ON THE BLUE MEDITERRANEAN

The boys landed with great force, then shot down the slope that led from the lower landing stage.

The basket, in striking the landing, had been shattered, and it was when the crash came that the Battleship Boys were fired overboard.

By a lucky chance, they had sustained nothing more serious than black and blue spots, torn uniforms and dirty faces.

Dan sprang to his feet, after lying on his face a few seconds.

"Sam! Sam!"

"All present or accounted for," answered the red-headed boy, sitting up and rubbing the dirt from his eyes. Neither of them could see very clearly as yet.

"Well, we are a pair of luck——"

A heavy hand was laid on the shoulder of each.

"Wha—wha—what!" exclaimed Dan, turning sharply.

A file of soldiers confronted them.

"We—we fell down, didn't we?" said Hickey, with a sheepish grin.

A red-coated soldier with a corporal's stripe on his sleeve motioned to his men. They took firm grip on the arms of the Battleship Boys.

"What does this mean?" demanded Dan.

"You are under arrest."

"Arrest?"

"Yes."

"For what?"

"Going where you had no right to go."

"But we meant no harm. And, besides, we are American sailors on board the 'Long Island.'"

"You will explain to the officer of the day."

The boys were taken to the barracks, where they were, after a time, brought before the officer of the day. He wore a white coat instead of a red one, and squinted at the boys through a monocle.

He heard the story of the squad that arrested the Battleship Boys, then, turning to the lads, asked who they were.

Dan stepped forward and explained briefly, telling the officer of their trip up the mountainside. The officer listened gravely.

"You say you are from the 'Long Island?'"

"Yes, sir."

"How long have you been ashore?"

"Not more than two or three hours."

"Have you leave to be ashore?"

Dan's eyes snapped.

"We should not be here if we didn't have leave, sir. You can very easily find out all you wish to know about us, if you will communicate with our ship out there."

"The matter will have to be laid before a higher authority than mine. You have committed a very grave offence. If, as you say, you belong to one of the American ships, your conduct may bring about grave results."

"I am sorry, sir. Perhaps we have done wrong; but if so, it was not intentional. That should count for something."

"Take them away, corporal!"

"May I ask where you are taking us to, sir?" questioned Dan.

"You are going to be locked up."

"What, again?" demanded Hickey.

"So this isn't the first time, eh?" demanded the British officer.

"Will you be good enough to communicate with the ship, sir?" asked Dan.

The officer of the day made no reply, and the boys were led away by the same squad that had picked them up after their thrilling slide down the cable.

They were taken to the barracks, where they were placed in a room and a guard stationed outside.

"Slid right into jail, didn't we?" demanded the red-headed Sam, after they had been left alone. "That was a slide for jail instead of a slide for life. I guess you and I had better stay aboard ship after this, Dan."

"We do have a way of getting ourselves into trouble. I wonder how long the red-coats are going to leave us here?"

Hours dragged on. The boys grew hungry, but no one came near them. They could hear the measured tramp of the sentry on the outside.

In the meantime word had been sent to the battleship "Long Island." Immediately upon receiving the news, Captain Farnham had put off in his motor boat. He was fully convinced that it would be useless to send one of lesser rank than himself to intercede for the Battleship Boys.

Captain Farnham went directly to the office of the Governor-General, before whom he laid the case.

The governor looked serious. He thought he would have to submit the whole case to his own government. Men from a foreign warship had been caught prying into the secrets of the fortification. That was more than serious.

"Nonsense, sir!" exploded the captain. "Mere boyish pranks. I wish them released. I will hold myself personally responsible to your government for your action in releasing them."

The governor shook his head.

"I am afraid the matter is beyond me to settle in that way."

"Governor," said the captain in an impressive tone, "the shore leave of these men expires at nine o'clock to-night. I greatly desire to have them on board by that time. The 'Long Island' sails to-morrow morning at daybreak. I trust that no act of yours will interfere with the movements of United States ships. I bid you good afternoon."

The captain bowed low and left the governor's presence, returning to his own ship at once.

Nothing more was heard from the shore before nightfall, but shortly after dark a patrol entered the room where the Battleship Boys were being held. They took the boys in charge, holding to them tightly, as if expecting the boys would run away, conducting them in silence down to the landing. There a boat belonging to the garrison was awaiting them.

The boys were ordered to get into the boat.

"You will tell your commander that you are not to come ashore again during the ship's stay in this harbor," announced the officer in charge.

Dan stood up in the boat.

"I shall do nothing of the sort. I am not in the habit of giving orders to my captain, sir. If the English government, through its Governor-General, desires to communicate with the captain of the 'Long Island,' let him do so in the proper manner. Good night."

Dan sat down, well satisfied with himself.

"There, Tommy Atkins, will you be good now?" jeered Sam Hickey.

The officer motioned for the boat's crew to pull away, which they did. Half an hour later, just before nine o'clock, the boat drew alongside the "Long Island," and the Battleship Boys ran up the sea ladder, reporting their arrival on board.

That evening they were summoned before the captain, who gave them a friendly talk regarding their duties and conduct when on foreign soil.

"I am not rebuking you, my lads," he said. "I am simply giving you some good advice. Foreign governments, especially monarchies, are very touchy, much more so than is your own country, so be careful."

"We will, sir," answered Dan.

"We will, sir," added Sam Hickey.

"Until the next time," thought Captain Farnham, passing a hand over his face to hide the smile that he could not repress.

At daylight next morning the four ships of the fleet weighed anchor, circled and steamed out of the harbor, soon after poking their noses into the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

Algiers was sighted late in the day, then the ships dropped the shores to port and starboard and settled down to their course. The next port was to be Port Said, the beginning of the Suez canal. The hopes of the Battleship Boys were high. They were about to make their first visit to the Orient, and already they were planning on the shore leave they would have. They had forgotten their experiences during their last shore leave, as perhaps they had the admonition of the captain. They were looking forward to what was before them.

Gun drills and dotter practice were now indulged in for the greater part of the time by the gun crews, and thus far the starboard seven-inch crew held the record for quick, effective work. Every man of the seven-inch crew was looking forward to the day when the crew would be allowed to work their gun with ball and powder, shooting at a real target. There seemed no prospect of such an experience during this cruise, for it was a cruise intended principally to give the men of the fleet a chance to see the world.

After several days of leisurely steaming the low-lying shores of Egypt appeared off the starboard bow, looking golden against the blue of the waters of the Mediterranean. The captain had decided not to stop at Alexandria, but to continue on to Suez and there give his men a long shore leave, when they would have opportunity to see sights that few of the battleship's crew had ever beheld.

The fleet came to anchor off the mouth of the canal at twilight. Port Said lay in a deep shadow, with only the numerous twinkling lights to show that the chief town of the Egyptian province of the isthmus was near at hand.

Songs floated out over the water after the anchors had been let go, these sounds of gayety from the shore causing the jackies of the fleet to look longingly shoreward.

"To-morrow we'll get a leave," predicted Sam, as he and Dan were sitting on their gun turret in the soft evening air.

"Not to-morrow, Sam."

"Why not?"

"I understand no shore leave is to be granted here. We shall be entering the canal early in the morning, on our way to Suez."

"Oh, pshaw! That's a shame."

"We are going to have a good time. You won't tell if I confide something to you?"

"Never."

"We are going to have several days ashore."

"How do you know?"

"I heard the captain telling the doctor. A lot of us are going inland."

"Where to?"

"I don't know. I did not catch that, though the captain mentioned the place. I guess some of the petty officers are going with us to see that we behave ourselves."

"The idea!" grumbled Sam.

"Just the same, I think you and I need a guardian. We do not seem able to keep out of trouble when we go ashore alone. Do we, now?"

"I guess that isn't a joke, after all," answered Sam, while an appreciative grin overspread his face.

On the following morning the battleship moved slowly into the canal.

The ship's chaplain was shading his eyes, gazing off to the left, when the boys came and leaned over the rail near him.

"Lads, do you know what lies beyond, almost within sight?"

"No, sir."

"It is the Holy Land. Palestine, Damascus, Jerusalem, all are within easy reach even of the guns of this ship."

"Is it possible?"

"Yes; yonder lies Arabia with its great deserts; and there, off the port bow, is Mount Sinai. It is a wonderful country."

"Were you ever there, Padre?" questioned Sam, addressing the chaplain after the manner of all sailors.

"Yes, I once made a pilgrimage there. I wish that I might go again."

"I hear we are going to make a pilgrimage when we get to Suez," said Sam irreverently.

"So I understand."

"Do you know where we are going, sir?" questioned Dan.

"I cannot say. But you will see much."

"Yes, sir, we hope to."

"Yonder, off the starboard beam, lies the valley of the Nile."

"Shall we see it?"

"Not on this cruise, my lads. Some other cruise you may get shore leave when in Alexandria and take a short journey up the stream."

Night had set in before the ships of the fleet emerged from the canal into the Gulf of Suez, where lay the city of Suez. The moonlight glistened on the domes and minarets, making a picture long to be remembered by the Battleship Boys.

Lights twinkled off on the shore; strange sounds floated out across the waters, now a wailing cry, a ripple of laughter, then music and shouting.

Harsh and disturbing came the bugle's command, "Hammocks up."

Regretfully the boys turned away from the rail and sought their billets, for the bugle's command must be obeyed instantly.

Soon the ship settled down to silence and sleep, the only sound on board being the footsteps of the watch as they paced back and forth on their stations.

JOLLY TARS IN EGYPT

After the work of the morning had been gotten out of the way next day, the word was passed about that shore parties were to be allowed to leave the ship immediately after the noon mess.

One party was to spend the day in Suez, while the other was to take a longer journey. The Battleship Boys were of the latter party. There were all of fifty of them. When they were ready to start they marched to the quarter-deck, where the captain addressed them.

"I am giving you three days' shore leave, men, in recognition of faithful service and attention to duty. I shall expect you to carry yourselves as befits an American man-of-wars-man. Arrangements have been made for you to visit Cairo and the Pyramids. I shall hope to see you all report on time and happy. That will be all, men. The steamers are waiting to convey you to the landing."

The men, regardless of discipline, gave three cheers for Captain Farnham.

Then they piled over the side of the ship with shouts and laughter, no effort being made to check their merriment.

"It pays to be good," howled Hickey from the bow of the steamer to those still aboard. "If you're good you can go visit your friends, the mummies. I'll give your kindest to the caliphs."

With a shrill whistle the steamers headed for the landing, every jackie on board singing. Reaching the landing, the whole crowd rushed for the train that was waiting to convey them to Cairo.

"Oh, look at the man with the kimono," shouted Dan.

"That's no kimono; that's the conductor's uniform," answered a voice.

There were a number of American tourists aboard the waiting train, and many of these waved American flags from the windows.

The jackies went wild. They hurrahed for America; they hurrahed for the tourists, winding up with a "Hip, hip, hurrah, for the kings of ancient Egypt."

By this time the conductor was charging up and down beside the train as if he had suddenly lost his senses.

"Has he gone crazy?" called Sam.

"No; he is always that way when he is starting the train. He has a fit at every station on the line. He wouldn't think he were earning his salary if he didn't," answered a traveler.

The conductor's robe, a cross between a kimono and a bath robe, was taken in at the waist by a sash, while a bright red fez adorned his head. The fez was the wonder of the jackies.

"That would match your hair, wouldn't it, red-head?" called a shipmate who observed Hickey looking at the fez.

"I'll have it, too, if he gets near enough to me. Maybe you think I don't dare?"

"I dare you."

Sam made a dive for the conductor. Dan Davis stuck out a foot and Hickey measured his length on the ground, right at the feet of the gayly robed conductor.

"Who did that?" demanded the red-headed boy, bounding to his feet, his eyes blazing with wrath.

"I did. Do you think I am going to let you mix us up in any more trouble? If you had done what you proposed, we should have been arrested, the whole crowd of us. Now, behave yourself, Sam Hickey, or I'll thrash you right here before the train starts."

"That's the talk, Dynamite!" called another sailor.

"You can't do it. You can't——" sputtered Sam.

"All aboard!" howled the jackies. At the same time half a dozen of them picked Sam up bodily and tossed him in through a car window. The engine gave a toot, and the train moved off, all hands singing the "Star Spangled Banner."

For some distance the route led along the edge of the Suez canal. Ships were passed, and at sight of one the sailors would lean far out of the windows, swinging their caps and hurrahing.

The conductor hurried along the running board, trying to make the passengers keep their heads in, but he might as well have tried to prevent the wheels going around.

It was like throwing a cat into a bed of catnip and expecting him to be calm. The sailors joked the conductor good-naturedly, but it is doubtful if he understood a word of what they were saying.

"He's got more on his mind than the captain of a battleship," laughed Dan.

"More than the admiral of the fleet, you mean," shouted a jackie. "I wouldn't have his job for the whole railroad itself. They say they chop a conductor's head off every time a train is late in this country."

"I know of some roads in America to which they ought to apply that practice."

"So do I," agreed Sam Hickey. "This reminds me of the milk train on the peanut road out at Piedmont. Piedmont is where we hail from, mates," he explained.

"Yes; you look the part," answered a shipmate, at which there was a roar of laughter.

Sam's eyelids were at half mast.

"I'll rub your nose in the desert for that when I get——"

"Go tell it to the Sphinx. We're on the desert now."

Stretches of yellow sand reached away and on to the foot of the Arabian mountains in the far distance. Along the track the train passed processions of dusty travelers, gorgeously arrayed with brilliantly colored mantles thrown over their heads.

"Look! Look, there's a circus going by!" yelled Hickey.

"Where, where?" Jackies rushed to his side of the car and leaned far out.

"It's a caravan. What's the matter with you, red-head?"

A long line of camels was dragging itself along the highway, each camel holding the bobbing figure of a native, while on foot at the rear strung a long procession of other natives. It was a most picturesque sight. It was the first time the Battleship Boys had seen camels on their native soil, and the boys leaned from the windows, watching the unusual sight until the caravan was lost in the distance.

Villages of yellow mud huts, their flat roofs covered with thatch, the buildings surrounded by a drove of Arab goats, chickens, pigs, camels and donkeys, were frequently passed, the sight causing the jackies keen amusement.

Everything was quaint and unusual; the lurching camels, the Arabs with their long guns and queer costumes, all combined to make the journey one long to be remembered.

"Cairo! All out for Cairo!" sang the voice of the petty officer in charge of the party.

"Cairo! Cairo!" howled the jackies.

"Remember, boys, you are in a city now—not out on the desert."

This suggestion was sufficient for the moment, and the men-o'-warsmen lowered their voices as they did so. But another din almost as great as had been their own arose. A perfect army of beggars surged toward them. Arabs, Greeks, Hindoos, Nubians, black, white and brown men surrounded the jackies, crying out in shrill voices, "Backsheesh! Backsheesh!" All tongues sounded alike when it came to begging.

"Get out of my pocket, you heathen!" roared Sam Hickey.

"This is almost as bad as Paris!" cried Dan Davis, trying to fight his way through the mob. "But I'd rather meet a regiment of these howling Dervishes, or whatever they are, than one Paris guide."

"Give them the flying wedge," shouted a jackie.

"Whoop! Go!"

Beggars tumbled to right and left. Greek, Hindoo, Arab, Nubian and Albanian went down in a yelling, shouting heap on either side as the jackies charged into their ranks.

Clang, clang!

"Look out for the trolley car," shouted Dan.

"What—trolley cars in this heathen country!" cried one.

"Yes, and I'll bet that car there came from Newport, R. I.," jeered Hickey. "Yes, sir; that's the very car that I used to ride to town on from the training station."

A shout greeted this announcement, but the sailors were amazed at what they saw. Had it not been for the strange mixture of races, and the quaint costumes, the sightseers might well have imagined themselves in some American city. Veiled women rode in carriages through the busy streets; here and there an automobile tooted its horn, while dogs infested the gutters, snapping at the heels of the Navy men.

"This is the original crazy house," laughed Dan. "I never imagined anything like it."

The sailors did not separate. They traveled about together, attracting a great deal of attention. Now and then they met an American, who, when he addressed them in their own language, would be greeted with a cheer. Up one street and down another strolled the jackies, sometimes singing their national anthem, then dropping into the march step to the "hep, hep, hep!" of one of their number.

The bazaars came in for a considerable share of attention. In these the lads bought freely all manner of curios, for most of which they paid all of twice what the articles were worth. Sam Hickey got into an argument with an ebony-hued Nubian who had substituted an inferior article for something that Sam had purchased. The fellow denied having done so, and refused to make good the difference, or to hand over the original article.

"All-right; I can't lick you without causing international complications, as the captain calls it, but I'm going to have part of your clothes."

With that Sam snatched the fez from the Nubian's head and stuffed it in his trousers' pocket. The merchant made a dive at the red-headed boy, but found himself face to face with a solid wall of jackies, who had suddenly stepped between the enraged merchant and his victim.

"See here, you man with the iron face," threatened one, "we'll take your whole shop along if you don't look out, and we won't buy it, either."

"Come along, boys; we can't afford to have any row here," warned Dan. "We want to see the Pyramids, you know."

"Hurrah for the Pyramids!" shouted the boys.

"Donkey, sir, donkey?" questioned a group of native boys as the jackies came from the bazaar.

"Who's a donkey?" demanded Sam Hickey.

"Want a donkey, sir?"

An idea occurred to Dan.

"How much do you charge for a ride?"

"Twenty piastres for half an hour," answered the lad, in very good English.

"Twenty pi——"

"That's about ten cents," spoke up a sailor who had been in Cairo on a former cruise.

"Good! How many donkeys have you? Enough for all of us?"

"I get 'em. You wait."

"If you'll hurry we will wait. Don't be long. My friends are not in a mood to wait for anything to-night. Run, boy!"

The boy darted away. In a few minutes donkeys began gathering, their young masters prodding the lazy beasts, urging them along with shrill shouts and sundry twists of the animal's tails.

"Look at the donkeys," shouted the jackies. "What's going on here?"

"You are all going to take a ride with me," announced Dan Davis. "We'll wind up the evening with a parade; then we'll pipe up hammocks."

"Hurrah for Little Dynamite!" howled the men.

"Let's form a cavalry company and charge the town."

"The town will do all the charging, and then some more," laughed Dan. "Mount."

With shouts of mirth the jackies swung themselves to the backs of the donkeys.

"Forward, march!" commanded Dan.

The grotesque procession started away, while the sides of the narrow streets were lined with natives and foreigners, all laughing at the ludicrous spectacle.

It was harmless fun, the pent-up spirits of the sailor boys being given full play after weeks at sea.

"Somebody sing," suggested a voice.

"I'll sing," answered Hickey.

"No; let Dynamite. He's the only sweet-voiced warbler in the crew. What will it be, Dynamite?"

Dan cleared his throat.

The jackies greeted the effort with a howl of delight; then all joined in with a shout that brought people from their beds to the flat roofs of their houses, from which they peered down wonderingly on the strange procession.

The song ended in a roar of laughter that was taken up from the housetops, running down the narrow street like a wave at sea.

At that moment the bluejackets were nearing the bazaar of the Nubian with whom Sam Hickey had had the trouble. For some reason Sam's donkey was taken with a sudden attack of the sulks. Sam prodded the beast and yelled at him; donkey boys punched the animal with their fingers to stir him up, but still the animal refused to move.

"Twist his tail," suggested a shipmate jeeringly.

Hickey accepted the suggestion. Half turning, he grasped the beast's tail, giving it a violent twist.

"Hee—hee—hee-h-a-w—he-e-e-e-e," protested the donkey.

The jackies shouted.

"You better get a new horn for your automobile, red-head," jeered a shipmate.

"The one he has would make a good siren for the battleship," added another.

Hickey was having too much trouble, about this time, to give heed to the jeers of his companions. The lazy donkey had all at once taken matters into his own hoofs. These hoofs were flying in all directions. With every kick the circle about the Battleship Boy and his mount widened.

"I'm going to fall off. Somebody catch me!" yelled Sam.

Dan Davis, though fairly doubled up with laughter, sprang from his donkey and ran to Sam's assistance. He did not fear that Sam would be harmed, but he saw that, with every kick, the animal was getting nearer and nearer to the bazaar.

"Hang on, Sam!" encouraged his companions.

"Sprinkle some salt on the donkey's tail," suggested another.

Dan leaped to the donkey's head.

Instantly the animal whirled. Dan, seeing what was about to occur, threw himself forward just as the hind hoofs of the animal shot out, the boy falling against the donkey's legs and hips.

The Battleship Boy was lifted right up into the air. He landed in a heap some fifteen feet away.

The jackies yelled themselves hoarse, while Dan got up, rubbing himself and grinning sheepishly.

A crash at that instant attracted their attention to the bazaar. Mr. Donkey, with the red-headed boy's arms wrapped about its neck, had bolted into the bazaar.

Sam and the Donkey Bolted Into the Bazaar.

ON THE SHIPS OF THE DESERT

Egyptian goods were flying in all directions. A saakka, or water carrier, who had been delivering his wares to the merchant, landed on his back in the middle of the street, followed by a varied assortment of oriental wares.

The Nubian merchant had bolted through a rear opening and made his escape to a back yard, from which he watched the destruction of his stock. The jackies, as soon as they were able to control their merriment, rushed in, pounced upon and captured the mad donkey. From the wreck they hauled out the red-headed boy, much the worse for his experience.

Several Nubian police had hurried to the scene and a great crowd had been attracted by the uproar. The Nubian was wringing his hands and wailing over his loss.

"Sam Hickey, you did that on purpose," said Davis sternly. "You drove that donkey in there to get even with the Nubian."

"I didn't. What are you talking about?"

"You know what I am talking about. You have ruined his stock. What are you going to do about it?"

"Let him buy some new stuff. I don't care what he does."

"Fellows, shall we pass the hat for the bazaar man?"

"Yes; pass the fez," shouted the sailors.

"I'll put in two dollars' worth," announced Dan. "That is, as near as I can figure it. Come, Sam."

"Not for mine!" growled Hickey.

"Put up or get a thrashing," commanded Dan.

Sam reluctantly went down in his pocket and clumped a handful of money into the red fez.

"Backsheesh!" cried the beggars at sight of the money, crowding in closer, their eyes wide and avaricious.

"You'll get 'backsheesh' if you don't clear out of here mighty quick," warned the jackies. "Charge them, fellows!"

With a yell the sailors mounted their donkeys and rode right at the persistent beggars. There followed a great scattering and yelling. The Nubian policemen stood about, solemn-faced, but making no effort to interfere. The sailors returned to the bazaar and dismounted.

Finally, the collection having been taken up, Davis walked into the booth and handed the money to the merchant.

"We are sorry to have damaged your stock, sir, but it was an accident," said Dan.

The merchant wailed and wrung his hands.

"This will pay you for your loss. As a matter of fact, I think you have made enough out of our crowd already to pay you for all the damage we have done."

"Say, honest, Sam, what did you do to that donkey to make him cut up in that way?" demanded Dan, coming out of the bazaar.

"I told you I didn't do it. His rudder got jammed; that's what was the matter with the beast. As soon as I got both engines going ahead full speed there wasn't any more trouble."

Once more the boys started off down the street, singing and shouting. Hickey's mount was now as meek as a spring lamb, but the other men kept a good distance away from the red-headed boy, not knowing at what minute the donkey might have another fit.

At last the donkey riders began to tire of their sport. Just then the watchmen in the towers began to cry out the hour of midnight.

"Eight bells," sang out Dan Davis.

"All lights are burning brightly," mocked another.

"Yes, but they will all be out soon," answered Dan. "Time to pipe up hammocks."

"Oh, not yet," protested Sam.

"Yes, now. We've had a fine time to-night, but we have another day ahead of us. Remember, we're going to see some wonderful sights to-morrow."

"Dynamite is right," called out several. "We'll all pipe down."

"Where do we stay?"

"That has all been arranged for. We go back to the station, where the boatswain's mate will be waiting for us. Sam, you and I are going over to the hotel."

"The Shepherd's Crook, or something of that sort?"

"Shepherd's Hotel, you mean," laughed Dan. "Yes; we are very extravagant, but we do not get a chance to see real life very often."

Arriving at the station, the Battleship Boys bade their companions good night, and made their way to the hotel where they had decided to stop. They had picked out the most fashionable hotel in the Egyptian capital, but they were made welcome, and the Americans, of whom there were many there, took the boys up enthusiastically. It was with difficulty that Dan and Sam got away from them finally. That night, for the first time in many months, the lads slept in a real bed.

They did not sleep well. They missed the swaying hammock, the fresh salt breeze blowing over them and the swish or roar of the waves against the side of the ship—sounds that had grown to be a part of their very existence.

At last, as day was peeping in through the open windows, they fell into a sound sleep, from which they did not awaken until late in the morning.

At eleven o'clock that morning the boys presented themselves at the Gizeh Palace, where they were to take the train that would carry them well on their way toward the Pyramids.

Others of their shipmates came straggling along, and within an hour nearly all were there, some having decided to remain in the city and finish their sight-seeing there in preference to going out on the desert.

Every man of them was bright-eyed, happy, and ready for whatever the day might bring forth.

At Gizeh station, some seven miles from the city, all the passengers were hustled out for a change of cars.

"Do we walk?" came a chorus of demands. "How far is it?"

"No; we take ship from here," answered Davis, with a quizzical smile.

"A ship?" demanded Hickey incredulously.

"Yes."

"Pooh! You're joking. This is a desert, not a sea."

"You will see."

"Pipe down punning. It's too hot to laugh," commanded a voice.

Dan, with the boatswain's mate, had arranged a surprise for their shipmates, a new experience for every man of the party.

Headed by the Battleship Boys and the boatswain's mate, the bluejackets walked away from the station for a short distance. Suddenly they came to an open space of sand. There, lounging about, was a large group of Bedouins, clad in long, flowing robes, wearing turbans and armed with long, stout sticks. Beyond the Bedouins, their many-jointed legs folded under them, lay a herd of camels with half-closed eyes and disdainfully curling lips.

"See that hump!" yelled the jackies the moment they set eyes on the ungainly beasts. "There are some bumps for you."

"See them feed the babies," cried a chorus of voices.

Several camel owners were squatting in front of their animals stuffing little balls of grass down the throats of the beasts, while the latter chewed lazily.

"Where's the ships?" demanded Hickey, looking about him expectantly.

"There they are," answered Dan, with glowing face. "That is the surprise we have in store for you."

"What, camels?"

"Yes. Otherwise known as 'ships of the desert.'"

"Are—are we to ride those things?'

"If you wish. All of those who prefer may go the rest of the way by train. It is a short journey, but we thought you would like it."

"Like it? No train for us! Hurrah for the hunch backs!" came the answering clamor.

Few chose the train, it is needless to say. All was excitement, everybody trying to talk at once, and to this the Bedouins added their chatter in Arabic, interspersed here and there with an English word. The camels, catching something of the excitement of the moment, lumbered to their feet. The boys glanced at the great height of the beasts rather apprehensively.

"Where are the ladders?" demanded a voice.

"Ladders?"

"Yes; it will take a ladder or a flying machine to get aboard those ships. I don't know whether I want to take the chance or not," said Hickey.

"Line up here, boys," commanded Dan. "All ready, Mr. Bedouin."

The camel drivers uttered short, sharp commands to their animals, whereupon the beasts got down on their knees.

"All aboard!" called Dan. "No Jacob's ladders here; you will have to climb."

The boys piled on, so many getting aboard the first one that the beast was unable to rise. It toppled over sideways, spilling all the passengers overboard into the sand.

"Attention!" shouted Dan. "Let's do this thing right or we'll never get to the Pyramids. One at a time. There, that's right."

At last all were up, Dan on the back of the tallest camel at the head of the line.

"All right, back there?"

"Wait; I'm sliding off!" howled Sam.

"Anybody got a rabbit's foot in his pocket? If so, pass it along to Coxswain Hickey."

"I'm off. Wow!"

Sam hit the ground, sending up a little cloud of yellow dust. The jackies burst into a roar.

"Leave him! Let him walk!"

"Yes, go on. It will do him good."

The camels started off, with every man on them shouting suggestions to poor Sam, who had regained his feet and was racing along trying to keep up with the camels, and hurling threats at his companions in a dust-choked voice.

CALLING ON THE MUMMIES

For a full mile they made the red-headed boy run. Then, at Dan's command, a camel was made to kneel, and the perspiring coxswain was permitted to climb the animal's hump.

"That—that was a mean trick," growled Sam. "I'll even up with you for that, Dan Davis!"

Dan laughed happily.

"You needed the exercise. It will put you in good shape for climbing the Pyramids."

A few minutes more of riding brought them to the feet of these awe-inspiring monuments, and with the aid of their guides the jackies scrambled up the sides of the Great Pyramid.

"We must see the tombs on the inside of the Pyramid, fellows," cried Dan after they had descended by skips and jumps the long steps of the Pyramid.

"Yes," cried Sam. "I promised to give the regards of the stay-at-homes to the mummies."

The guides lighted long wax tapers, and they entered the dark, ill-ventilated passage leading into the great pile of masonry.

"Whew!" said Dan. "I don't wonder mummies have that dark-brown color, if they have baked in this oven a few hundred years. Guide, is there any one in here except our party?"

"No. Why?"

"I saw two men, I thought, in one of those passages to the right."

"It's nothing but a mummy ghost," suggested a shipmate.

All at once they emerged into a great high-domed chamber, the walls of which were covered with strange carvings.

"What station is this?" questioned Dan.

"The King's Chamber," replied the guide.

"What is the King's name?" he asked.

"Not know. Dead maybe two thousand years."

"Two thousand years? He must have known our boatswain," said Hickey solemnly.

The others began asking questions, and Dan, walking to the other side of the chamber, began examining the inscriptions on the walls. He was standing near a corridor when suddenly he became conscious of a shadow coming between himself and the light. He started, then peered into the long corridor.

"What are you looking for?" demanded Sam, who had come up behind Dan at that moment.

"I think there is some one out there," he replied. "I saw shadows again."

"Do you really think some of those old kings are nosing around here?"

Dan laughed softly.

"I'll risk their getting out. I think some of our fellows are playing tricks on us. What do you say to our turning the tables on them? We'll hide in the corridor, and give them a scare when they creep up to see where we are."

Davis and Hickey crept along on their hands and knees, chuckling softly over the scare they were about to give their mates.

"Sh-h-h-h," warned Dan suddenly, in a low voice. "I heard something."

"Was—was it the boys?"

"I don't know. I heard some one whisper, and it wasn't in English, either. Be careful."

The passageway had curved abruptly, going off in another direction, but in the intense darkness they did not notice this.

Suddenly Dan touched his friend's arm.

"The light in the King's Chamber has gone."

"Call out."

"No, no. We will turn and go back. We were foolish to try a thing of this sort."

Keeping close together, the boys began crawling rapidly. All at once Dan stopped.

"We surely should have reached the King's Chamber before this," he declared.

"Maybe we have gone on past it?"

"I think not. We should have recognized the place had we passed through it."

"Then there's only one thing to do—whoop her up until the mummies turn over."

"I guess you are right."

Dan uttered a loud hello. There was no answer. Sam shouted, with no better result.

"Sam, we've been left alone in the dark this time—we're lost in the Great Pyramid."

Meanwhile the other bluejackets had finished their tour and had emerged into the bright sunlight.

While taking up a collection to settle with the guide, Spunk McGraw, a friend of the Battleship Boys, suddenly looked up.

"See here, where's that red-headed boy?" he demanded.

"He's hidden so he won't have to hand out when the plate's passed," answered a joking voice.

"And Dan Davis is missing, too," said McGraw, with a scared look on his face.

"They're not going back on the train," one of the jackies volunteered. "They said they were going back part way on the camels."

"Oh, that's it, then," answered McGraw in a relieved tone. "Let's go to the station and find out what time we can get a train."

And no more thought was given to Dan and Sam until the boatswain's mate found them missing at rollcall back in Cairo that evening.

"Did they come back with you?" the mate questioned.

"No, sir," replied Spunk McGraw. "I think they were going back to the place where we change cars by way of the camels."

"They may have been held up on that camel ride, sir," spoke up one of the men, "but they may be on the train following. You can't keep Davis and Hickey in one place against their will for very long."

A ripple of laughter ran along the line at this, but when the next train came wheezing in with no Battleship Boys, the mate looked grave.

"It is my opinion that those men are lost in the Pyramid," he announced with solemn emphasis. "I want ten men to go back with me to find them. The rest of you will leave for Suez under McGraw's command on the midnight train."

Within half an hour he had procured an automobile and two Pyramid guides, and with his detail of jackies had departed for the Pyramids.

Back in the Pyramid the Battleship Boys were still lost and in utter darkness.

"What's the matter with our following the passageway back to the King's Chamber?" asked Sam Hickey.

"For the reason, Sam, that we do not know where the chamber is."

"I guess you're right," he agreed.

"Come along; we'll try it in this direction," said Dan. "Keep hold of my hand. We do not want to get separated."

The lads made their way along through corridor after corridor. They could see nothing save now and then when they lighted a match.

"Hark!"

Dan gripped his companion's arm sharply.

"I heard something again."

Their voices had dropped to whispers.

"It might have been some animal, and we have nothing to defend ourselves with," said Dan Davis.

"We have our knives," answered Sam.

"Yes; we'll use them if we meet any four-footed enemies. Strike another match, please."

Sam did so at once. Instantly something happened. As the match flared up, blinding them for the moment, Sam leaped into the air.

"Wow!" he howled. "Look ou——"

Dan uttered an exclamation before Sam had finished the sentence. Something had given him a violent push from behind. At the same instant Dan Davis was served in a similar manner. Instead of jumping, however, he whirled with the intention of grappling with his assailant, whoever he might be.

Another push sent him reeling backward. He grasped wildly for something to check his fall, but his hands slipped along the smooth rock.

"I must be going all of a mile a minute," thought the boy. "Poor Sam. Poor——"

Suddenly he felt his body leave the sloping rock and shoot into space. Then all at once everything became a blank.

Dan landed heavily and lay still, but in a few minutes he began to struggle with himself, fighting off an almost irresistible inclination to lie back and go to sleep again. A few minutes of this and he sat up.

"Oh, Sam! Hello, Sam!" he shouted.

"Hello yourself," answered a voice so close to Dan that he could not repress a start.

"Where are you?" cried Dan eagerly.

"That's what I've been trying to find out myself," answered the red-headed boy.

"Are you injured?"

"Injured? Not I. I'm going to strike a match. That's about the only thing about me that hasn't been struck sixteen times to the inch since I started in to shoot the chutes."

Lighting the match, he uttered an exclamation of delight. On one side of the place was a heap of rubbish. They touched a match to it, and a bright blaze rewarded their efforts.

"How did you happen to fall over, Sam?" Dan questioned.

"Just as you did, I guess. I was pushed."

"You know I told you some one was dogging our footsteps earlier in the afternoon."

For a moment Davis sat lost in thought.

"Let us push on, Sam," he finally said. "We may find our way out, and our mates can find us in one place as well as in another, if they find us at all."

Dan took one of the glowing sticks from the fire to light the way, and started out.

"We'd better follow along on this level. We shall never get back the way we came."

"All right; I'm ready."

"Sam, I think we're going down instead of up," said Dan after a few minutes.

"What's the odds? We might as well bury ourselves deep while we are about it."

Both lads laughed at the red-haired boy's grim joke, neither one thinking of whining over their dangerous situation.