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 as you can see. Just the sky, and the desert, and the columns that are almost as old as the desert itself. And the wind blows and the sand drifts and covers up the great stone lions at the portal, and they lie buried and hidden for centuries. The storks fly across to fish in the Nile, just the way they did when the temple was being built, three thousand years ago; and within, the mighty statue of the god Osiris holds up its hand silently and forever."

Siddereticus paused to relight his cigarette.

"Oh!" cried Fen. "Oh! They never told me things like that!"

"And the tombs," Siddereticus went on. "They are dug into the very heart of the rock. You go down and down, and by the flickering light of your candle you see the paintings on the walls—clear and bright after thousands of years. Pictures of battles and feasts, kings and gods and 11