“Humph!” said Uncle Naboth; “is that all?”
“That is all, sir,” I answered, closing the book. “But it explains a lot that we did not know, and transfers the ownership of the treasure from us to Joe.”
They all sat thoughtfully considering this for a time. Then Joe said:
“I may have a sort of claim to my father’s share, although that is not quite clear. But the half that was to go to the Khedive you people are now fully entitled to.”
“That’s a sure thing,” observed Archie, whose keen Yankee wit had grasped the situation quicker than mine did. “But let’s consider another thing, my friends. We agreed long ago that the hidden treasure of those old priests belonged by right to whoever was lucky enough to grab it. It isn’t the Khedive’s, and never has been. Lovelace—or Joe’s father—may have made a deal with the Khedive to insure his own safety, but Lovelace did nothing more than to locate the place where the treasure lay. He never got his fists on it. Neither did Abdul Hashim, nor Van Dorn, nor old Gege-Merak, although any one of ’em would have seized it if he could and held on to it like grim death to a grasshopper. The fact is, we got possession of the treasure ourselves, at considerable risk, and it belongs to us except for the liens Joe’s father had on it. In my opinion we needn’t consider the Khedive any more than the Shah of Persia or any other hungry shark.”
“You’re right,” said Uncle Naboth. “We’ll keep half an’ give Joe half. That’s fair, I guess.”
“But first,” said I, “let’s get safely away from Egypt,” and I left them and went on deck to find we had just sighted Suez.
CHAPTER XX.
THE KHEDIVE TAKES THE LAST TRICK—BUT ONE.
We reached Port Said without interruption at five o’clock on a gloomy afternoon, and my father managed to get his papers signed so he could clear the port an hour later.
We had used our steam to make the journey through the Canal, and so we determined to steam for the next twelve hours, at least, in order to show our heel to Egypt as soon as possible.