quite as empty as it had been on the previous
evening. Not a sign or a token was there of Pharaoh Menes and all those
kings and queens of whom he had dreamed so vividly.

Reflecting on the strange phantasies that weariness and excited nerves
can summon to the mind in sleep, Smith made his way to the great doors
and waited in the shadow, praying earnestly that, although it was the
Mohammedan Sabbath, someone might visit the Museum to see that all was
well.

As a matter of fact, someone did, and before he had been there a
minute--a watchman going about his business. He unlocked the place
carelessly, looking over his shoulder at a kite fighting with two
nesting crows. In an instant Smith, who was not minded to stop and
answer questions, had slipped past him and was gliding down the portico,
from monument to monument, like a snake between boulders, still keeping
in the shadow as he headed for the gates.

The attendant caught sight of him and uttered a yell of fear; then,
since it is not good to look upon an _afreet_, appearing from whence no
mortal man could be, he turned his head away. When he looked again Smith
was through those gates and had mingled with the crowd in the street
beyond.

The sunshine was very pleasant to one who was conscious of having
contracted a chill of the worst Egyptian order from long contact with a
damp stone floor. Smith walked on through it towards his hotel--it was
Shepheard's, and more than a mile away--making up a story as he went
to tell the hall-porter of how he had gone to dine at Mena House by the
Pyramids, missed the last tram, and stopped the night there.

Whilst he was thus engaged his left hand struck somewhat sharply against
the corner of the cigar-box in his pocket, that which contained the
relic of the queen Ma-Mee. The pain caused him to glance at his fingers
to see if they were injured, and to perceive on one of them the ring he
wore. Surely, surely it was not the same that the Director-General had
given him! _That_ ring was engraved with the image of the god Bes.
On _this_ was cut the cartouche of her Majesty Ma-mee! And he had
dreamed--oh, he had dreamed----!

To this day Smith is wondering whether, in the hurry of the moment, he
made a mistake as to which of those rings the Director-General had given
him as part of his share of the spoil of the royal tomb he discovered
in the Valley of Queens. Afterwards Smith wrote to ask, but the
Director-General could only rememb