Chapter Twenty Nine.
A Game at Marbles.
It was a false alarm. The people who had collected about them were not brigands, and they only carried working tools, not weapons for attack.
“Means what, Yussuf?” said Mr Burne.
“They have come to see how you dig out the buried treasure, effendi,” said the guide with a suspicion of a smile.
“Treasure! what treasure?” cried the professor.
“It is of no use to argue with them, your excellency; they of course know that, in place of there being only little villages here in the far back days, there were great cities, like Istamboul and Smyrna and Trieste, all over the country.”
“Quite true; there were.”
“And that these cities were occupied by great wealthy nations, whose houses and palaces and temples were destroyed by enemies, and they believe that all their golden ornaments and money lie buried beneath these stones.”