The Emir welcomes Tintin and Haddock. It then transpires, from his explanation, that there is an ongoing slave trade through Khemed that is operated by the international businessman called "the Marquis di Gorgonzola", who falsely offers transport to African Muslims on the pilgrimage to Mecca, but then sells them into slavery somewhere along the journey. Tintin, Haddock and Snowy leave for the Red Sea coast and board a sambuk for Mecca, but are attacked by fighter planes. Tintin shoots one down and rescues its mercenary Estonian pilot, Piotr Skut. The four are picked up by di Gorgonzola's yacht, the "Scheherazade", but are soon offloaded onto the SS "Ramona", a tramp steamer. Di Gorgonzola, it turns out, is "another" of Tintin's previous adversaries, Roberto Rastapopoulos. The "Ramona" is one of Rastapopoulos' slave trading ships, and when a fire breaks out aboard it during the night, the ship's commander Allan and his crew cowardly flee, leaving Tintin, Haddock, Snowy and Skut aboard along with a consignment of African slaves.