"Six thousand years old!" said both the youths in a breath.
"Yes, six thousand years old," was the answer; "but, as I told you, there was a difference of opinion among the Egyptologists; it may be more modern than that, and not over four thousand years old."
"Even if it is only four thousand," responded Frank, "it is antique enough to be very interesting."
"Yes," the Doctor continued, "we needn't trouble ourselves about a matter of twenty centuries. We will split the difference, and call it five thousand years."
"How life-like it looks!" exclaimed Fred. "It almost appears as if it were ready to speak to us. And what an expression about the eyes!"
"The eyes are unequalled in any modern statue," said the Doctor. "You observe that they are set in rims of bronze, which serve for eyelids; the eye itself is made of opaque quartz, like ground glass, and there is a piece of rock-crystal in the centre, which forms the pupil. If you look closely you see a glittering point below the crystal, which makes the eye sparkle as though its owner were about to smile. There is nothing of modern times that equals it."
One of the boys asked if the statue was in the condition in which it was found. The Doctor said the feet had been restored, so that the figure could be placed upright, and the stick in the left hand was modern. "In all other respects," said he, "the statue is just as it was found, and it is a rule of the museum to keep everything as nearly as possible in its original condition."
Other statues were examined, and at length the boys stopped in front of a case containing several small articles of wood and stone.
"What are these things?" said Frank, pointing to one corner of the case.
"And these? and these?" said Fred, as his eye wandered from one thing to another.