THE TREASURE OF THE ANCIENTS.
Uncle Naboth was the first to speak.
“Tell me, sir,” said he, “why you have selected us to receive your
confidence.”
“I had two reasons,” replied Van Dorn. “One is that I am afraid. I left
Luxor and traveled to Cairo, trying to think of a way to secure the
treasure for myself. At Cairo I was shot at from a window and narrowly
escaped death. I came on here to Alexandria, as secretly as I could.
Last night I was set upon by a band of Arabs, among whom I recognized
the terrible Abdul Hashim. Had you not appeared at the same instant I
would certainly have been killed. It seems as if Providence had decreed
that we should meet. You have a swift vessel, bound for America, and I
have a great treasure to be secured and transported home. Assist me in
this emergency and your reward shall be greater than you could gain from
a dozen voyages.”
“This treasure,” said my father, slowly and reflectively, “belongs to
the Egyptian government, accordin’ to your own say-so.”
“Oh, no!” cried Van Dorn.
“I take it that way, from your statement.”
“I said the present laws of Egypt, enacted a few years ago, forbade any
relic of the old civilization to be taken out of the country. The Museum
will buy all my treasure, and give me an insignificant sum not at all
commensurate with its value; but what right has the Khedive to claim
what I have worked so hard to secure? In America the gems alone will
sell for millions.”
“But this is an Egyptian treasure,” I said. “The laws seem to me to be
just. What right have you, a foreigner, to remove this great wealth from
the country?”
“The right of discovery,” retorted the little Professor, promptly, with
an energetic bob of his head. “Who is the Khedive of Egypt? A Turk. A
foreigner like myself, if you please, who rules here as a dependant of
Turkey, and pays the Sultan eleven millions a year in tribute—a sum he
wrings from the remnant of the true Egyptians, and from the Arab and
other native population, by means of excessive taxes. This treasure once
belonged to Egypt, we will admit, and it was buried by the Egyptian
priests to save it from just such invaders as these Turks. But Egyptians
no longer rule Egypt, nor ever will again; so that in simple justice
this treasure belongs solely to its discoverer rather than to the
usurper in the land where it lies buried.”
“Still,” said Uncle Naboth, “we have this government to reckon with.
Morally, you may be entitled to the treasure, but legally the decrees of
the Khedive are inviolable. Eh? If we attempt to run away with this ’ere
treasure, an’ get caught, we can be punished as common thieves.”
“But we shall not be caught!” cried the Professor. “Mark you, no one in
Egypt suspects the existence of this treasure, so to take it will be
robbing no one—not even the Khedive.”
“Doesn’t Abdul Hashim suspect it?” I inquired.
“Yes; perhaps I should make an exception of Abdul Hashim; but his
information is at present confined to mere guessing, and he is too wily
and covetous ever to tell his suspicions to a government official. What
he wants is to get the treasure for himself, and the real battle, if we
meet opposition, will be between Abdul Hashim and us. We ought to have
killed him last night, when we had the chance; but unfortunately the dog
made his escape.”
“He’s a dangerous enemy,” observed Ned Britton.
“Only to the unarmed and helpless,” quickly replied the Professor. “A
half dozen Americans could defy his entire tribe. And it is possible we
shall get a chance to kill him before he makes more trouble.”
“You speak of murder very easily,” said my father.
“It is not murder to kill an Arab,” protested the Professor. “They are
but heathen men, wicked and cruel, and so numerous that a few of them
sent to perdition will never be missed. The English here have no more
hesitation in killing an Arab than in scotching a poisonous snake, and
the authorities seldom inquire into the manner of his death. As long as
the government remains in ignorance of my secret we are safe from
interference, except through this wild and worthless tribe led by Abdul
Hashim, and brave Americans have no cause to fear him. Moreover, there
is the treasure itself to be considered. Is it not worth while to risk
something to secure an immense fortune?”
“What proof have you,” asked Uncle Naboth, “of the existence of this
treasure?”
Van Dorn hesitated a moment, then unbuttoned his vest and took from
around his waist a leathern belt. This he laid carefully upon the table,
and opening its folds drew out a number of brilliant rubies.
“Here is my proof,” said he, offering the gems for inspection. “They are
a part of the treasure Lovelace took on that terrible night I have
described to you.”
We examined them. They were large and brilliant, but cut into squares
and oblongs, triangles and octagons, with smooth flat surfaces.
“These may be glass,” remarked Uncle Naboth, musingly.
“I am a lapidary,” said the Professor, his voice slightly trembling with
indignation. “I assure you they are the most splendid rubies in the
known world. Here are pearls. Even your ignorance will acknowledge their
genuineness.”
He produced, as he spoke, several superb pearls, as large as peas and
tinted in exquisite rose colors.
“Ah,” exclaimed Mr. Perkins, “I know pearls, all right; for I have
traded for years with the Philippine pearl fishers. You are a strange
man, Professor Van Dorn, to wish to risk your life for more of this
plunder. Here is a fortune in itself.”
Van Dorn shrugged his stooped shoulders, his red beard bristling with
scorn.
“Would you, then, advise me to allow the treasure of Karnak to remain
another two thousand years buried in the sands of the desert?” he asked.
“Are your big speculators in America satisfied to acquire a million, or
do they every one labor like slaves to make their million into a
billion? Men are satisfied with many things in this age, but never are
they satisfied with wealth. The more we have the more we strive to
obtain. But here—look at these ornaments. Can modern goldsmiths match
them?”
He drew out a golden necklace of magnificent workmanship, quaint in
design and wrought with a delicacy and skill that were wonderful. A
bracelet, two rings, and a diadem set with amethysts were also exhibited
to our admiring eyes.
“These,” said the Professor, “you must admit are both antique and
valuable; yet they are a mere sample of the immense treasure I have
discovered. There is enough, as I have told you, to make us all wealthy,
and I am willing to divide liberally in order to obtain your assistance.
But I shall not urge you. If you are too stupid or cowardly to accept my
offer, keep my secret and go about your business. No harm is done. There
will be thousands willing to undertake the adventure.”
He put the jewels and ornaments back into the belt and buckled it around
his waist, hiding it again underneath his vest. He leaned back in his
chair, lighted a cigarette, and glanced at our grave faces inquiringly.
“Be good enough to go on deck for a time, Professor,” said my father.
“We will talk the matter over among ourselves before venturing to give
you an answer.”
He rose without protest and retired, and at once we began an earnest
discussion of the proposal. The first point to settle was the legality
of the thing, and it seemed to us the Professor was right in his
contention that the present powers in Egypt, which had acquired the
country by wars of conquest, had no more moral right to claim the buried
treasure of the ancient priests of Karnak than had its recent
discoverers. The old religion based on the worship of Isis and Osiris
had disappeared from the earth and its votaries were long since dead or
dispersed. The hidden treasure, formerly the property of this religious
body, had now no legal claimants and belonged to whomsoever had the
fortune to find it and the courage to seize and hold it. That the
Khedive had made laws forbidding anyone to remove ancient treasure from
Egypt did not affect us in the least. We were free Americans and in no
way under the dominion of the Turks who had conquered Egypt. They might
exact tribute from this land and establish the claim of might to
whatever wealth the country contained; but it was our privilege to evade
this might if we chose to. There are true Egyptians yet living in Egypt,
but they are poor-spirited folk and are largely outnumbered by the
Arabs, Turks and other foreigners, so that the control of their native
land is doubtless lost to them forever.
Having thus satisfied our consciences that we were justified in
undertaking an adventure to secure this wealth, we faced the
consequences of failure or discovery. There was nothing to demand our
immediate return to America, and the time required by the undertaking
was therefore available. But the _Seagull_ represented a fortune to us,
and we hesitated to jeopardize her safety. According to international
treaty we were not safe from seizure in case the ship violated the laws
of Egypt; but there was a strong probability that the worst fate liable
to overtake us, if discovered, would be the confiscation of the
treasure. The Khedive would hesitate to involve his country in a dispute
with the United States by resorting to extreme measures. We were taking
a chance, of course; but the game seemed well worth the chance, and none
can expect to win who hesitates to risk a stake.
Having disposed of governmental interference we faced the question of a
war with Abdul Hashim and his tribe, and decided to contest the Arab’s
claim—which was not in any way equal to that of the Professor, according
to the story he had told us. We had before this encountered some
desperate adventures in strange lands and were not disposed to shrink
from a skirmish with these lawless Arabs, if they forced it upon us.
There remained, then, but two points to be settled: the best way to get
the treasure aboard ship, and our share in the division, once we had
safely transported it to America.
We recalled the Professor and asked him for his plans and proposals. He
was a queer little fellow, this Van Dorn; half coward and half bully;
but there was no doubt the man possessed a share of shrewd intelligence.
“If we undertake to go up the Nile, past Cairo and Assuit,” he said,
“and try to bring the treasure back to Alexandria, the chances are that
we should never succeed. This is the most populous portion of Egypt, and
government spies and the mounted police are everywhere. Had this been my
plan I should not have appealed to you to assist me. Your claim to
become my allies lies in the fact that you have a swift ship unknown in
these waters, a brave crew, and the American love for adventure. But the
ship is the most important possession of all.”
“You don’t expect us to sail up the Nile, do you?” I asked, impatiently.
“No, that is impossible,” was his quiet reply. “From here to Luxor is
seven hundred miles; but the Arabian Gulf, in the Red Sea, is only
ninety miles from where the treasure is hidden. You will take your ship
to Port Said, through the Suez Canal, and so down the Gulf to the small
and unimportant town of Koser, where there is a good harbor. Here we
shall hire camels which will take us in four days across the Arabian
desert to the treasure, which we shall load upon the camels and bring
back with us to the ship. We shall not appear at Karnak or Luxor at all,
you see, and shall encounter only the desert Bedouins, who are quite
friendly to Europeans. Nor need we even approach the ruins of Abdul
Hashim’s village. I know how to find the spot where the treasure lies,
and in that lonely place there will be none to spy upon us.”
“But how shall we find our way across the desert?” asked Uncle Naboth.
“Why, there still exists an ancient caravan route from Koser to Luxor,”
the Professor returned, “and we shall be able to secure guides who know
every step of the way. It will be a tedious journey; four days to go and
four to return; but, as I have said, the reward will be ample for such
insignificant hardships.”
“Your plan seems safe and practical,” observed my uncle. “I like the
idea. But now, Van Dorn, we must come to the most important point of
all. What do you offer us in return for the use of our ship, for our
services and for the expenses of the undertaking?”
“I will give you ten rubies and ten pearls,” said he. “They are of such
size and purity that you can easily sell them for ten thousand dollars.
That is an ample reward, it seems to me.”
I laughed, and the others—even to Archie—smiled as if amused. The little
Professor had spoken with an air of great condescension, as if
conferring upon us a rare favor.
“How much treasure is there?” asked my father.
“That will not matter to you,” retorted Van Dorn. “I will give you the
pearls and the rubies now, before we start. They shall be your wage.
Afterward, all the treasure we secure shall be my own exclusive
property.”
Uncle Naboth yawned—it was a habit he had when bored—and my father
slowly arose and stumped from the room.
“When will you go ashore, Professor?” I asked.
“What do you mean by that question?” he demanded, his face nearly as red
as his beard.
“Only that we intend to sail on our return voyage at sundown, and
probably you are not quite ready to go to America in our company. One of
the boats will land you on the quay whenever you please to go.”
He looked at me intently, his face now turned chalky white.
“Come, Archie,” said I, cheerily, “let’s go and see about unloading your
boxes.”
“Stay!” cried Van Dorn, suddenly. “What do you people demand?”
“We? Oh, sir, we make no demands at all. Your proposition was, as you
doubtless well knew, one it would be impossible for us to accept. But we
shall keep your secret, never fear, and the best proof is that we are
off for America. You are at liberty to go ashore and negotiate with
others.”
“And be murdered by Abdul Hashim,” he added, bitterly.
“Ah; that is your affair,” I replied, indifferently.
I went on deck with Archie and directed the men in getting the Ackley
cases hoisted from the hold and swung aboard a small lighter, which
landed them safely on the quay. I intended to send the boy’s two big
telescopes with the goods, but Archie objected.
“Wait a bit,” he whispered to me, soberly. “I haven’t yet decided to go
ashore.”
“Not to deliver your father’s goods to the merchants at Luxor?” I asked,
with a smile.
“No. See here, Sam; I’m in on this deal,” he announced, earnestly. “If
you fellows go fortune-hunting you must take me along.”
“Oh, you want a share, do you?” I said, sarcastically.
“I won’t refuse a small slice, Sam; but for the most I’m after is the
fun. This is the biggest deal I ever heard of, and it promises a lot of
sport before you’re through with it. Let me in, will you?” he added,
pleadingly.
“I’m willing, Archie. But it’s likely we can’t come to terms with the
Professor. He don’t want to divvy fair, you see.”
The little man was now walking disconsolately about the deck. Apparently
he was in a state of deep dejection.
I went with Archie to the quay, where he paid the import duties on his
father’s wares and arranged to have them forwarded by the railway to
Luxor, where they were consigned to himself.
“You see, we don’t know these Greek and Syrian merchants,” he explained,
“and we can’t trust dealers in humbug goods. That’s why father wanted me
to come along. I’m to collect for the stuff when I deliver it, and also
take orders for anything more they want us to manufacture.”
“But don’t you intend to travel with the goods?” I asked.
“No. They can wait at Luxor for me until we’ve decided what to do about
the Professor’s treasure. According to his story it lies buried only a
few miles from Luxor, so I may be able to attend to both errands at the
same time.”
Ah; if we only knew what this plan was destined to cost us!