The Tupelo journal., 1910-07-01
PHARAOH's MUMMY
lCoDyright los. by W. O. Chapman. Copyright 4. Great BrisAina

up there you ought to see before 1t
gets too dark"
We all jumped to our feet at this. |
up the incline-here almost perpen-
dicular-Cortice handed me the glass,
l being first or top, saying:
Look yonder. right under that
bright star; see anything coming this
way?"
The instant / got the lenses focused
I made out the cause Of Barton's in
terest. A band of perhaps thirty Arab
horsemen were riding steadily toward
us, their long guns and spears glitter
ing with dull CLEANS in the f%ast-fading
light.
Without answering / passed the
glass to Forbes and he in turn to Lord
Wayne.
"Well?" inquired Cortice coolly
when we had all taken a good look.
Sure enough, it's a band of armed
natives" returned Wayne. "They look
| pretty business-like-out on some raid,
perhaps-but probably they'll not trou-
BILE u.s."
I'VE can't be too sure" returned
Barton. I'm the last Is minutes they
haven't swerved a hair from the way
they're heading-right this way"
Nonsense" laughed Wayne, with
British assurance. Why, my dear fell
low, we're less than two hundred miles
from Assouan and 500 Tommies; be-
sides the country's quiet since they
bottled up the Mahdi. Eth, Forbes"
What the engineer would have re-
piled we never knew, for events came
thick and fast. While we had been
gazing and talking the cavalcade had
drawn much closer, spreading out fan
! wise, and the rattle of their harness
was now very plain. In the deceptive
evening light we had mi~scalculated
their distance. However, here is what
happened:
Before any one of us four could
turn or make a move toward the boat
the Arabs were upon us, riding us
down, in fact. The foremost, headed
by their leader, refined VI SO suddenly
that / felt the hot breath of the horse
in my face.
Quick as lightning, almost, ten or a
dozen of the riders On the TANKS had
slipped to the ground and snaked
their half-naked bodies, pistols in
hand, between us and the edge of the
bank. So there we four men were be-
tween two fires-unarmed and help
less, In a trice each was seized by
sinewy hands, our arms tied behind,
and a soft scarf-a %burnoose, they call
it-pulled owe our heads.
Meantime, we could dimly make out
the outrage that was being enacted on
the boat. Muff1ed feminine screams
reached us, and a hubbub of gutteral
shouts from the crew. Then grim ST.
lence. These informed us without
much guessing that Miss Cortice and
Lady Blanche had been seized by the
raiders; God grant that no worse had
befallen them was the prayer Of each
white man!
After perhaps ten minutes of this
agoniZing suspense we could make u
the return of the attacking party, but
not a sound could we heal from the
girls. Immediately Ifelt myself jerked
from behind and urged forward on my
feet; next two pair of husky arms
seized me and flung me astride a sad
die, my feet being tied beneath the
horses belly. Similar treatment, we
found, by comparing notes afterward,
was accorded to 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,
I told myself, for of course there was
no sense Of direction.
Well, about midnight we halted, the
burnooses were removed and we men
were lifted down as before. Some
dates were put into u mouths n
by one, a gourd of warmish water was
held to our parched lips; then we were
hoisted into the saddle once more. But
this time, our captors probably feeling
secure from pursuit, our heads were
left uncovered. l must have dozed in
the saddle toward morning, for on
opening my eyes l found the dawn all
abroad, and a mile or two ahead the
tall palms of a tiny oasis which l af-
terward learned vas named Selineh.'
The horses were put to the gallop,
and in a few minutes the six of US
we're 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 bag of an Arab woman.
After breakfast, az / suppose l must
call it, our hands were fastened as be-
fore and we were led before the sheik,
as Misunderstanding a miscreant as
you'd care to meet in a month of Sun
days. He spoke a horrible patois of
French and English, and I shall not at
tempt to reproduce his language. But
the gist Of 1t was that we were held
for ransom-the men at 5000 piastres
each-about q thousand pounds-the
ladies at double that sum-a total OF
10000 piastres or about eight thousand