The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-10-31
PHARAOH'S MUMMY

Wayne.
"Wcll" inquired Cortico cooIIy
when we had all taken good look.
. Sure enough. its band of armed
/. nativcs,'' returned Wayne. ''The,
. look pretty husinesSlike-out on some
raid, pcrhaps-huL probably they I'll mo-
: trouble MS.
owe can hc zoo sure returned
. .iartoD. In The last fifteen minutes
they haven't sweiycd \ hair from th'
way they re hcading-righI this way
. Nonsense laughed Wayno. Will
British assurance. Why. my dear feI
low. VIC re less than 200 miles from
ASsouan and 800 Tommies; besides tie
Couuily's quiet since they bottled M
the Mabdi. Eh, Forbcs!'
What the engineer woul3 have 1c
Piled we never knew, for events came
thick and fas.. While we mad been
gazing and talking the cavalcada had
drawn much closer, spreading out fan
wise, and tho rattle of their harness
was now very plain. In the deceptive
evening light we had miscaIculated
their distance. However, here is what
happened:
Before any one Of us four could turn
or make move toward the boat the
Arabs were upon us, riding lis down,
I'm fact. The foremost, headed by
their leader. reined up so suddenly
that ! felt the hot breath of the horse
in my face.
4 Quick as lightning, almost. ten or II
dozen of the riders on the hanks had
slipped to the ground and snaked their
half-naked bodies, pistols in hand, be
tween us and the edge of the bank,
30 there we four men were between
two hres--unarmed and helpless, In
a tuce each was seized by sincwY hands.
our arms tied behind, and soft scarf
Ia burnoose. they call it-pulled over
our heads, 1t was like being tied M
IN flour bag. We could Just manage
TO breathe, and that was all; speaking
or shouting was useless and inaudiblc
held under guard, powerless.
Meantime, we could dimly make out
the outrage that was being anacted on
the boat, Munled feminine screams
reached as. and hubbub Of gutterai
shouts from the crew Then grim si-
leuce. These Informed us without
much guessing that Miss Cortice and
Lady Blanche had been seized by the
raiders! God grant that no worse had
beiaIlen them, was the prayer of each
white man,
After perhaps ten minutes of this
agonlZlng suspense we could make out
the return of the attacking party, bat
not sound could we hear from the
girls. Immediately felt myself ierked
rect; next two PAIR of husky arms
seized me and flung me astride a sad
! die, my feet being tied beneath the
! horse 8 belly. Similar treatment. we
| found, by comparing notes afterward
was accorded 10 the other three men
of our party; but the ladies were
merely lifted TO their seats, each in
| front of a rider who held them on none
too gently,
Then came a sharp word of com.
mand. and we set off in the darkness
probably into the heart Of the desert
| told myself, for Of course there was
no sense of direction.
Well, about midnight we halted, the
buruooses were removed and we men
were lifted down as before Some
dates were put into our mouths. one
by one, a gourd of warmisb water was
held TO our parched lips; then we were
hoisted into the saddle once more. But
secure from pursuit, our heads were
left uncovered. | must have dozed in
the saddle before morning, for on
opening my eyes, ] found the dawn all
! tall palms of q Tiny oasis which I after
ward learned was named Selineh.
| The horses were put to the gallon.
and in 4 few minutes the six of us
were huddled apart on the ground in
! the shelter of the cool and grateful
greenness, which was dotted with sew
eral brown tents, INTO one of which
Lady Blanche and Retta were led by
an old hag of an Arab woman.
After awhile water WAS brought
! from a we'll in gourds and VIC were
able TO lave our faces and hands Then
followed breakfast consisting of
parchcd corn cakes and the inevitable
dates, washed down by more water.
Cad! d have given 500 for cup
of the Arab coffee one hears so much
about-in New York or London!
After breakfast, as | suppose I must
call il, our hands were fastened rs be.
fore and we were led before the sheik.
as ylllanous-lookiug a miscreant as
! you d care 10 meet IN n month of Sun.
! days. lie spoke a horrible patois of
! French and English, and I shall not ,at.
tempt TO reproduce his language But
! the glst Of 1T was that we were held
! for rausom-thC men at 5000 piasfres
each-about n thousand pounds-the
ladies' at double that sum-a total Of
10000 plastres or about eight thousand
pouudsl Pending the receipt of this we
would be held in durance. IL the money
was not paid within reasonable time
there would bc-well some rather un.
! pleasant consequences for a partv Of
! English and American tourists. such as
! slavery or death for rs men and worse
! than death for the women
Great Scotti'' exclaimed Corticc.
''lt'll take six or eight weeks 10 reach
Cairo and return! Arc we 10 he held
prisoners all that time? Why. the
girls II 90 crazy with frigbt!''
- Better seem TO give in. - counsclcd
Forbes in a low tone "Wc II make uD
enough drafts on Cairo between ms,
The fool doesn Z realize that we II bc
missed long before his scouts can 20
and return. In Assouan they know we
went up the river. and when we don't
show up coming down tbey'll rake the
desert with n iiuc.tooth comb
''That IS good ADVICE quoth West.
bury Wayne. "Who knows?-wo may
manage TO get away somehow. Per
haps the boatman escaped and will give
! the alarm.
'' Don T. put your faith 20 that. - couu-
sccd Forbes gloomily. "Evcry man of
our crew is doubtless food for The croc-
odiles by this time. Those devils value
| life about as much as an American Iu-
dian would -
There seemed 10 be no help for us:
we were without arms; the tribesmcn