elay,
consequently, as soon as we had reached the upper deck, the ropes were
cast off, and with prodigious fuss the steamer made her way out into mid
stream, and began the voyage which was destined to end in such a strange
fashion for all our party.

Full as my life had been of extraordinary circumstances during the last
few weeks, I am not certain that my feelings as I stood upon the deck of
the steamer while she made her way up stream, passed the Khedive's
Palace, the Kasr-en-Nil barracks, Kasr-el-Ain, the Island of Rodah, and
Gizeh, did not eclipse them. Our vessel was a most luxurious one, and to
charter her must have cost Pharos a pretty penny. Immediately we got
under way the latter departed to his cabin, while the Fraeulein Valerie
and I stood side by side under the awning, watching the fast-changing
landscape in silence. The day was hot, with scarcely a breath of wind to
cool the air. Ever since the first week in June the Nile had been
rising, and was now running a swift and muddy river only a few feet
below the level of her banks. I looked at my companion, and as I did so
thought of all that we had been through together in the short time we
had known each other. Less than a month before, Pharos and I had to all
intents and purposes been strangers, and Valerie and I had not met at
all. Now I was embarking on a voyage up the Nile in their company, and
for what purpose? To restore the body of Merenptah's Chief Magician to
the tomb from which it had been taken by my own father nearly twenty
years before. Could anything have seemed more unlikely, and yet could
anything have been more true? Amiable as were my relations with my host
at present, there was a feeling deep down in my heart that troublous
times lay ahead of us. The explanation Pharos had given me of what had
occurred on the preceding night had been plausible enough, as I have
said, and yet I was far from being convinced by it. There were only two
things open to me to believe. Either he had stood over me saying, "For
the future you are mine to do with as I please; you will have no will
but my pleasure, no thought but to act as I shall tell you," or I had
dreamed it. When I had taxed him with it some hours before, he had
laughed at me, and had told me to attribute it all to the excited
condition of my brain. But the feeling of reality with which it had
inspired me was, I felt sure, too strong for it to have been imaginary;
and yet, do what I would, I could n