This gift made the boy feel very
proud, and he said to the chief:
"You're all right, old man, even if you do look like a pirate. If you
can manage to capture that city, so I can get my electrical devices
back, I'll consider you a trump as long as I live."
The chief thought this speech was intended to express Rob's gratitude,
so he bowed solemnly in return.
During the night that followed upon the first engagement of the Turks
and Tatars, the boy lay awake trying to devise some plan to capture
the city. The walls seemed too high and thick to be either scaled or
broken by the Tatars, who had no artillery whatever; and within the
walls lay all the fertile part of the oasis, giving the besieged a
good supply of water and provisions, while the besiegers were obliged
to subsist on what water and food they had brought with them.
Just before dawn Rob left his tent and went out to look at the great
wall. The stars gave plenty of light, but the boy was worried to find
that, according to Eastern custom, no sentries or guards whatever had
been posted and all the Tatars were slumbering soundly.
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