ed to exert himself to get up and ride
from sunrise until sundown. It seemed to him a task which he could
never fulfil. But Abdul was obviously full of suppressed excitement.
He was eager for his master to bestir himself and show something of his
usual enthusiasm and vitality. The _Omdeh's_ story had sorely
disturbed him.

"I will be ready, Abdul," Michael said. "Make me some strong coffee."

"_Aiwah_, Effendi."

"Very strong, Abdul!"

"_Aiwah_, Effendi, very strong."

CHAPTER IX

In the Valley where the Pharaohs sleep, below the smiling hills, the
heat and the power of the sun were becoming an actual danger. The best
working hours were those which began at dawn and terminated at eleven
o'clock.

In the early summer, for Egypt knows no spring, as it knows no
twilight, the heat compels even the natives to abandon work during the
hottest hours of the day. The sun is at its most dangerous point in
the sky at three o'clock in the afternoon; at that hour, as the season
advances, little exposed work can be done.

One particularly hot afternoon Margaret was waiting for her brother to
come to tea. She had always contrived to keep their sitting-room fresh
and cool by closing its windows and drawing down wet blinds before the
sun got a chance of entering it. The windows were kept open all night.
She had tried almost every possible device--and had been very
successful--for excluding "the brightness of Aton" from their home.

If the windows were left open after sunrise, an army of flies too great
to combat would invade the room, and ten minutes of sunshine would warm
the room for the whole day. If the sun never penetrated it and the
windows were kept open during the chilly hours of the night, it was
always an agreeable and refreshing place to enter after a long spell in
the blinding sunlight. It was so essential for Freddy's health that he
should have a cool, dark room to rest in, that Margaret gave the
subject her best care and unremitting attention.

The dryness of the air in Upper Egypt can hardly be imagined by those
who have not experienced it.

Margaret had heard the overseer's whistle; she knew that work was
suspended for some hours. A beautiful sense of order and neatness had
been developed out of the mess of debris and broken rocks which had
disfigured the site of the tomb, and some new chambers had been cleared
and examined.

When Freddy appeared, Margaret asked him a few questions about h