THE PROFESSOR’S SECRET.
At breakfast Professor Van Dorn was silent and preöccupied, and as soon
as the meal was over asked for a private interview with the person in
authority aboard the _Seagull_. We went to the Captain’s room, a large
cabin where all could be comfortably seated. None of us had much
confidence in the stranger’s romantic assertions of the night before,
but we were all curious to know what tale the man had to relate, and
were disposed to listen. Archie’s eyes bunged out so far from his round
face that I took pity on the boy and asked him to join us. Ned Britton
came, too, for he had been present at Van Dorn’s rescue and we trusted
him implicitly.
When we were seated and the Professor had assured himself we could not
be overheard, he at once asked permission to relate the business that
had brought him to Egypt and the strange experiences he had encountered
here. We told him to fire away and we would hear his story.
“Gentlemen,” said he, “you must know that I hold the honorable chair of
Egyptology in my university. Since my youth I have studied arduously the
history of this most ancient people, from whom sprung the modern
civilization of which we boast today.” He spoke pedantically, and I
began to think he might be a real professor, after all. “To perfect my
studies my college generously sent me here, three years ago, and soon
after my arrival I became acquainted with Professor John Lovelace, whose
famous works on ancient Egypt you have doubtless read.”
We had not read them, but we let the assertion pass.
“Over here,” continued the narrator, “he was usually called Lovelace
Pasha, but he was not entitled to the distinction except in the
imagination of the natives, who had a high respect for his intelligence
and industry. At the time we met Lovelace he was searching diligently
but secretly for a vast treasure, and he took me into his confidence and
engaged me to assist him. You must know that in the sixth century before
Christ Egypt was at its height of wealth and greatness; and the most
important treasures were at that time in the possession of the priests
of the great temple of Karnak. They consisted of wonderful gems,
countless jewels and ornaments of gold and silver and, above all, a
library of papyrus rolls relating the history of Egypt during that now
unknown period between the sixth and twelfth dynasties.
“At this time, when the Egyptians had grown as proud and insolent as
they were wealthy, that terrible Persian, Cambyses, invaded the country
with a conquering host and steadily advanced up the Nile toward Karnak
and Thebes, laying waste the country as he came and despoiling the
temples of their wealth. The legends say that the priests of Karnak,
terror stricken, threw all their treasure into the Sacred Lake which
adjoins their temple, in order to keep it from falling into the hands of
the invader; and, as the lake is bottomless, the treasure has never yet
been recovered.
“Now, sirs, Professor Lovelace, a shrewd and far-seeing man, doubted the
truth of this story. It was an undeniable fact that the great treasure
of Karnak was hidden somewhere by the priests, and that Cambyses put all
the holy men to the sword because they would not reveal their secret.
Also it is historical that the treasure has not since been discovered,
and that the conqueror was unable to lay hands upon it after all his
efforts to do so. During the centuries that have passed the Sacred Lake
has been dragged many times, with the hope of finding the immense wealth
of Karnak; but it is now known that the quicksands at the bottom of the
lake would have swallowed it up instantly, so naturally all these
attempts have proved absolute failures.
“My friend Lovelace, pondering on this queer story, came to believe that
the wily priests had never thrown their treasure into the lake at all.
No one knew better than they that to place it there was to lose it
forever; furthermore, the most valuable part of the treasure consisted
of the historic papyri—the bark rolls on which the ancient Egyptians
inscribed their records. To place these in water would be to destroy
them; thus the falsity of the tale was evident. It was clear, my friend
decided, that the priests had hidden the treasure somewhere in the
desert, near Karnak, where the shifting sands would leave no evidence of
the place to betray it to the keen eyes of the Persian. But they spread
the report that it had been cast into the lake, so if any traitor might
be among the people the truth would not be revealed.
“Since Cambyses put every priest of Karnak to death, in his unreasoning
anger, there was none to recover the treasure when the Persian was gone
home again, from which Professor Lovelace conjectured that it still lay
secure in its original hiding-place.
“But where was that hiding place? That was the question to be solved.
For years he sought in the desert without success but with rare
patience, and at just about the time I arrived in Egypt he obtained a
clue to guide him.
“On one of the ruined temple walls, hidden away in an unimportant
corner, is carved a diagram which to an ordinary observer appeared to
mean nothing at all. But Lovelace studied it and came to the conclusion
that the diagram described the spot where the treasure was hidden. There
was a picture of a high arch, called in Egypt a pylon; and through this
picture, from one corner diagonally across to another corner, a line was
chiseled. This line extended far beyond the pylon, past a group of three
pictured palm trees, and then ended in a cross. Do you follow me,
gentlemen?” with an eager, nervous glance into our faces.
Uncle Naboth nodded, but he looked bewildered. Archie’s face wore a
perfectly blank expression. My father was smoking placidly and looking
out of the cabin window. Said I:
“We are not very familiar with Egyptian history, Professor; but I think
we catch the drift of your story. Pay out the cable, sir, and we’ll
grasp what we can of it.”
He seemed relieved, saying:
“Very well, my boy. Egyptian history is very fascinating, but this is
neither the time nor the place for me to instruct you in it. Still, it
is necessary that you understand something of the importance of the
proposition I am going to make you, and I will be as clear as possible
in my descriptions. The arch, or pylon, referred to in the picture, had
three square towers, to distinguish it from many others, and after
searching long among the ruins of Karnak, which cover many acres,
Lovelace Pasha and I found one which, though partly demolished, still
had one of the characteristic towers left, with traces of the others.
Taking these as our guide we drew an imaginary line from corner to
corner, as in the diagram, and taking our compass we started out to
follow this imaginary line across the desert. Three miles away we found,
to our great joy, the group of palms, very ancient, without doubt, but
still standing, and near to these was a small oasis watered by a tiny
spring.
“The question now remaining was, how far beyond the three palms was the
point marked on the diagram by the cross—the point where the treasure
had been buried? We were obliged to work very cautiously, for at this
oasis lived a small but fierce tribe of desert Arabs having for their
sheik, or ruler, one Abdul Hashim—the same devil who nearly murdered me
last night. The Arabs were curious to know what we were after, for they
are great thieves and often steal the contents of an ancient tomb after
some lucky excavator has discovered it. So we kept our secret from them,
until finally they became so angry that they would have driven us away
from their neighborhood had not Professor Lovelace secured an order from
the Khedive granting him the privilege of excavating and exploring in
certain sections of the desert for relics of Egypt’s ancient
civilization. The Khedive will always grant these licenses, permitting
the explorer to work at his own expense in the interests of science; but
when a discovery has been made the laws oblige us to give or sell
everything to the National Museum at Cairo, where they pay only the most
insignificant prices because there is no other legal way in which one
may dispose of ancient treasure or relics.
“But that absurd law did not concern us at the time; what we were eager
for was to discover the hidden treasure of Karnak, and to avoid the
hostile Arabs we worked mostly during the clear moonlit nights, when all
the tribe were asleep. We had sand-augers made, with which we burrowed
into the sand to the foundation of rock underneath, striving to find
some obstruction to indicate where the treasure was buried. By means of
our compass we were enabled to follow a straight line, and we worked
slowly and carefully for a distance of five miles beyond the oasis, and
then back again, without any definite result. Sometimes we would strike
an obstruction and dig down only to find a point of rock or a loose
boulder, and the task seemed to me, after a few months, to be endless
and impracticable. But Lovelace would not give up. He was positive he
was on the right track, and when I declared I had had enough of the job
and was going back to Cairo, he became suspicious of me, and threatened
to kill me if I deserted him.
“This was my first suspicion that his mind had become unbalanced.
“‘You know too much, Van Dorn, to be permitted to go away and blab my
secrets to others,’ he said. I assured him I should keep a closed mouth,
but the fellow was so crazy over his idea that he would not trust me. He
was a big man, determined and masterful, and I had to obey him whether I
wanted to or not. I stuck to the search, though I became afraid of my
companion.
“Well, sirs, not to bother you with details which are to you
unimportant, I will say that finally, after more than two years of
patient search, we chanced upon the treasure. My auger one day stuck in
the sand and could not be withdrawn. Digging down we found that the
point had plunged into a bronze ring and become fast. Lovelace gave a
howl of joy at sight of the ring, for he knew then that our search was
ended.
“It was after midnight, with bright stars shining down to light us as we
worked. We cleared away the sand to the depth of more than four feet,
and found the ring, duly attached to a large block of granite that
rested on the rock foundation.”
“Is there a layer of rock under the desert sands, then?” I inquired.
“Yes; in this section of the country,” was the answer. “Archeologists
will tell you that originally the earth was covered by a vast table-land
of solid rock such as we now call sandstone. The erosion of wind and
weather caused bits of this rock to crumble. The simoons caught them and
whirled them around, breaking off other particles of rock and crumbling
them into sand. As ages passed the sand increased in volume, until now
the desert is covered with it to a depth of from two to six feet, and
sometimes even more. Often the winds blow this sand into billows,
leaving the bare table-land of rock to be seen stretching for miles and
miles.
“But to return to my story. The block of granite was heavy, measuring
three by six feet on the surface and being more than two feet in
thickness. Three bronze rings were imbedded in it, but pry and lift as
we would we could not budge the huge stone an inch. It was evident that
we must have help, so we covered up the stone again, marked the spot
carefully, and went back to the Arab village.
“Next morning Lovelace bargained with the sheik, Abdul Hashim, for the
use of two of his men to assist us. Also we were obliged to send to
Luxor for four stout staves to use as levers. You may well imagine that
all this excited the wonder of the Arabs, and I doubted if Lovelace
would be able to keep his secret from them. However, he appeared to
attach no importance to this danger, and the next evening we set out for
our buried stone, accompanied by our assistants bearing the oaken
staves. We quickly dug away the sand and cleared the stone, and then we
four used the levers together and by straining our muscles to the utmost
managed to lift the huge slab of granite until it stood on edge.
“Underneath was a rock cavity, carefully chiseled out by hand, and at
first we saw only a mass of dried reeds brought from the Nile bank.
Removing these we came upon heavy layers of rotted cloth, of the kind
that was once used in Egypt for wrapping mummies. But after this padding
was dragged away the treasure became visible and Lovelace’s hands shook
with excitement while he examined it. First there were many rolls of
papyrus, carefully swathed in bandages; then several Canopic jars of
pure gold, each containing quarts of wonderful pearls, rubies and
emeralds; and finally a vast collection of wrought jewelry, gold and
silver ornaments, some packed in rude wooden boxes which were old and
falling to decay and others scattered loosely over them and filling
every crevice.
“Lovelace said not a word while we were examining this vast treasure,
the most remarkable collection that has come down to us from antiquity.
His face was white and set and except for the trembling of his hands he
kept himself under perfect control. The eyes of the Arabs, however,
glittered with cupidity, and I caught them exchanging significant
glances.
“The Professor took a couple of handfuls of rubies and pearls and thrust
them carelessly into his pockets. He selected a few golden ornaments of
exquisite workmanship, and replaced all the rest of the treasure, with
its padding, in the rock cavity. When this had been done he commanded us
to replace the granite slab, which we did, tipping it forward so that it
again covered the orifice. Our next task was to fill in the sand, and as
a light breeze was blowing we knew that in an hour the desert would show
no marks of the excavation we had so recently made. The levers we left
lying beside the granite slab, buried deep in the sand.
“Lovelace now motioned the Arabs to return toward their village, and
they set out eagerly enough, we following close behind them. But after
we had proceeded a few hundred yards Lovelace Pasha drew his revolver
and calmly shot both men dead.
“‘Now, Van Dorn,’ he said to me, ‘help me to bury this carrion.’
“Horrified as I was at the murderous act I hastened to obey, for there
was something strange about the Professor that night—a steely, cruel
gleam in his usually kindly eyes—that recalled my former suspicions and
made me fear that his great discovery had actually driven him mad.
“Silently we dug away the sand where the men had fallen and covered them
up, smoothing the surface afterward as well as we were able. We
proceeded to the village.
“‘Where are my children?’ demanded the sheik, sternly.
“‘Gone away on a far errand,’ said Lovelace.
“It was true enough, but Abdul Hashim was dissatisfied and suspicious.
We slept late the next morning, and meantime the sheik had sent spies
upon our trail. The jackals had dug up the bodies of the murdered Arabs
and had half devoured them when their comrades reached the spot.
“It was open war between the tribe and us. We occupied a small stone
house at the edge of the village. It had but one door and no windows,
being merely a bare room thatched with palm leaves. When we heard the
tribe running toward us with wild cries we knew the climax had arrived.
Lovelace stood in the doorway and kept the Arabs at bay with his
revolvers, but he did not know how long he would be able to hold out. He
gave me the gems and gold ornaments and told me to escape and make my
way to Luxor for help. I was instructed to put the treasure into the
bank, gather a rescue party, and return as speedily as possible. Luxor
was distant only four miles across the desert.
“While the Arabs were watching in front of the house I stood on the
Professor’s shoulders, broke through the thatch at the rear, and dropped
from the top of the stone wall to the sands beneath. While he returned
to the entrance to distract their attention by a shot, I darted away
toward Luxor and was soon safe from pursuit, even had I chanced to be
observed.
“I performed my errand quickly and returned with a detachment of mounted
police lent me by the governor of the city, for Professor Lovelace was a
well-known explorer and under the protection of the Khedive. We arrived
too late. I found only the Professor’s dead body, terribly mutilated by
the knives of the Arabs. They had tricked him in some way during my
absence, and so obtained their revenge.
“Abdul Hashim calmly told the officers that Lovelace Pasha had gone mad,
and was slain by them in self-defense. He pointed to two dead men and
several wounded to prove the truth of his assertion. I told another
story, as you may imagine, but with no hint of the treasure. Shortly
afterward I had the satisfaction of inducing the governor to raze Abdul
Hashim’s village to the ground, so that not one of the rude stones
remained upon another, while the tribe was driven farther into the
desert to seek new quarters.
“Fortunately I had not banked the sample treasure we had taken, not
wishing to delay my friend’s rescue, so that now I found myself the sole
possessor of any knowledge relating to the great discovery. It has
remained my personal secret until this hour, when I have confided it to
you, gentlemen, in order to induce you to assist me.”
He paused, as if the tale was ended, and for a time we, his listeners,
remained silent and thoughtful. The story had impressed me, for one,
greatly, and it had seemed to ring true until he came to that row with
the Arabs. There were some unlikely statements about the death of
Lovelace and Van Dorn’s peculiar escape from the village, but I
reflected that my ignorance of the ways of this people might well
account for any seeming improbabilities that lurked in the story.