of this announcement. The Priest was
allowed to take part in it. His advice was 'stay', because they were in
no danger, and the Amulet in its completeness must be somewhere near,
or, of course, they could not have come to that place at all. And after
some discussion they agreed to this.

The children were treated more as guests than as slaves, but the
Egyptian was sent to the kitchen and made to work.

Pheles, the master of the house, went off that very evening, by the
King's orders, to start on another voyage. And when he was gone his wife
found the children amusing company, and kept them talking and singing
and dancing till quite late. 'To distract my mind from my sorrows,' she
said.

'I do like being a slave,' remarked Jane cheerfully, as they curled up
on the big, soft cushions that were to be their beds.

It was black night when they were awakened, each by a hand passed softly
over its face, and a low voice that whispered--

'Be quiet, or all is lost.'

So they were quiet.

'It's me, Rekh-mara, the Priest of Amen,' said the whisperer. 'The man
who brought us has gone to sea again, and he has taken my Amulet from me
by force, and I know no magic to get it back. Is there magic for that in
the Amulet you bear?'

Everyone was instantly awake by now.

'We can go after him,' said Cyril, leaping up; 'but he might take OURS
as well; or he might be angry with us for following him.'

'I'll see to THAT,' said the Egyptian in the dark. 'Hide your Amulet
well.'

There in the deep blackness of that room in the Tyrian country house the
Amulet was once more held up and the word spoken.

All passed through on to a ship that tossed and tumbled on a wind-blown
sea. They crouched together there till morning, and Jane and Cyril were
not at all well. When the dawn showed, dove-coloured, across the steely
waves, they stood up as well as they could for the tumbling of the ship.
Pheles, that hardy sailor and adventurer, turned quite pale when he
turned round suddenly and saw them.

'Well!' he said, 'well, I never did!'

'Master,' said the Egyptian, bowing low, and that was even more
difficult than standing up, 'we are here by the magic of the sacred
Amulet that hangs round your neck.'

'I never did!' repeated Pheles. 'Well, well!'

'What port is the ship bound for?' asked Robert, with a nautical air.

But Pheles said, 'Are you a navigator?' Robert had to own that he was
not.

'Then,' said Pheles, 'I don't mind tell