“Be good enough to go on deck for a time, Professor,” said my father. “We will talk the matter over among ourselves before venturing to give you an answer.”
He rose without protest and retired, and at once we began an earnest discussion of the proposal. The first point to settle was the legality of the thing, and it seemed to us the Professor was right in his contention that the present powers in Egypt, which had acquired the country by wars of conquest, had no more moral right to claim the buried treasure of the ancient priests of Karnak than had its recent discoverers. The old religion based on the worship of Isis and Osiris had disappeared from the earth and its votaries were long since dead or dispersed. The hidden treasure, formerly the property of this religious body, had now no legal claimants and belonged to whomsoever had the fortune to find it and the courage to seize and hold it. That the Khedive had made laws forbidding anyone to remove ancient treasure from Egypt did not affect us in the least. We were free Americans and in no way under the dominion of the Turks who had conquered Egypt. They might exact tribute from this land and establish the claim of might to whatever wealth the country contained; but it was our privilege to evade this might if we chose to. There are true Egyptians yet living in Egypt, but they are poor-spirited folk and are largely outnumbered by the Arabs, Turks and other foreigners, so that the control of their native land is doubtless lost to them forever.
Having thus satisfied our consciences that we were justified in undertaking an adventure to secure this wealth, we faced the consequences of failure or discovery. There was nothing to demand our immediate return to America, and the time required by the undertaking was therefore available. But the Seagull represented a fortune to us, and we hesitated to jeopardize her safety. According to international treaty we were not safe from seizure in case the ship violated the laws of Egypt; but there was a strong probability that the worst fate liable to overtake us, if discovered, would be the confiscation of the treasure. The Khedive would hesitate to involve his country in a dispute with the United States by resorting to extreme measures. We were taking a chance, of course; but the game seemed well worth the chance, and none can expect to win who hesitates to risk a stake.
Having disposed of governmental interference we faced the question of a war with Abdul Hashim and his tribe, and decided to contest the Arab’s claim—which was not in any way equal to that of the Professor, according to the story he had told us. We had before this encountered some desperate adventures in strange lands and were not disposed to shrink from a skirmish with these lawless Arabs, if they forced it upon us. There remained, then, but two points to be settled: the best way to get the treasure aboard ship, and our share in the division, once we had safely transported it to America.
We recalled the Professor and asked him for his plans and proposals. He was a queer little fellow, this Van Dorn; half coward and half bully; but there was no doubt the man possessed a share of shrewd intelligence.
“If we undertake to go up the Nile, past Cairo and Assuit,” he said, “and try to bring the treasure back to Alexandria, the chances are that we should never succeed. This is the most populous portion of Egypt, and government spies and the mounted police are everywhere. Had this been my plan I should not have appealed to you to assist me. Your claim to become my allies lies in the fact that you have a swift ship unknown in these waters, a brave crew, and the American love for adventure. But the ship is the most important possession of all.”
“You don’t expect us to sail up the Nile, do you?” I asked, impatiently.
“No, that is impossible,” was his quiet reply. “From here to Luxor is seven hundred miles; but the Arabian Gulf, in the Red Sea, is only ninety miles from where the treasure is hidden. You will take your ship to Port Said, through the Suez Canal, and so down the Gulf to the small and unimportant town of Koser, where there is a good harbor. Here we shall hire camels which will take us in four days across the Arabian desert to the treasure, which we shall load upon the camels and bring back with us to the ship. We shall not appear at Karnak or Luxor at all, you see, and shall encounter only the desert Bedouins, who are quite friendly to Europeans. Nor need we even approach the ruins of Abdul Hashim’s village. I know how to find the spot where the treasure lies, and in that lonely place there will be none to spy upon us.”
“But how shall we find our way across the desert?” asked Uncle Naboth.
“Why, there still exists an ancient caravan route from Koser to Luxor,” the Professor returned, “and we shall be able to secure guides who know every step of the way. It will be a tedious journey; four days to go and four to return; but, as I have said, the reward will be ample for such insignificant hardships.”