which was
standing in a corner of the room, jump up into the air and leap towards
him. He put his head down on to the carpet, covered his eyes with his
hands, and began to moan with terror. The stick came down with what
seemed to him superhuman force again and again on his back and
shoulders. He whimpered and moaned, and at last howled with pain. He
rolled over and looked up, and there was the stick hanging in the air
above him. He put up his hands clasped as though in prayer, and down it
came on his knuckles. He did not howl this time. His hands unclasped and
dropped beside him; his head went back, and he fainted in sheer terror.

"There, my friend," said the Professor aloud, forgetting the presence of
the woman for the moment; "mummy or no mummy, I don't think you will
come into this house again. And as for you, madam," he went on, "of
course, I can't give you a hiding, so the sight of his punishment will
have to be enough for you. Still, I think you have had enough of
attempted mummy-stealing to last you some time."

The woman stared up into the vacancy out of which the voice came, her
eyes dilated, and her lips trembling with the movement of her lower jaw.
She saw a jug of water get up off the table and empty itself over her
companion's face. Then she fainted, too.

When Pent-Ah came to himself and sat up, he saw an elderly gentleman,
tall and erect as a man in the prime of life, standing over him with the
blackthorn in one hand and the water-jug in the other.

"I am not going to ask what you two are doing here," he said sternly,
"because I know already. If I called the police I could send you both to
prison for house-breaking and attempted robbery; but I don't want any
fuss, and perhaps you have been punished enough for the present. Ah, I
see your accomplice is coming round. You came in by the window, I
suppose. Now get out by it as quick as you can, and mind you keep your
mouths shut as to what has happened to-night. If you don't," he went on,
suddenly changing into Coptic, "beware of the anger of your Lord--of Him
who never forgives!"

The man scrambled to his feet, whimpering:

"I go, Lord, I go, and my lips shall be silent as the lips of----"

He cast a frightened glance towards the mummy-case, and then, grasping
the woman roughly by the arm, he dragged her towards the open window,
saying:

"Come, Neb-Anat, come ere the wrath of our Lord consumes us!"

* * * * *

"Why,