ially devised for watching people who were imprisoned. But they did
not know.

There was nearly an hour of anxious waiting. They tried to take an
interest in the picture on the wall, a picture of harpers playing
very odd harps and women dancing at a feast. They examined the painted
plaster floor, and the chairs were of white painted wood with coloured
stripes at intervals.

But the time went slowly, and everyone had time to think of how Pharaoh
had said, 'Don't torture them--YET.'

'If the worst comes to the worst,' said Cyril, 'we must just bunk, and
leave the Psammead. I believe it can take care of itself well enough.
They won't kill it or hurt it when they find it can speak and give
wishes. They'll build it a temple, I shouldn't wonder.'

'I couldn't bear to go without it,' said Anthea, 'and Pharaoh said
"After supper", that won't be just yet. And the soldier WAS curious. I'm
sure we're all right for the present.'

All the same, the sounds of the door being unbarred seemed one of the
prettiest sounds possible.

'Suppose he hasn't got the Psammead?' whispered Jane.

But that doubt was set at rest by the Psammead itself; for almost before
the door was open it sprang through the chink of it into Anthea's arms,
shivering and hunching up its fur.

'Here's its fancy overcoat,' said the soldier, holding out the bag, into
which the Psammead immediately crept.

'Now,' said Cyril, 'what would you like us to do? Anything you'd like us
to get for you?'

'Any little trick you like,' said the soldier. 'If you can get a strange
flower blooming in an earthenware vase you can get anything, I suppose,'
he said. 'I just wish I'd got two men's loads of jewels from the King's
treasury. That's what I've always wished for.'

At the word 'WISH' the children knew that the Psammead would attend to
THAT bit of magic. It did, and the floor was littered with a spreading
heap of gold and precious stones.

'Any other little trick?' asked Cyril loftily. 'Shall we become
invisible? Vanish?'

'Yes, if you like,' said the soldier; 'but not through the door, you
don't.'

He closed it carefully and set his broad Egyptian back against it.

'No! no!' cried a voice high up among the tops of the tall wooden
pillars that stood against the wall. There was a sound of someone moving
above.

The soldier was as much surprised as anybody.

'That's magic, if you like,' he said.

And then Jane held up the Amulet, uttering the word of Power. A