There is an old legend to the effect that whoever molests the final
resting-place of a Pharaoh will be afflicted with the curse of the
ancient rulers; and recent events have revived this superstition.
After thirty-three years of patient, ceaseless toil, Howard Carter, the
now famous Egyptologist, discovered the tomb of a powerful Pharaoh. He
was a very sincere man, and devoted to his life work all of his energy.
Just when success and reward for his labor was within his grasp, he was
stricken down with a baffling disease. His condition became very serious
and physicians said that if he lived he would probably be an invalid for
a long time. Shortly before Carter’s illness, Lord Carnarvon, who was
financing the expedition, and who was personally supervising the work,
suddenly died.
Nobody seems to know just what killed him. Some attribute his death to
the effects of an insect bite, some say that he was poisoned by some
ancient death-potion with which he came in contact while in the tomb, and
others declare that his death was the vengeance of King Tut-Ankh-Amen.
If such a legend could be credited anywhere, the Theban valley would
be that place. By day nothing disturbs the place except the sound of
the pick-axes and shovels of the native workmen. By night the stillness
is broken only by the hooting of owls and the cries of jackals and
wild-cats. The spectator is awed by the solemnity of the great,
precipitous sandstone cliffs that stand sentinel on either side of the
valley. In the midst of the silence and solitude one feels himself
standing on the brink of two worlds, gazing into a vista of the unknown.
_The Author of “Whispering Wires” Offers Another Thriller to WEIRD TALES
Readers_—