“Now for the Tombs, fellows,” cried Ned, after the party had gazed at the Sphinx, climbed the great Pyramid and enjoyed the fine view of the desert and the verdant Nile valley. “The tombs! What’s the use of seeing a lot of moldy old tombs?” protested some of the sailors.
“Oh, all right. But Herc and I want to pay our respects to a few mummies before we leave Egypt,” responded Ned. “You fellows wait for us.”
“All right,” agreed Meadows. “I’m plumb worn out with sight-seeing.”
“Where’s that guide? Oh, here he is. Now then, ‘Lead on, McDuff,’” cried Ned, and the two boys followed the guide up to a height of fifty[268] feet or more above the desert. Then they paused at a black hole.
“Do we go in there?” demanded Herc, as the guide paused to light candles.
“Certainly, why not?”
“It looks like the subway. First time I ever heard of burying kings in the subway.”
Into the dark recesses of the tombs they plunged after the guide. It was almost insufferably hot and smelled musty and mouldy. In places the ceiling was low and they had to crawl on their hands and knees on the dusty floor.
“My uniform will be a fine sight when we get out of here,” grumbled Herc. “Just after I had all that sticky stuff cleaned off it, too!”
“Never mind. That dust will brush off,” declared Ned, and they went forward once more.
“Look out where you go,” said the guide.
“Why, are there holes one can fall down?” asked Herc.
“Many. Lot of things not known about[269] Tombs. Nobody know everything about them.”
They finally came to a high-domed chamber. The walls were covered with queer hieroglyphics and writings. The guide explained that this was the King’s chamber. He showed them some stone coffins in which lay the mummified forms of dead and gone rulers. Ned was much impressed, but Herc, as usual, did not take the situation seriously.
“Maybe they are just a lot of fakes,” he remarked. But presently he tugged Ned’s sleeve.
“I guess they’re not, either,” he said.
“Not what?”
“Fakes. I just saw the ghosts of two of them.”
“What in the name of time are you talking about?”
“Look back there yourself. There, among the shadows. Don’t you see anything?”
“Why, yes. I do see somebody.”
“Don’t you think it might be the spooks of[270] some of those old kings snooping about to find out what we want in here?”
“No, I’ll tell you what I think it is.”
“What?”
“Some of our fellows who think they’ll put up a trick on us.”
“Oh, ho! That’s it, eh? What do you know about that? Let’s turn the tables on them.”
“Good, we’ll slip away from the guide and hide off in that corridor there. When they come along we’ll give them a scare they won’t forget in a hurry.”
The guide was in another part of the Tomb chamber and the boys made a noiseless exit in the direction Ned had indicated. They crept into the shadows, chuckling in low tones over the scare they were going to give their fun-loving ship-mates. At last it grew quite dark. The boys decided to halt. Before long they heard something to confirm their theory. Whisperings began to draw near to them.
[271]
“Hush!” hissed Ned warningly.
“S-s-s-s-say, those fellows aren’t talking in English!”
“No; what do you suppose it means?”
“I think we ought to go out and reconnoiter.”
“Same here.”
The boys made their way back along the passage. Suddenly Ned gave an amazed and rather alarmed exclamation.
“The light has gone!”
“Which one?”
“Why, the one in the Tomb chamber. Where’s that guide?”
“He’s vamoosed. Maybe he thought we’d gone out of our own accord. Say, Ned, I kind of wish we’d stayed with him.”
“So do I now. Well, we’ve got to make the best of it. Light up your candle, Herc, and then we’ll holler as loud as we can. If that does no good, we’ll have to try to get out of this place by ourselves.”
[272]
The boys began shouting at the top of their voices. But hollow echoes coming weirdly back from the stone walls of the burial chamber were the only response to their shouts. Suddenly Herc grabbed Ned’s arm.
“I saw them again,” he gasped.
“Saw who?”
“Those spooks. They are right back of us.”
“I’m glad you did. It’s some of our boys, for sure. Hullo, fellows!” hailed Ned. But no answer was vouchsafed. Ned began not to like the look of things a little bit.
For a long time the boys tried to find their way out of the Pyramid, but without success. Finally they came to a halt and exchanged dismayed glances.
“We might as well face the truth,” said Ned in sober tones; “we’re lost.”
“That’s right,” agreed Herc in melancholy fashion. “I wish we’d stayed outside.”
“Maybe we can get back to the burial chamber,”[273] suggested Ned, after a while. The boys were then standing in a passageway into which they had blundered in the hope that it might lead to daylight.
“I doubt it. I’ve not the remotest idea of where it i............