darkness the officer thought was a certain Arab of the Desert who has
been to and fro about the camels. It is believed that this man was
none other than the Prince Abi, dressed in the Arab's robe, and that he
escaped from his cell by some secret passage which was known to him,
a passage of the old priests. The Arab, whose robes he wore, cannot be
found, but perhaps he is asleep in some corner."

"Bar the gates," said Tua, "and let none pass in or out. Asti, take men
with you, and go search the room where Merytra slept. Perchance she has
returned again."

So Asti went, and a while after re-appeared carrying something enveloped
in a cloth.

"Merytra has gone, O Queen," she said in an ominous voice, "leaving this
behind hidden beneath her bed," and she placed the object on a table.

"What is it? The mummy of a child?" asked Tua, shrinking back.

"Nay, Queen, the image of a man."

Then throwing aside the cloth Asti revealed the waxen figure shaped to
the exact likeness of Pharaoh, or rather what remained of it, for the
legs were molten and twisted, and in them could be seen the bones of
ivory and the sinews of thin wire, about which they had been moulded.
Also beneath the chin where the tongue would be, sharp thorns had
been thrust up to the root of the mouth. The thing was life-like and
horrible, and as it was, so was the dumb and stricken Pharaoh on his
bed.