Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 March 1914 — The Treasure of Egypt [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Treasure of Egypt

An Audacious Hazard of Nikolai, Independent Agent, as Related by His Lieutenant, Summers

By H. M. EGBERT

(Connigbt. 1913, by W. G. Chapman)

■ V • The most bizarre of all the coups of Nikolai occurred daring the year of the great cotton famine, which was ended so spectacularly. Cotton had monopolized the interest even of the daily newspapers. A ring of speculators in Chicago had formed a corner, and prices went rocketing skyward. Cotton had been scarce throughout the southern states that year, and high prices proved a bonanza to growers in the belt. But over in Lancashire, which supplies the finished goods for three parts of the world, spindles stood idle, for no manufacturer could afford to pay the current price of the staple. Misery and destitution stalked through the homes of the workers. £ Nikolai had been reading the exchange reports; at last he threw down the newspaper. “It seems essential of modem civilization,” he Bald, “that the success of one must be baded upon the failure of another. Here we have a case in point South Carolina farmers are going in for automobiles while Lancashire lacks bread. And I am ruined while the Chicago speculators are making millions. Do you believe that there is a providence that Interferes arbitrarily with human destinies, Summers?” “Possibly—but only through the slow working out -of cosmic forcefts,” I answered- " But men can sometimes play Providence,” he answered. “Cotton is at twenty-five today—twelve points above the normal. Two days ago I sold September cotton at twenty-two on the London exchange, thinking that the pool would break up and prices tumble. They have a fortnightly settling day here, and In twelve days I shall have to deliver. And I shall have to buy in at about twenty-eight and be ruined.” Prices were rising almost hourly. There was hardly the remotest prospect of-A-fftil.- Every financial paper foretold that cotton would be up to twenty-eight, if not to thirty, by the next settling day on “ ’Change.” “It is fortunate that the United States has the monopoly of cotton production,” I mused. “It has not,” interrupted my companion, Algeria, India, and Egypt. The latter is, however, the only country that can compete seriously with America. If Egypt produces a bumper crop, prices fall. Yet today the fields of the Carolinas are white with the bursting pods, while Egypt is a desert, until theßritish government gives the sigfial to transform it into a garden.” "Will they not let the plants be put in the ground?” 1 queried. “The plants are in the ground,” said Nikolai bitterly. “But they will not grow without water. Do you know that Egypt is the Nile —that every year, when the Nile overflows its banks, the wilderness is transformed? Formerly nature produced this, .phenomenon unassisted. But now —well have you not heard of the new dam at Assousan?” "Completed last year to store thi waters until the government decides to open the sluices?” Nikolai nodded. “And ten days aft erward Egypt is a granary and a cotton store. Ts the gates were opened today prices would go tumbling. Cotton would fall to nearly normal, and I Should be able to buy in at fifteen and clear a substantial profit. Imagine it, Summers; seven hundred miles of cotton fields, bursting into bloom. And all hinges upon the government’s hydraulic gates! “Do you know how they built this dam.” Nikolai resumed. “There was but one spot where it could be done, and they submerged a temple, half explored, that gave promise of treasure greater than any dug from the Pharaohs' graves. Summers, it was whispered that half a million pounds in gold lay buried nine feet below the surface of the floods. Why should not we dig out this treasure and thus recoup ourselves?” “It is Impossible!” I cried. “Not at this season,” Nikolai rejoined. “When the floods are swollen to the limit of the capacity of the dam it is impossible, but now the upper portion of the temple is disclosed. I was there before the dam was built; the excavators had begun to cut a stairway into the heart of a sphinx which was supposed to guard the gold. The government stopped the'works, fearing that the construction would be undermined. So great is the pressure of the floods that a very little weakening would loose some stones In the ma- * sonry; then the waters would break through and sweep over the face of Egypt.” The idea began to grip me. In vain my reason forbade participation in Nikolai’s enterprise; three days later we had reached Brindisi by the Over land Mall, crossed the Mediterranean and chartered « vessel for Assouan. The tourist season was normally ended, for the heat had become intense; but traveling Americans, as we were considered, are proverbially eccentric, and our voyage to the region of the dam was not regarded with any suspicion by the authorities. Indeed, antiquities along each shore called

forth archaeologists during all times and seasons. We developed an insatiable thirst for sarcophagi during the first day of our sojourn, and, having pitched a tent as near the great dam as was permitted, wandered freely in its neighborhood. Itwas. indeed, a marvel of. engineering work. Of solid masonry, thirty feet thick and fifty high, built in a slightly ednvex configuration, it stretched away on either side of us, connecting highland with highland. In front of it a little stream, formed by the overflow, ban sluggishly between banks fringed with green; but the desert ran clear to within a hundred feet of this verdure, and it seemed impossible that, at the word of the engineers, these parched, brown fields, with their still water-wheels and thin cotton plants, hardly in tiniest leaf, should become converted into fertile plains. But behind the monstrous masonry a seething flood of yellow waters bubbled and boiled, daily rising higher and pressing more fieroely against the walls. And here, as far as eye could reach, were waters that had hurled themselves from the unknown highlands of Abyssinia, to retire, baffled, before this stupendous handiwork of man. Near to one bank of the river a granite column rose out of the seething flood- It was the buried temple, formerly high and dry above the plains, but now forever hidden under the waves. The flood was not yet at its height, and thus the summit was disclosed; during the greater portion of the year nothing of the temple was visible. In a light Arab skiff we explored the locality. “Five feet beneath the surface of the waves,” said my companion, pointing to the granite pile, “there lies the sealed opening which the excavators had made. The body of the temple is enormous, and the dam is actually contiguous with it at the bottom; Thus you can see that any serious excavations would, affect the dam’s own stability. Now, here is my plan. When the excavation was sealed, a sort of casson was made. Thus, if we pry the stones apart with a grappling instrument, and then descend in diving helmets, we can enter the casson, close the opening through which we have come, and afterward dig into the body of the temple itself without more than a small modicum of water entering.” I understood his point It was on the principle of the caisson with airlocks adopted by our own bridge builders. There was an air chamber between the exterior and interior of the temple which could be closed to prevent the influx of water. “!t onight the moon rises too early,” said Nikolai. “But tomorrow we can row out with our instruments and effect our entrance. There is an air-shaft running ptraight down through the temple; once inside we can pursue our operations for three days or more, so long as we take a supply of food with us.” \ 1 “And how shall we transport a million pounds—l think you said a milion, or a half-million —of gold?” I asked. Nikolai looked confused. “Summers,” he said, "please understand that in an adventure of this character one must lead and the other follow. I must exact a pledge of obedience, without questioning.” "Well, it was too late to withdraw now. I gave the pledge and, on the following night, having led our Arabs to believe that we intended to start upon a three-day duck shooting expedition, we put out from the shore, well provisioned; we pulled a mile or more up stream against a fearful current, and then drifted down quietly to where the granite summit of the buried temple rose adjacent to the mighty dam. We had brought oxygen helmets and grappling irons. We anchored the boat to the masonry, put on our helmets, which were equipped with an oxygen-producing chemical and so freed us from dependence upon an air-line, and let ourselves into the warm current. Then, hanging by one arm to the edge of the boat, we pried for long periods at the interstices of the temple masonry beneath the war ter. The work proved extremely arduous. Half a dozen times I was compelled to climb back into the boat and sit there, dripping and exhausted, while Nikolai worked indefatigably. At last he signaled to me. “I’ve loosened a brick,” he »whispered. “The rest will be easy.” And he plied his iron until all at once he disappeared beneath the surface, to emerge exhausted but triumphant. “Bring the rations,” he said in a low voice. I took up the sealed can which I had purchased In Cairo. It contained a week’s supply of a sort of meat biscuit, specially put up in sealed cans for travelers as a protection against the sand storms which penetrate paper as though it were muslin. We adjusted our helmets and dived under the water. It was an eerie sensation, clinging to the smooth, weed-covered wall of the temple, peering through the helmet glasses to discover the opening. Nikolai gained a foothold and crawled through the orifice he had made. I

followed him; and now we found ourselves in a small chamber made by the dam builders, exterior to the temple proper and about six feet by nine. The loosened bricks had been allowed to fall inward; we collected these and had soon closed the entrance. We were now in complete darkness and, of course, still under water. Nikolai groped against the inner wall until he found the ridges of the newly laid mortar. Ten minutes’ work sufficed to loosen the first stone. Immediately the water poured forth into the interior of the temple—about ten baths’ full —leaving us high, but by no means dry, within the temple. We had soon pried out an aperture large enough to enable us to crawl through, and cautiously descended a flight of low steps. All at once a brilliant light flashed out, and I saw Nikolai holding an electric light bulb, attached to a wire which was fastened round his body and evidently connected with some minute storage battery that he wore under his clothes. I removed my helmet as he did and looked around me. ’ We were standing at the bottom of a spacious passage cut.into the solid rock—po, not at the bottom, for at the end of the passage a further flight of steps ran down apparently into the bottom of the earth. What arrested my attention was the singular freshness of the air and the freshness of the excavators’ work also. The steps had been concreted, and the passages had apparently been blasted by skilled engineers. As though divining my question, Nikolai pointed upward. I followed the

direction indicated with my eyes, and saw that an air-shaft ran straight above us to the summit of the granite column, and at the top appeared the stars, apparently close at hand and exceedingly brilliant. “Now, Summers,” said Nikolai, “we are in the approach of the temple, just where the German engineers blasted out the rock while searching for the sarcophagi. Let us descend to the temple proper.” We went cautiously along the passage and down a second flight This turned and twisted in a curious manner; I counted forty-seven steps, and then suddenly the rock ceased beneath my feet and I trod upon sand. The tiny bulb hardly illuminated the vastness of the chamber in which we were standing. T came to a halt; Nikolai had halted and was looking at me irresolutely, a strange expression in his eyes. He pointed out into the gloom. “Summers,” he said, “I confess that I do not myself wholly remember the location of the tombs beneath which the treasure is believed to lie. We shall never, together, have time to explore this huge cavern and locate our quarry. It will be necessary to separate." He looked at me searchingly, still in the same peculiar manner as before, trying to read my mind, as though dubious of my good faith. “I will obey you, of course,” I answered. “But If I get lost—” “You will not get lost,” he answered, still eyeing me gloomily. “I shall take

this passage to the right; you will walk straight ahead. But tread softly." - “Why, who is there to overhear us in these solitudes?” 1 asked, and for the first time the suspicion flashed across my mind that the excitement of the adventure had bereft him of his senses. I saw his brows gather together in an ominous frown. Then he placed his hand to his pocket, withdrew it — and I saw a revolver shining. He had never threatened me before. “You will proceed ahead,” he said, handing me the bulb of the electric light He detached the wire from his body, pulling out after it a small pock-et-battery. “This is charged for two hours longer. If at the expiration of that time you have not found the tombs, return. If you have found them, wait for me. Beneath the king’s tomb lies the treasure; it had hardly been located before the government sealed the vault Adieu, Bummers — good luck to you.” I turned away unsteadily and proceeded on my path, the tiny light, although it lit my way, merely intensifying the darkness of the vault in which my footfalls gave forth cavernous echoes. I had gone but a few steps when Nikolai ran after me. “Forgive me if I have been hasty,” he said, “but this Adventure is mere perilous than' you know. I change my instructions. If you find the treasure tomb, note its location and return. If you do not find me here, ascend the stairs and re-enter the boat". He pressed my hand, and, while I still gaped at him, he disappeared so

swiftly and mysteriously that he seemed literally to vanish amid the dim lights of the vaulted temple. Aftey a moment of indecision I started off in the direction which had been assigned to me. Tortured as I was by hideous doubts, 1 would not let my fancy dwell upon the most sinister of all that came to me—the thought that it was Nikolai’s intention to return and leave me to all purposes burled alive in that dreadful place. And yet I knew that should he pass through the air chamber without sealing the inner door, the rush of _ water would flood even thatwast cavern and inevitably drown me. I wandered on and on. The distance seemed impossible; I must have been walking for fifteen minutes before I came to a halt Before me the vault still stretched away, apparently endless. Had I been walking in a circle, or was I pursuing a course straight through the bowels of the earth? Strangely enough, the air remained pure, though there was now no opening above me. At last, finding no tomb, nothing but this eternal passage among the shadows, with the wall of rock upon my right hand and the immeasurable space upon my left, I sat down and rested. I must have dozed, for I seemed to be standing among the graves of the dead, violated by vandals of the last century. I saw the mummied kings surround me; their eyes were open and they gazed upon me terribly as one who had Come to desecrate their already rifled tombs. 1 awoke sbud-

dering, feeling the sweat stream down over my face. And. as I did so, I heard very faintly and far away, the sound of pistol shots. Then panic overcame me. I was completely unnerved by the experiences of that dreadful night It seemed as though my companion had sustained my spirits by the effusion of his oWn hypnotic personality. Now that he was gone, I felt tny courage ooze out of my finger-tips and quivering knees. I sprang to my feet and ran, on, on, blindly, desperately, through the darkness. Luckily the course was clear, and the brave little light, which I had fastened to my belt, lit up the rock wall and the sandy floor. Breathless, exhausted, I ran on, till all at once, without warning, the light went out. I was in utter darkness. I sank down upon my knees and covered my head with my hands.! I fell into a sort of coma, and waited, unable to stir a hand or foot, for spme inevitable disaster. When at last I raised my head again Twas amazed to see, far in front of me, the faintest, tiniest light. But what inspired new hope in me was the fact that this was no electric light or any other artificial illumination, but the light of day! I rose and, groping my way with my hands outstretched against the rocky wall, I began to stumble on toward It. Soon there was no further room for doubt It was daylight, penetrating through a low cavern of rock. .The sand grew deeper under my feet Now I could feel the cool morning breeze upon my face, and the sand,

shifting and sifting through the orifice, reached to my knees. I waded through it, plunging and falling, until 1 trod upon firmer ground. Some desert grasses and other hardy plants had drifted in and taken root in it, affording a foothold. The tunnel grew smaller. With hands extended over my head I could toueh the roof; now I was in the light of day—and at last 1 sank gasping upon the ground outside. I looked round me in amazement I was lying upon the summit of a rock acclivity which I had noted during the preceding day some half a mile behind our camp upon the banks of the stream. But where the stream had dwindled between its low banks there was now a rushing flood of turbulent waters. And where the summit of the granite temple had reared itself above the dam there now appeared the tern-, pie itself, with the majestic, calm statues of the Ptolemies that none had ever thought to see again. And where the mighty dam had arched itself from bank to bank, there were two masses of masonry, and between them rubble and shapeless stones, over which swirled and tossed and plunged the freed torrents of the Nile. The dam was broken. On either side of the river banks there stretched swamps of black mud, through which the tide was oozing and creeping, inch by inch, up to the deserted waterwheels. And from the Arab villages on either side came white-robed figures, with arms raised above their heads, chanting their Hi«nk« to an«a

that the Nile was again to givw fertility to their fields. I made my way slowly toward the site of the camp. The tents had been swept away, with all our outfit. I looked for Nikolai; he was not there. But a figure ran up to me, shrieking and gibbering. It was Mohammed, our head-man. He pointed to the roaring torrent Caught fast among the broken piers, twisted and battered into a shapeless thing, was the boat Mohammed had thought that the swift floods bad dashed us to destruction; he looked on me as one risen from the dead. I waited three days upon the shore, but nothing of Nikolai did I see then or ever again. It was not until I reached London that the mystery was solved by a letter, which I found awaiting met It was dated from our camp, the day before we had started on our expedition. “I must confess, Summers,” it van, "that I Intend to deceive you as to the nature of our expedition tomorrow. Needless to say, there ia no treasure burled beneath the “Temple of the Kings* In fact, I shaft not take you into the temple at all. Wo cannot enter it “It is necessary for my purposes that the great dam be destroyed. From secret plans I have discovered the entrance to the base of the construction where the masonry is under the strongest pressure. A maw sits constantly on guard; he must be disposed of and a charge of dynamite applied. “I regret to say, Summers, that, while your services have proved most useful in a subordinate capacity, you have shown yourself somewhat lacking in the capacity and courage to carry out bolder plans. Hence this subterfuge of the buried treasure and the secret vault. The vault which you will see, will not be that of the temple, but actually the subterranean portion of the dam foundations. “If I escape, we shall not meet again. The arm of England is long, and I have no desire to be hampered with one whom I cannot rely upon in emergencies, or who is fettered by scruples. But if you desire a reason for my destruction of the watch the newspapers.” I seized the newspaper of the day. And suddenly I understood. September cotton had fallen to fifteen. The loosening of the floods had irrigated the Egyptian fields and broken the Chicago corner. And this was the secret of Nikolai’s desperate and successful scheme. , • I have often wondered whether he escaped from the destruction, whether the pistol shots I heard signaled the death of the watchman only or of bin* self also. And I have hoped he knew of the secret entrance the vault—that he did not mean to leave me to perish in the darkness of that subterranean prison. But that part of the mystery will never be solved—at least unless I meet Nikolai again.

"ADIEU, -SUMMERS GOOD LUCK TO YOU.