st they were all mounted and on their way. Margaret found it very
difficult to keep up any sort of conversation with her companions, for
her boy, anxious to do honour to his mistress's donkey, kept Sappho
well ahead of Michael Amory's mule. She had only been one week in
Egypt, so everything which she passed was still an object of interest
and curiosity, but fortunately almost everything explained itself to
her, like the illustrations of a book of the Old Testament.

They had turned their backs on the river, with its boats and birds and
beasts and drum-beating and yelling _fellahin_, and were now in the
silence of the green plain, where the blue-shirted _fellahin_ were
working knee-deep in the new crops. The inundation was just over, and
the banks of the Nile were as bright as two long velvet ribbons of
emerald green.

And now they were off the plain and had passed the Temple of Kurneh and
the little Coptic village, which was the last link with civilization
until their long ride up the valley terminated in the Excavation Camp.

In the valley they rode side by side, for the donkey-boy's enthusiasm
had distinctly abated. Margaret did not know anything about the
valley, beyond the fact that it was called the Valley of the Tombs of
the Kings. She had not yet "done" any tombs, as she had not come up
the Nile by boat--it was cheaper and quicker for her to do the journey
from Cairo to Luxor by train. So far she had not been in the hands of
Cook. Freddy had told her that the money she would have to spend on
the steamer she could spend better later on, and she would be more able
to appreciate the tombs and temples, which most tourists see when they
know too little about things Egyptian to appreciate them.

Knowing nothing of the story of the great valley, it was interesting to
Michael to watch the effect it had on the girl--an extraordinary
silence and its atmosphere of profound mystery. Their attempt to talk
to each other soon failed, for Margaret was no good at either banter or
small talk.

For the time being the valley, with its barren cliffs rising higher and
higher on each side of her, and its world of soft pink light, held her.
The wide cliff-bound road, which wound its way like a white thread
through a maze of light and sun-pink hills, seemed to be leading her
further and further into the heart of Egypt, to the very bosom of her
children's ancient kingdom.

Margaret was totally ignorant of the fact that the t