was terribly hard work, but there were so many workmen, and the foremen
used their whips so unmercifully, that the walls rose very rapidly.

Now the architect was a cunning man, and guessed what the chamber was
intended to hold. He therefore fitted one stone in such a way that it
would slide down and leave a hole just large enough for a man to crawl
through; and yet, when you looked at the wall, there was no sign at all by
which the secret could be discovered. Nor did the architect think it
necessary to mention the secret opening to his majesty, when he showed the
chamber to him and told him that it was as strong as he could make it.

Rhampsinitus lost no time in moving his treasures into the new
treasure-chamber. The key he kept with him night and day, so that at last
he could sleep peacefully, knowing that any one who wished to pass the
solid, brass-bound door, must first prevail upon him to unlock it.

For some time all went well. The king went to the treasury every morning,
and found everything in its place. Evidently he had been too clever for
the thieves.

In the mean time the architect was lying ill in bed, and day by day he
grew weaker and weaker; until at length he knew that his end was
approaching, and, calling his two sons to his bedside, he told them of the
secret way into the treasure-chamber.

"I have little of my own to leave you, my sons," he said, "and I have but
little influence at court; but by the aid of this secret, which I devised
for your sake, you may become rich men, and hold the office of king's
treasurers for life."