in his mother's
splendid tomb in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings. It was in these
same hills that Michael believed the King to have concealed his treasure.

The treasure was Michael's practical objective. To others the idea might
seem absurd and unpractical; to him it was quite possible and practical.
He could not have been more businesslike in his marching and halts if he
had been a general taking his troops across the desert to relieve a
beleaguered city. It was a part of his nature to be practical about the
unpractical. The words of his old friend in el-Azhar often came back to
him as his camel bore him through a spell of light, or as he listened to
the thundering silence of the Arabian desert. He recalled his counsel,
to journey undoubtingly, to follow in the steps of a "child of God," who
would lead him to the treasure which no eyes had seen for countless
centuries.

So far no child of God had crossed his path. From dawn until dusk he had
seen nothing living or moving but one pale lizard, almost colourless as
the rocks from which it had come; it had scurried across his path, the
sole inhabitant of the untrodden sands, alarmed at the invasion of its
kingdom.

These thoughts were passing through his mind as his camel bore him nearer
and nearer to the cavalcade which was coming towards him. The unexpected
sight of travellers had raised a whirlwind of new doubts in his brain and
called up undesired visions before his eyes. For the last three days
nothing had disturbed the divine calm of his desert surroundings. He had
contentedly become a part of his camel; its somnolent tread had lulled
his senses like the gentle movement of an ocean steamer on the high seas.

As the two cavalcades drew nearer to each other, Abdul pressed forward to
his master's side. His long sight, well used to desert distances, had
clearly discerned what to Michael was still indistinct, blurred by the
sun.

"One lady in party, Effendi."

Michael showed surprise. It was an extremely unlikely place to meet a
lady on camel-back; there were no tourists in that part of the desert, so
far back from the Nile; it was not a likely place to meet an European
pleasure-party. Michael knew that Abdul had meant an European lady when
he spoke of "one lady" being in the party; he would not have mentioned
the fact if it had been only a Bedouin Arab woman moving her home to some
more desirable spot. Perhaps it was some excavation-party. A nu