He exhibited little evidence of the journey which I had found so fatiguing, but an expression strongly like that of real anxiety rested upon his ascetic face.
“If life is dear to you,” he continued, “answer me this, Kernaby Pasha; have you found the ring?”
“I have not,” I replied; “my lamp failed me; but I think the ring is gone.”
And now, as I spoke the words, the strangeness of his question came home to me, bringing with it an acute suspicion.
“What do you know of this ring, O my friend?” I asked.
Abû Tabâh shrugged his shoulders.
“I know much that is evil,” he replied; “and because you doubt the purity of my motives, all that I have learned you shall learn also; for Allah the Great, the Merciful, this night has protected you from danger and spared you a frightful death. Follow me, Kernaby Pasha, in order that these things may be made manifest to you.”
IV
A pair of fleet camels were kneeling at the foot of the slope below the entrance to the pyramid, and having recovered somewhat from the effect of the fatiguing climb out from the King’s Chamber—