hat odour of
ancient rottenness which all explorers of the monuments of Egypt know,
rose that other indescribable odour which seemed to stifle one's very
soul.

Dr. Cairn stopped again.

Sime knew, having performed this journey before, that his companion
must have reached the end of the passage, that he must be lying
peering out into the shaft, for which they were making. He
extinguished his lamp.

Again Dr. Cairn moved forward. Stretching out his hand, Sime found
only emptiness. He wriggled forward, in turn, rapidly, all the time
groping with his fingers. Then:

"Take my hand," came a whisper. "Another two feet, and you can stand
upright."

He proceeded, grasped the hand which was extended to him in the
impenetrable darkness, and panting, temporarily exhausted, rose
upright beside Dr. Cairn, and stretched his cramped limbs.

Side by side they stood, mantled about in such a darkness as cannot be
described; in such a silence as dwellers in the busy world cannot
conceive; in such an atmosphere of horror that only a man morally and
physically brave could have retained his composure.

Dr. Cairn bent to Sime's ear.

"We _must_ have the light for the ascent," he whispered. "Have your
pistol ready; I am about to press the button of the lamp."

A shaft of white light shone suddenly up the rocky sides of the pit in
which they stood, and lost itself in the gloom of the chamber above.

"On to my shoulders," jerked Sime. "You are lighter than I. Then, as
soon as you can reach, place your lamp on the floor above and mount up
beside it. I will follow."

Dr. Cairn, taking advantage of the rugged walls, and of the blocks of
stone amid which they stood, mounted upon Sime's shoulders.

"Could you carry your revolver in your teeth?" asked the latter. "I
think you might hold it by the trigger-guard."

"I proposed to do so," replied Dr. Cairn grimly. "Stand fast!"

Gradually he rose upright upon the other's shoulders; then, placing
his foot in a cranny of the rock, and with his left hand grasping a
protruding fragment above, he mounted yet higher, all the time holding
the lighted lamp in his right hand. Upward he extended his arms, and
upward, until he could place the lamp upon the ledge above his head,
where its white beam shone across the top of the shaft.

"Mind it does not fall!" panted Sime, craning his head upward to watch
these operations.

Dr. Cairn, whose strength and agility were wonderful, twisted around
sid