ding before the Sphinx at Gizeh; now, when I opened my eyes, I was
back once more in my bedroom at the hotel in Cairo. Brilliant sunshine
was streaming in through the jalousies, and I could hear footsteps in
the corridor outside. At first I felt inclined to treat the whole as a
dream; but the marks upon my hands, made when I had beaten them on the
rough walls of that terrible chamber in the Pyramid, soon showed me the
futility of so doing. I remembered how I had run round and round that
dreadful place in search of a way out, and the horror of the
recollection was sufficient to bring a cold sweat out once more upon my
forehead. Strange to say, I mean strange in the light of all that has
transpired since, the memory of the threat Pharos had used to me caused
me no uneasiness, and yet, permeating my whole being, was a loathing for
him and a haunting fear that was beyond description in words. This
dislike was the outcome not so much of a physical animosity, if I may so
designate it, as of a peculiar description of supernatural fear. Reason
with myself as I would I could not get rid of the belief that the man
was more than he pretended to be, that there was some link between him
and the Unseen which it was impossible for me to understand. Arguing
with myself in this way I was the more disposed to believe in the vision
of the preceding night.

On consulting my watch I was amazed to find that it wanted only a few
minutes of ten o'clock. I sprang from my bed, and a moment later came
within an ace of measuring my length upon the floor. What occasioned
this weakness I could not tell, but the fact remains that I was as
feeble as a little child. The room spun round and round until I became
so giddy that I was compelled to clutch at a table for support. What was
even stranger, I was conscious of a sharp pricking on my left arm a
little above the elbow, which eventually became so sharp that it could
be felt not only on the tips of my fingers but for some distance down my
side. To examine the place was the work of a moment. On the fleshy part
of the arm, three inches or so above the elbow, was a small spot, such
as might have been made by some sharp pointed instrument, a hypodermic
syringe for instance, and which was fast changing from a pale pink to a
purple hue. My wonderment was increased when I discovered that the spot
itself, and the flesh surrounding it for more than an inch, was
incapable of sensation. I puzzled my brains in vai