Page:Blue Magic.djvu/30

 with delicate carving—lying on the palm. Fen's eyes opened wide in wonder, the color came and went in his cheeks, and it was not until the young man dropped the handful into his lap, saying, "There you are!" that he could exclaim:

"How did you do it?"

"Djinns can do lots of things," smiled Siddereticus.

Fen looked at the scarabs for a long time, touching them gently, while a little smile flickered now and again across his face.

"What is the carving on the bottoms of them for?" he asked.

Well, you see," explained Siddereticus, "the Egyptians thought that scarabæi—which are just plain beetles!—were sacred, so they made these little images of them out of clay, and wore them always, like talismans. When they died, ever so many scarabs were buried with them. 14