They looked over fearfully, and then the captain broke into a gale of laughter.
“There’s your ghost!” he cried. “Look at him!” and he pointed to a large platform made of reeds and covered with a white sheet on which some phosphorescent substance had been daubed, hanging a little below the brink of the chasm.
“And I winged him too with that shot,” the captain chuckled, as he pointed to a broken hinge, the brightly gleaming shattered edge of which showed that the break had been recent. “Come here, Phalos,” he shouted, “and look at your ghost.”
The old Egyptian, reassured by the laughter, came forward and looked rather sheepishly at the discredited “ghost.”
“Simplicity itself,” declared the professor, “and yet ingenious too. There’s no doubt the thing was designed to frighten off intruders. You see the thing is made of reeds, through which the wind plays, something on the principle of an Æolian harp, only in this case they were so arranged as to produce discords instead of harmonies. When the night wind springs up, there’s a tremendous draught comes up this funnel-like chasm, as you can tell by putting your hand over the edge. When an unusually heavy gust comes, it sends this thing up into the air with its phosphorescent sheet and other fixings.”
“But it will never fly up again,” cried the captain. “I’ve broken one of its wings. Here goes the other.”
His rifle cracked and the remaining hinge snapped. There was a moment’s fluttering, and then the whole hideous contraption sank out of sight forever to the bottom of the abyss.
The next morning the explorers bade farewell to the Tombs of Golds, and passed out into the open. It took them several hours to get out their precious burdens, and several more to get them packed on the extra camels they had brought along for pack purposes.
They were making their way down the rocks with the last consignment when a squad of rough-looking riders, about a score in number, came in sight from around a stony slope a quarter of a mile away.
“Down!” cried the captain, setting the example.