midnight
asked Lathrop , only half awake , as the boys , with the fleetness and endurance that desperate need lends , plunged deeper and deeper into the forest . `` Why , that some cannibal tribe that Muley-Hassan pillaged for slaves at some time has trailed him and attacked him , '' hazarded the reporter . How near he came to the truth our readers know . The band that had made the midnight attack was the same that had painstakingly trailed Muley-Hassan since he destroyed the boys ' camp on the river bank . `` But the Arabs have beaten them off ? '' queried Lathrop . `` Evidently , '' replied Billy , as the volleys died out and victorious Arab shouts were beard .