angers from the land
where the sun never sets!'

'We ought to say it's enough honour, like the dancer did,' whispered
Anthea.

'No, let's ask for IT,' said Robert.

'No, no, I'm sure the other's manners,' said Anthea. But Robert, who was
excited by the music, and the flaring torches, and the applause and the
opportunity, spoke up before the others could stop him.

'Give us the half of the Amulet that has on it the name UR HEKAU
SETCHEH,' he said, adding as an afterthought, 'O King, live-for-ever.'

As he spoke the great name those in the pillared hall fell on their
faces, and lay still. All but the Queen who crouched amid her cushions
with her head in her hands, and the King, who stood upright, perfectly
still, like the statue of a king in stone. It was only for a moment
though. Then his great voice thundered out--

'Guard, seize them!'

Instantly, from nowhere as it seemed, sprang eight soldiers in bright
armour inlaid with gold, and tunics of red and white. Very splendid they
were, and very alarming.

'Impious and sacrilegious wretches!' shouted the King. 'To the dungeons
with them! We will find a way, tomorrow, to make them speak. For without
doubt they can tell us where to find the lost half of It.'

A wall of scarlet and white and steel and gold closed up round the
children and hurried them away among the many pillars of the great hall.
As they went they heard the voices of the courtiers loud in horror.

'You've done it this time,' said Cyril with extreme bitterness.

'Oh, it will come right. It MUST. It always does,' said Anthea
desperately.

They could not see where they were going, because the guard surrounded
them so closely, but the ground under their feet, smooth marble at
first, grew rougher like stone, then it was loose earth and sand, and
they felt the night air. Then there was more stone, and steps down.

'It's my belief we really ARE going to the deepest dungeon below the
castle moat this time,' said Cyril.

And they were. At least it was not below a moat, but below the river
Euphrates, which was just as bad if not worse. In a most unpleasant
place it was. Dark, very, very damp, and with an odd, musty smell rather
like the shells of oysters. There was a torch--that is to say, a copper
basket on a high stick with oiled wood burning in it. By its light the
children saw that the walls were green, and that trickles of water ran
down them and dripped from the roof. There were things on the fl