"I stayed there for eight days, too. Ye'll mind that there were just eight slaves an' mysel' in the party. They treated me well, fed me fine, but every night I heard a big jamboree goin' on. On the ninth evenin' they brought me out. The village was surrounded by the usual thorn zareba, an' the whole tribe was gathered just inside the gates, feastin'. Mbopo an' three others tied me up an' carried me out halfway to the separate hut. Here they laid me on the ground beside a small fire.
"The old wizened chap came out after us with a long iron which he stuck in the fire. Then he pulled off my shirt an' did—this." Captain Mac slipped down his shirt collar and exposed the scarred shoulder that Critch had seen on the boat. As the others gathered around with exclamations of astonishment, Burt could see that the scar was in the form of a cross, except that a long loop took the place of the head-piece. Besides this, the whole shoulder seemed a mass of cicatrices.
"Yon's the shape o' the bit o' wood I found in Yusuf's packet," went on Montenay, when Mr. Wallace interrupted him in wonder.
"Mac! Do you know what that symbol is?"
"It's the sign o' Pongo," returned the other. "From what I saw later it had to do wi' ancient Egypt—"
"I should say it had!" ejaculated Mr. Wallace, sinking back into his chair and staring at Montenay, who slipped his shirt back into position. "Why, that sign is the Egyptian cross, or ankh—the symbol of life, and the peculiar insignia of Maat, the ancient Goddess of Truth!"
"So I found out, if ye'd given me time to finish," replied Montenay drily. "Mbopo an' the rest staked me out there an' left me. What wi' the burn an' the insects that settled down, I was pretty nigh gone inside an hour. The fire was out, an' just after moonrise I heard a 'pad-pad' o' steps near by. Then a minute later I caught one glimpse of a monstrous lion, just as he sprang an' grabbed me by the wounded shoulder. That finished me for sure, and I fainted."
CHAPTER X
THE SACRED ANKH
"When I came to," continued Montenay, "I thought sure I was crazy. I was lyin' in a palm-thatch hut, on a floor littered wi' bones an' refuse an' smellin' to high heaven. To one side was a little dish full o' palm oil, with a lighted wick floatin' in it. Leanin' up against the wall, behind the lamp, was a big painted mummy. Layin' in front o' the mummy was an ankh, four foot long an' made out o' solid gold."
"What!" Mr. Wallace stared at the other, almost speechless. The two boys, fascinated by the deadly earnestness of Montenay's recital, were pale with excitement. "But go ahead, man. I can talk later."