ken it.

"Ah!" he exclaimed aloud. "It is even as I had thought. But let me
not seem to boast when I tell my father of it. It will be victory
enough for me to display the jewel, and abashment enough for him to
know he was wrong."

He ceased to speak, but the echoes talked on after him. He shivered,
caught up his light and raced through the sumptuous tomb into the world
again.

It was near dawn and the skies were pallid. He was hungry and weary
but most impatient to be gone. He would repair to Thebes and break his
fast. Thereafter he would procure the swiftest boat on the Nile and
take his rest while speeding toward Memphis.

The inn of the necropolis was like an immense dwelling, except that the
courts were stable-yards. The doors, opening off the porch, were
always open and a light burned by night within the chamber. So long
and so murkily had it burnt, that the chamber Kenkenes entered was
smoky and redolent of it. Aside from a high, bench-like table, running
half the length of the rear wall, there was nothing else in the room.
Kenkenes rapped on the table. In a little time an Egyptian emerged
from under the counter, on the other side. Understanding at last that
the guest wished to be fed, he staggered sleepily through a door and,
presently reappearing, signed Kenkenes to enter.

The room into which the young sculptor was conducted was too large to
be lighted by the two lamps, hung from hooks, one at each end of the
chamber. Down either side, hidden in the shadows, were long benches,
and from the huddled heap that occupied the full length of each, it was
to be surmised that men were sleeping on them. Above them the slatted
blinds had been withdrawn from the small windows and the morning breeze
was blowing strongly through the chamber. At the upper end was another
table, similar to the one in the outer room, except for a napkin in the
middle with a bottle of water set upon it. An Egyptian woman stood
beside this table and gave the young man a wooden stool.

As Kenkenes walked toward the seat a stronger blast of wind puffed out
the light above his head. The woman climbed up to take the lamp down
and set it on the table while she relighted it. The skirt of her dress
caught on the top of the stool she had mounted and pulled it over on
the wooden floor with a sharp sound.

One of the sleepers stirred at the noise and turned over. Presently he
sat up.

Kenkenes righted the stool and sat down on