e read I think we must be among the tombs of the kings."

She was silenced by Everett placing one hand quickly on her arm, and
with the other pointing. In the uncertain moonlight she saw moving
cautiously away from them, and unconscious of their presence, a white,
ghostlike figure.

"Peabody," whispered Everett.

"Call him," commanded Monica.

"The others might hear," objected Everett. "We must overtake him. If
we're with him when they meet, they wouldn't dare--"

With a gasp of astonishment, his words ceased.

Like a ghost, the ghostlike figure had vanished.

"He walked through that rock!" cried Monica.

Everett caught her by the wrist. "Come!" he commanded.

Over the face of the rock, into which Peabody had dived as into water,
hung a curtain of vines. Everett tore it apart. Concealed by the
vines was the narrow mouth to a tunnel; and from it they heard, rapidly
lessening in the distance, the patter of footsteps.

"Will you wait," demanded Everett, "or come with me?"

With a shudder of distaste, Monica answered by seizing his hand.

With his free arm Everett swept aside the vines, and, Monica following,
they entered the tunnel. It was a passageway cleanly cut through the
solid rock and sufficiently wide to permit of their moving freely. At
the farther end, at a distance of a hundred yards, it opened into a
great vault, also hollowed from the rock and, as they saw to their
surprise, brilliantly lighted.

For an instant, in black silhouette, the figure of Peabody blocked the
entrance to this vault, and then, turning to the right, again vanished.
Monica felt an untimely desire to laugh. Now that they were on the
track of Peabody she no longer feared the outcome of the adventure. In
the presence of the American minister and of herself there would be no
violence; and as they trailed the archaeologist through the tunnel she
was reminded of Alice and her pursuit of the white rabbit. This
thought, and her sense of relief that the danger was over, caused her
to laugh aloud.

They had gained the farther end of the tunnel and the entrance to the
vault, when at once her amusement turned to wonder. For the vault
showed every evidence of use and of recent occupation. In brackets,
and burning brightly, were lamps of modern make; on the stone floor
stood a canvas cot, saddle-bags, camp-chairs, and in the centre of the
vault a collapsible table. On this were bottles filled with chemicals,
trays, and presse