“Wait, Max, I’ll try to help you. If I can just-”
There was a loud crash. Then silence again.
“Thank you, 99,” Max said. “That worked very well.”
“All I did, Max, was bump into something.”
“I know. But it helped. What ever you bumped into must have been fairly solid. It hit von BOOM. He’s unconscious-and I have my foot back.”
“Max! Is he hurt?”
“He’s fine. He has a good pulse and he’s breathing deeply and evenly. Now, for Heaven’s sake, let’s get out of here!”
Between them, Max and 99 lifted the sack. They left the tent, then the camp, and headed out into the desert.
“This is a snap,” Max said enthusiastically. “The weather is cool, the baggage is light, the moon is out, your daddy’s rich, and your mammy’s good-lookin’.”
“What, Max?”
“Sorry, 99-I got a little carried away.”
“But what about in the morning, Max, when the sun comes out, and the moon goes in? The weather will be hot, and the baggage will seem heavy.”
“What about daddy and mammy?”
“Max!”
“We’ll just have to rely on gumption and fortitude, 99. It will be tough, I know. But if we grit our teeth, keep our chins up high, and grin, nothing can stop us.”
“We have no water, Max.”
“We couldn’t drink it, anyway.”
“Why not, Max?”
“99, have you ever tried to drink while gritting your teeth, keeping your chin up, and grinning? It’s impossible.”
Through the rest of the night, they pushed on. By sunrise, they had left the camp far behind, out of sight. Gradually, the sun became hotter. Their pace slowed. Soon, they were scarcely able to drag themselves forward.
“Max. .” 99 gasped “. . couldn’t we put our burden down?”
“We can’t leave von BOOM here, 99. Not after carrying him all this distance.”
“Max. . I meant. . can’t he walk? Why do we have to carry him?”
“Oh. As a matter of fact, I was just going to suggest that.”
They lowered the sack to the sand, then Max opened it. From the blanket, Abdul Bim-Bam-Bom peered up at them.
“Talk about your mirages, 99,” Max said. “I’ll bet you can’t guess who the Professor looks like to me this morning.”
“Max! It isn’t von BOOM!” 99 wailed.
“I was afraid of that,” Max said glumly. He addressed Abdul Bim-Bam-Bom. “All right, fella, I think you owe us an explanation,” he said crossly. “What’s the idea of trying to pass yourself off as Professor von BOOM. You’ll never get away with it, you know. You don’t know a thing about rocket fuels.”
“Grgmpphblt!” Abdul replied.
“I think you better un-gag him, Max,” 99 said.
Max removed the gag.
“I’m an innocent bystander,” Abdul protested. “I was sound asleep when suddenly somebody gagged me and rolled me up in a blanket. I fought like a wildcat. I had him by the foot. But then I was hit by a truck.”
“Abdul, what were you doing in von BOOM’s tent?” 99 asked.
“That was my agent’s fee,” Abdul replied. “Instead of paying cash, he told me I could sleep one night in the Star’s tent. What a story to tell my grandchildren. Now, of course, it’s even a better story. There I was, sound asleep in the Star’s tent, when suddenly a gang of desert bandits fell upon me, gagged me, and rolled me up in a pure silk sheet stolen from the Shah’s palace. I fought like two-dozen wildcats. I had about nine of them by the leg-up to the kneecap. But then I was hit by a low-flying super-sonic jet. Well, I was stunned for a second. But I was a strong, healthy lad in those days-about six-foot-seven, enormous muscles-”
“Enough!” Max broke in.
“Don’t you want to hear the part where, when I was a boy, I had to walk a mile to school every day through twelve feet of snow?” Abdul said.
“What I want to hear is the part where you guide us back to the camp so we can make another try at kidnapping von BOOM,” Max replied.
Abdul looked around. “I’m your prisoner-I have no choice, I guess. Which way is it?”
“You’re the guide,” Max reminded him.
“I’m a talent agent,” Abdul reminded him. “No wonder you’re lost-you don’t even know a talent agent from a tourist guide.”
“Oh, Max. .” 99 wept. “What can we do?”
“Let’s wait for him to come to us,” Abdul suggested. “As soon as he finishes this picture, he’ll be looking for another job. And who will he come crying to on hands and knees? His agent.”
“That won’t be for six months,” Max said. “Without water, I don’t think we’ll make it.”
Abdul nodded, agreeing. “I don’t even think we could make it without ice cream sodas,” he said. “All we can do is hope for another sand storm.”
“How will that help?” 99 asked.
“Well, the last one brought us a ship,” Abdul replied. “If it can do it once, it can do it again.”
“I hardly think we can count on that,” Max said. “That’s the kind of luck that-”
“Max!” 99 suddenly cried. “Look! That dark cloud! Another sand storm!”
“99, that’s very nice, but it isn’t a sand storm we need. What we need is-”
“Max! Look! Sailing in front of the storm! The ship!”
Max squinted into the distance. “Yes. . and isn’t that. . there in the rigging. . isn’t that Professor von BOOM?”
From across the desert came a shout: “Thar She Blows!”
“He’s got his line down perfect,” Abdul cackled. “Is that a Star or is that a Star!”
“All right, get ready everybody,” Max said. “When the ship gets here, we’ll all grab a rope and climb aboard.”
“Not me,” Abdul said. “I stay here.”
“But you’ll die out here in the desert,” 99 said.
“Better than getting aboard a ship,” Abdul replied. “For you, it’s all right. But for me, it would be very dangerous. That ship has a hole in the bottom, you know.”
“What does that have to do with it?” 99 asked.
“I can’t swim,” Abdul explained.
“Now!” Max shouted.
The ship had reached them. Max and 99 ran alongside, then caught hold of ropes that were dangling down from the deck and, hand over hand, pulled themselves aboard. The wind whipped at them, swirling sand in their faces.
“Get below!” Max shouted to 99. “I’ll get von BOOM!”
“Max. . you don’t have to. . he’s coming down. .”
A few seconds later, von BOOM appeared, struggling against the wind to keep his balance. “I quit!” he shouted. “Get yourself another Moby Dick, von Sydesheau!”
“I’m Smart!” Max shouted back.
“I’m not as dumb as I used to be, either!” von BOOM shrieked. “You’ll never get me up in that rigging in a sand storm again!” He grabbed hold of Max, enraged. “ I could have been killed! I could have been blown overboard! And I can’t swim!”
“All right! All right!” Max shrieked back. “If it makes you happy-you’re fired!”
