“Old Pharoah was a fine old fellow,” said Max, “but I’d rather be an American citizen than——”

“A mummy.”

That was no echo.

It was a human voice.

Max could stand no more.

His eyes seemed like coals of fire, his brain was burning, his lips were parched.

“Oh, God! I am dying!” he gasped, as he fell on the floor, scattering the dust of centuries and causing the tomb to be filled with a cloud, suffocating and unpleasant.

When he recovered consciousness he was still lying on the floor, but his head rested on Girzilla’s knee, and she was fanning him with a palm leaf which she had brought in with her.

“You silly boy, did I frighten you?”

“Was it you who said ‘a mummy?’”