Such preliminary matters having been arranged by correspondence, Smith,
after a few days spent in the Museum at Cairo, took the night train
to Luxor, where he found his head-man, an ex-dragoman named Mahomet,
waiting for him and his fellaheen labourers already hired. There were
but forty of them, for his was a comparatively small venture. Three
hundred pounds was the amount that he had made up his mind to expend,
and such a sum does not go far in excavations.
During his visit of the previous year Smith had marked the place where
he meant to dig. It was in the cemetery of old Thebes, at the wild spot
not far from the temple of Medinet Habu, that is known as the Valley of
the Queens. Here, separated from the resting-places of their royal lords
by the bold mass of the intervening hill, some of the greatest ladies of
Egypt have been laid to rest, and it was their tombs that Smith desired
to investigate. As he knew well, some of these must yet remain to be
discovered. Who could say? Fortune favours the bold. It might be that he
would find the holy grave of that beauteous, unknown Royalty whose face
had haunted him for three long years!
For a whole month he dug without the slightest success. The spot that
he selected had proved, indeed, to be the mouth of a tomb.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25