s of the revolt!

"The money for the Moustafa revolution was to come from America," Ben
continued. "Bartouki needed a messenger, so he waited until one came
along. That was you."

Rick protested, "But why should he trust his finances to a stranger?
There must have been better ways of getting the money here!"

The officer shook his head. "It is not as easy as you think. We know who
these revolutionaries are. We keep an eye on their comings and goings.
They do not get past our borders without a thorough customs inspection.
Now, ask yourself--who can get past customs with no difficulty?
Officials of governments, scientific groups who come at our invitation,
and tourists."

"Why didn't he use someone disguised as a tourist?" Scotty asked.

"That probably would have been his method, except that you stumbled into
things and the chance was too good to miss. Also, you did not declare
the cat on your customs statement. We would have been interested in an
Egyptian cat coming the wrong way!"

"I didn't know I was supposed to declare it," Rick said. "It just never
occurred to me."

Ben glared. "Technically, you have broken our laws." He relented and
grinned. "But if you will promise to import no more Egyptian cats...."

"I promise, swear, and affirm," Rick said hastily.

"Good. To continue. We took Ali Moustafa into custody, but not before a
phone call reached him from New York. His chief clerk listened to this
call and sold the information to Youssef. The clerk also agreed, for a
share of the profits, to pretend to be Ali, and he enlisted the help of
the other clerks. We know this from the clerk. He talked freely, in the
hope of leniency."

Ben turned to Youssef. "Do you know what is in the cat?"

The thief shook his head. "Only that it is of great value. I bought the
clerk's information and help because I knew it was the Moustafas who
stole the necklace from the museum. I believe the necklace is in the
cat."

Rick stared. The Kefren necklace, worth a quarter of a million! Great
ghostly pyramids! This was big business!

"The necklace was smuggled out of the country," Ben agreed. "We are
certain of that. But I do not believe it is in the cat."

"Open it," Rick begged.

The inspector held up his hand. "Presently. Aren't you enjoying the
suspense?"

"It's killing us," Scotty wailed.

"Ah, the impatience of the young!" Ismail ben Adhem obviously was having
a good time. "Well, the pieces are nearly tied up."

"G