Page:H. D. Traill - From Cairo to the Soudan Frontier.djvu/162

144 that part of the story is not so remarkable as the incident of the fellahin women following the boat containing the royal mummies down the river with their hair loosened and filling the air with lamentations."

"Strange," murmured another of our party, "that these old kings should have kept the treasures of their tombs inviolate for thousands of years only to be rifled at last by an Arab villager! And it is the more wonderful when one remembers that many centuries must have passed before these sepulchres were finally covered up and hidden by the desert sands, and that during all that time their position and their riches contained in them must have been matters of common knowledge. It says much for the honesty and piety of the early Egyptians that they seem never to have"

"My dear fellow!" interrupted our friend, who had been listening to this rhapsody with a queer smile; "Don't say another word. Let me remind you of that pregnant