Page:H. D. Traill - From Cairo to the Soudan Frontier.djvu/155

Rh "Well, that is a part of the story that the guide-books don't give. You must get that, as I did, from the excellent Ahmed himself. It is rather quaint and characteristic, and may be taken, I think, with a somewhat smaller grain of salt than is usually required as the condiment of an Oriental story. It seems that Ahmed, his elder brother, and a stranger were digging one day up in the hills there, when"

"Do you mean actually digging for buried treasure?"

" Well, yes, I suppose so, in a sort of way. That is to say, they were 'mousing' about in the usual Arab fashion, in search of anything that might turn up in the 'antîka' line, and be worth anything from half a dozen piastres to twice as many pounds. But, of course, he could not have had the slightest expectation of hitting on the biggest find in money's worth, and incomparably the largest in scientific value, that has ever been made in these regions since modern history began.