A DASH FOR LIBERTY
That the rascals had been waiting for Don was evident from the fact
that they showed no surprise at the meeting. On the contrary, there was
a look of evil determination on their faces that betrayed a deliberate
plan. It was evident that they had been lurking about the Phalos villa,
had seen the boy depart, noted his route and planned to waylay him on
his return.
“So here you are,” snarled Tezra, thrusting his face close to Don’s.
“Don’t seem to be anywhere else, do I?” answered Don, with an airiness
that he was far from feeling.
“You will wish you were, before we get through with you,” growled
Nepahak, at the same time putting his hand to his belt.
Don had been thinking rapidly. Had the revolver he was carrying in
his pocket been loaded, it would have put him more on a par with his
enemies. But it contained no cartridges. He had seen that when he
picked it up.
Revolvers, however, have more uses than one. Don, who was as quick as
lightning, plucked it from his pocket and threw it with all his force
at Tezra’s head. It struck that worthy full between the eyes, and he
went down with a crash.
Scarcely waiting to see the result of the blow, Don lashed out with
both fists at Nepahak. The latter had been staggered at the sudden
downfall of his more dominant companion, to whom he played the role of
jackal. He had no stomach for punishment, and, bewildered by the storm
of blows that Don rained on him, made scarcely more than a pretext at
resistance. In a moment he had turned and made off with as much speed
as his short legs could master.
Tezra was trying to stagger to his feet. Had he been unconscious,
Don would have stayed and done what he could for him, even though he
was his enemy. As it was, Don picked up the revolver, with a mental
blessing for the service it had rendered him, and hurried away until he
had reached a broad and brightly lighted thoroughfare. Then he abated
his speed, though still walking rapidly, until he reached the villa of
Phalos.
“What’s up?” asked his Uncle Frank quickly, as he noted Don’s panting
breath and his flushed face.
“Had a run in with those two beauties, Tezra and Nepahak,” explained
Don, sinking into a chair and tossing the revolver on the table.
“Tezra and Nepahak!” exclaimed the professor. “Have those birds of evil
omen turned up again?”
“Very much so,” answered Don.
“Are you hurt?” asked the captain anxiously.
“Not a bit,” was the answer. “Only winded. I beat it out of the
neighborhood while the going was good.”
“What became of the skunks?” asked Brick.
“The last I saw of them, Nepahak was legging it down the street and
Tezra was just getting up from the sidewalk.”
“I’m afraid you’ve been fighting again,” said Brick, in mock reproof
but with vast delight.
“Tell us just what happened,” urged Professor Bruce.
“Those fellows stepped out of a dark alley and held me up,” replied
Don. “Told me they were going to make me wish I was somewhere else.
As a matter of fact, that’s just what I was wishing. I might have
parleyed with them, but Nepahak was reaching for a knife. I remembered
what you’ve told me about getting in the first blow, Uncle Frank, so
I soaked Tezra with the revolver. Then I lammed into Nepahak, and he
started running. I thought that was a good thing, so I started running
too--in the opposite direction. That’s all.”
“That’s all!” mimicked Brick. “Knocked the daylights out of both of
them. That’s all!”
“It seems to be quite enough,” said the professor, with a smile.
“You’re all there, my boy, and I’m proud of you. Trust the Sturdys to
give a good account of themselves and live up to their name,” observed
the captain. “But it makes me uneasy to learn that Tezra and Nepahak
have turned up again. I’m afraid it bodes no good for our friend Phalos
or the purpose of our expedition.”
Their host came in at that moment and caught the names of his enemies.
“What is it I hear about them?” he asked, with a worried face. “Are
they in Cairo?”
“They were, up to a few minutes ago,” replied Don, and repeated the
essential parts of his adventure. Phalos listened intently.
“I’m glad you came so well out of it,” he remarked, when Don had
finished. “But it simply shows that my foreboding was correct when I
told you they would not easily relinquish their purpose. It is possible
that they meant to extort from you all that you knew about our proposed
trip and then do away with you. The river was close at hand, and it has
served as a cover for many tragedies.”
“Could you not set the police on their tracks and put the villains in
jail?” queried the professor.
“I suppose I could,” replied Phalos. “But I hesitate to do that,
because of the publicity that would attend to it. The reason for their
attempts on me and this last attack on Don might come to light, and
it would thus become known that I have this secret about the Tombs of
Gold, or that Tezra and Nepahak suspect I have. And I want to keep that
from the public at all hazards.”
“How did those fellows learn that you had such a secret?” asked Don,
voicing a question that had been more than once in the mind of each
member of the party.
“I lay it to a thievish servant I once had,” returned their host. “I
made two copies of the inscription. One of these I kept always locked
in the safe, of which I alone know the combination. The other was also
usually deposited in the safe, but I took it out frequently to study it.
“One day, when I was looking it over, I was summoned suddenly out of
the room on urgent business. Shortly after I returned I found that one
of the sheets was missing. I searched for it everywhere, but could find
no trace of it. I examined all the servants. All denied any knowledge
of it. But one of them was so evasive and flustered that I felt sure he
was the guilty one. I caught him later directly in the act of stealing
household articles and discharged him.”
“And your theory about the missing sheet is what?” asked the professor.
“That the man, knowing the store I set by the manuscript, stole it with
the idea of selling it,” replied Phalos. “He did not dare to take it
all, but thought that one sheet would not be missed. Some time later I
saw him on the street in close consultation with Tezra and Nepahak, who
have an evil reputation in this city.”
“What was on the missing sheet?” asked the captain.
“Just enough to tell that the inscription bore on the tombs of
Ras-Ameses,” replied Phalos. “Everybody in Egypt knows that his tomb
has never been discovered and that it is supposed to contain fabulous
riches. Luckily there was nothing on the stolen paper giving the
slightest clue as to where the tomb was to be found.”
“That was a bit of luck, but a precious one,” observed Professor Bruce.
“Yes,” answered Phalos, nodding his head. “But it was easy to jump to
the conclusion that the rest of the manuscript told the story that
the thieves were so anxious to know. They felt sure that I was in
possession of the secret. Hence their persistent attempts to wrest it
from me.”
“I see,” said the captain. “Tezra and Nepahak believed that if they
could find that tomb they would be rich for life.”
“And I have no doubt they would,” returned their host. “Rich beyond the
dreams of avarice.”
“Well, they’ll have a sweet time getting the best of us,” boasted Don.
The captain laughed, then, the look coming into his eyes that more than
once had made his enemies quail, he observed:
“You are right, Don. They certainly will.”
“I believe it,” said Phalos, with a courteous inclination of his head.
“And my mind is more at rest than it has been for months, now that I
have such valuable reinforcements. All we can do now is to keep our
eyes open and deal with those rascals as opportunity offers.”
By the next afternoon, the preparations of the party were completed,
and they embarked on the dahabiyeh, which was manned by a crew in which
the owner had complete confidence.
Their voyage up the storied river was replete with beauty and romance.
All the glory of ancient Egypt seemed embodied in that wonderful
stream, that is in some respects the most remarkable river in the
world. The senses of the Americans were fairly steeped in its glamour
and mystery as they sat under the awnings in the day, with the sunlight
falling on the rippling surface and reflected in a thousand diamond
glints, or at night, when the full moon flooded it with solemn splendor.
But the witchery of the mighty river could not divert Don’s thoughts
from his father.
Was he still alive? Had he succumbed to hardships? Was he wandering
bewildered and dazed under the scorching suns of that foreign country?
What had befallen him? Where would they find him, if they found him at
all? And even if he were discovered and taken home, would all the skill
in the world be able to restore the splendid mind he had been dowered
with at birth?
All these questions kept tormenting Don without ceasing, and he had a
furious impatience for the end of the journey. His heart leaped with
joy when they finally reached Luxor, on the site of the former city
of Thebes, the magnificent capital in ancient times of the kingdom of
Egypt.
Dusk was still lingering in the sky when the dahabiyeh drew up to the
city, but it was still light enough to see across the river the massive
cliffs that hemmed in the Valley of the Kings, that royal mausoleum
of scores of great rulers who had had to bow to a stronger hand than
theirs, and yet even in death clung to the relics of their pomp and
power.
Don thrilled as he looked at those towering cliffs. At their base was
the far-famed Valley of the Kings. The words that had been so often
on his father’s lips! The valley where even now his father might be
laboring feverishly, following what? A genuine light or a mere will o’
the wisp?
The boy could scarcely wait till daylight, and almost as soon as the
dawn had reddened the sky he and the rest of his party, only less eager
than himself, were afoot and getting ready for their trip.
They breakfasted well at the excellent hotel kept for the accommodation
of tourists from all over the world who yearly visit the far-famed
spot and who just then were in greater force than usual, drawn by the
wonderful discoveries recently made at the tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen.
There was still a certain freshness in the morning air when, after
breakfast, the party set out; but by the time they had crossed the
river the sun was beginning to make itself felt, and by the time they
had reached the celebrated valley it was beating down on them with a
fierceness that reminded them of the Sahara.
At last the huge piles of rubble and débris that testified to the work
of the diggers apprized them of the approach to the most wonderful
cemetery on earth.
A more desolate spot it would be hard to imagine. There was not the
slightest trace of vegetation, not a tree, not a flower, not a blade
of grass. The birds avoided it, and the only trace of animal life was
found in the bats that haunted the tombs in myriads.
But there was plenty of human life in evidence, men guarding the tombs
and scores of others digging in the foothills that rose until they were
lost in the mountainous cliffs that rimmed the valley.
The searching party passed the wonderful temple of Queen Hatshepsut,
with its rows of pillars standing like sentinels against the dark
mountain masses beyond. Soon they were at the tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen,
the most remarkable discovery of its kind in modern times.
Don had already heard of the romantic history of that discovery, how
the hidden site had been passed over again and again, how for over
sixteen years Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter had toiled among those
dreary wastes, and how at last, when hope had almost been abandoned,
the stubbing of a toe had revealed a step that led down into the
tomb that proved a veritable treasure trove which threw all previous
discoveries in the shade.
Now, with his companions, he gazed with fascinated interest on the many
treasures that still remained, though most of them had been packed and
sent to Cairo for safe keeping. They penetrated into the inner shrine
and had a mere glimpse of the sarcophagus, at that time still unopened,
that was believed to contain the mummy of the monarch who once reigned
supreme over Upper and Lower Egypt.
“Think what it must have meant,” said the professor, who of all the
party, with the possible exception of Phalos, most fully grasped the
stupendous importance of the discovery, “when after all those years of
strenuous toil and bitter disappointment, the discoverers penetrated
into the outer chamber of the tomb.
“Their eyes were fairly dazzled by the wealth revealed to them. Its
money value could be counted in millions, but it was not of this they
were chiefly thinking. There were beautifully carved beds inlaid with
ivory and semi-precious stones, golden sandals, chariots encrusted with
gold and jewels, statues holding golden maces, chairs of ebony and
ivory vases of alabaster and scores of other treasures so rich as to be
almost unbelievable.
“Then there was a multitude of other things, which, while not so
intrinsically valuable, were of immense importance in showing the
life and customs of ancient Egypt--musical instruments, toys, clothes
and robes for all occasions. There were rolls of papyri, which are
expected, when deciphered, to add enormously to our knowledge of the
times of the Pharaohs. And there were provisions for the dead on
the last journey, trussed ducks, haunches of venison, all packed in
the boxes where they were laid away by the royal chef, thirty-three
centuries ago.”
Teddy nudged Don.
“The Egyptians had some good ideas,” he ventured in a whisper. “That
last idea about the ducks and venison hits me hard.”
“What did you say?” asked the professor, stopping short.
“I--I said the Egyptians had some good ideas,” stammered Teddy, a flush
suffusing his face.