Bob, any more. We’ll snake him out of any old mountain city in a matter of minutes. The old buss can go anywhere, and if you lads and Uncle Roy can’t turn a simple trick like that, why, by golly, we ought to be sent back to school. How about it?” he concluded challengingly. “Right,” said Jack, catching Stone’s spirit of optimism. “No question about it now,” Frank firmly declared. “That’s the spirit,” approved Stone. “Well, give me a couple of trusty men to place on guard over the old buss so that nobody gets curious and steals the engine or something, and then lead me to a bite to eat. I could sink a tooth in some food without a qualm.” “We’ve thought of the matter of guards,” said Mr. Hampton. “These Athensian revolutionists and the Arabs all have seen airplanes before, the Athensians having served in the various Spanish and French Foreign Legions of Northern Africa or the British Sudanese forces. So none is scared of it. Lieutenant Horeb has promised to put two men on guard, and I think we can safely leave it to their charge. Yes, as you see”—he added, pointing—“two men already have taken up their posts.”