nonsense! Had you given me the ordering of affairs neither she nor this
young down-at-heels aristocrat would be here today. I am not saying
this merely to annoy you, as you seem to believe, but to warn you. Be
on your guard, Franz. Things are going too smoothly. No great fortune
was ever yet won without a hitch or two on the road, and we are not far
from the Five Hills now."

They moved away. Dick went back to his pulley, surveyed the deck over
the fore yard, and deferred his descent until "Franz" and "Maud" were
at the other end of the vessel. Since they came on board they had been
"Baron von Kerber" and "Mrs. Haxton" in the presence of others. What
desperate game were they playing that demanded these small deceits--
what hazard of fortune was it that gave rise to the woman's Cassandra-
like forebodings? Von Kerber had been candid enough in the statement he
put forward voluntarily at Marseilles. Any one could guess the
uncertainties of a quest depending on a document two thousand years
old, while its dangers were manifest. Mr. Fenshawe and Irene must be
cognizant of the open risks, and it was idle to suppose that they did
not appreciate the unobtrusive way in which the yacht was being hurried
to her destination. Why, then, should von Kerber and Mrs. Haxton share
some secret understanding, the outcome of which was doubtful, and,
above all else, why should they fear the influence that a young and
unknown man might exercise on the crew?

"Egypt is the land of riddles," mused Dick, as he gazed at the russet
and purple hills which spring up so suddenly to guard the strange sea
thrust by nature into the bosom of a fiery land. "My best course is to
adopt the attitude of the Sphinx. I shall keep my eyes open and say
nothing."