Uncle Naboth was the first to speak.
“Tell me, sir,” said he, “why you have selected us to receive your confidence.”
“I had two reasons,” replied Van Dorn. “One is that I am afraid. I left Luxor and traveled to Cairo, trying to think of a way to secure the treasure for myself. At Cairo I was shot at from a window and narrowly escaped death. I came on here to Alexandria, as secretly as I could. Last night I was set upon by a band of Arabs, among whom I recognized the terrible Abdul Hashim. Had you not appeared at the same instant I would certainly have been killed. It seems as if Providence had decreed that we should meet. You have a swift vessel, bound for America, and I have a great treasure to be secured and transported home. Assist me in this emergency and your reward shall be greater than you could gain from a dozen voyages.”
“This treasure,” said my father, slowly and reflectively, “belongs to the Egyptian government, accordin’ to your own say-so.”
“Oh, no!” cried Van Dorn.
“I take it that way, from your statement.”
“I said the present laws of Egypt, enacted a few years ago, forbade any relic of the old civilization to be taken out of the country. The Museum will buy all my treasure, and give me an insignificant sum not at all commensurate with its value; but what right has the Khedive to claim what I have worked so hard to secure? In America the gems alone will sell for millions.”
“But this is an Egyptian treasure,” I said. “The laws seem to me to be just. What right have you, a foreigner, to remove this great wealth from the country?”
“The right of discovery,” retorted the little Professor, promptly, with an energetic bob of his head. “Who is the Khedive of Egypt? A Turk. A foreigner like myself, if you please, who rules here as a dependant of Turkey, and pays the Sultan eleven millions a year in tribute—a sum he wrings from the remnant of the true Egyptians, and from the Arab and other native population, by means of excessive taxes. This treasure once belonged to Egypt, we will admit, and it was buried by the Egyptian priests to save it from just such invaders as these Turks. But Egyptians no longer rule Egypt, nor ever will again; so that in simple justice this treasure belongs solely to its discoverer rather than to the usurper in the land where it lies buried.”
“Still,” said Uncle Naboth, “we have this government to reckon with. Morally, you may be entitled to the treasure, but legally the decrees of the Khedive are inviolable. Eh? If we attempt to run away with this ’ere treasure, an’ get caught, we can be punished as common thieves.”