steal."

"In amongst the ruins?" said Yussuf quickly.

"Everywhere," said the Turk vaguely, as he spread out his hands; and
then, with their saddle-bags and packages well filled with provisions
for themselves, and as much barley as could be conveniently taken, they
rode out of the village and turned down a track that led them through
quite a deep grove of walnut-trees to the little river that ran rushing
along in the bottom of the valley. This they crossed, and the road then
followed the windings of the stream for about a mile before it struck
upwards; and before long they were climbing a steep slope where masses
of stone and marble, that had evidently once been carefully squared or
even carved, lay thick, and five minutes later the professor uttered a
cry of satisfaction, for he had only to turn his horse a dozen yards or
so through the bushes and trees to stand beside what looked like a huge
white chest of stone.

"Hallo, what have you found?" cried Mr Burne, rousing up, for he had
been nodding upon his horse, the day being extremely hot.

"Found! A treasure," cried the professor. "Pure white marble, too."

"There, Lawrence, boy, it's in your way, not mine. I never play at
marbles now. How many have you found, Preston?"

"How many? Only this one."

"Why, it's a pump trough, and a fine one too," cried the old lawyer.

"Pump trough!" cried the professor scornfully.

"What is it then--a cistern? I see. Old waterworks for irrigating the
gardens."

"My dear sir, can you not see? It is a huge sarcophagus. Come here,
Lawrence. Look at the sculpture and ornamentation all along this side,
and at the two ends as well. The cover ought to be somewhere about."

He looked around, and, just as he had said, there was the massive cover,
but broken into half a dozen pieces, and the carving and inscription,
with which it had been covered, so effaced by the action of the lichens
and weather that it was not possible to make anything out, only that a
couple of sitting figures must at one time have been cut in high relief
upon the lid.

"Probably the occupants of the tomb," said the professor thoughtfully.
"Greek, I feel sure. Here, Yussuf, what does this mean?"

He caught up his gun that he had laid across the corner of the
sarcophagus, and turned to face some two dozen swarthy-looking men who
had come upon them unperceived and seemed to have sprung up from among
the broken stones, old columns, and traces of wal