1 Sallah: {outside the cell} Monty! At last, I found you!
1 Monty: Sallah! Get us out of here! What took you so long?
2 Sallah: Sorry Monty. A shipment of cherries arrived at the marketplace, and you know how much I like them...
3 Monty: Yes, I remember... you eat them whole. But that doesn't take long. Why weren't you here sooner?
4 Sallah: I had to make a pit-stop.

And for this pun you can blame Glen Barnett.

---

2012-09-20 Rerun commentary: This is the second appearance of Sallah, after a brief one-off cameo in strip #63. Strip #63 started as a disconnected gag, unrelated to the previous strip in the Cliffhangers theme, but then began a story arc involving the Joneses seeking the Holy Grail. Interestingly, although the very next strip after #63 appears immediately after that one in the story, in the same room where Monty has just untied his father, Sallah has mysteriously vanished - and we never see him again until now.

This essentially becomes Sallah's schtick for the rest of the comic. He shows up exactly when needed, then just melts into the background mysteriously when not needed any more. Great ability for a character!