Page:Weird Tales Volume 30 Number 02 (1937-08).djvu/35

 He raised himself on one elbow, and became aware of a huge Negro, oddly dressed, who stood grinning at him. The Negro pointed toward the end of the alley.

"Well?" Daunt struggled to his feet. "Where am I?" he demanded.

The giant black man did not reply. He still pointed.

Then Daunt remembered—with a violent start. What he remembered was the meaning of the Negro's costume, the simple loincloth, tied in a distinctive way. The man must be masquerading. Nubian slaves, in ancient Egypt, dressed so. And now he recognized the buildings as Egyptian, too.

The little clergyman chuckled to himself. Of course, he must be dreaming! Well, he would see where the dream led him!

The Negro gesticulated once more toward the alley entrance, and made queer little sounds—the twitterings of a dumb man. Daunt nodded. This, then, was the next step in the dream—he must go out to the street which he could see beyond the alley.

He walked slowly. This was the most remarkable dream he had ever had, and he was enjoying it. He turned his head from side to side, like a country boy in a great city, to see the curious sights.

That was why, as he rounded the corner of the alley, he stepped directly into the path of three galloping horses, which drew a heavy chariot mounted with gold. He would have been trampled beneath their brazen-shod feet, had it not been for a miracle. The miracle was that the driver of the chariot, rising instantly to the emergency, leapt over the backs of his own horses, grasped the clergyman by his collar, and whisked him around the flying hooves and into the chariot.

"Well, if I do say so myself, sir, that can be my good deed for this day," said a familiar voice; an incredibly familiar voice, breathless though it happened to be at the moment.

"Stubbs!" was all Daunt could say.

"Not only that, sir, but look who's with me!" Stubbs responded, heartily.

Daunt looked. His eyes were clouded with the dust of his recent acrobatics, and the two figures beside him were clad in garments unlike any he had ever seen them wearing, but beyond question this was Stubbs in the chariot, and that was Chief of Police Jim Kerns beside him. Stubbs was deathly pale, but otherwise he seemed much as usual.

Daunt's expression must have been strange. It moved Kerns to laugh until his long face was purple. Stubbs was more considerate. Instead of laughing at his employer's amazement, he set out to allay it.

"I'll bet you think you're dreaming, sir," he ventured, understandingly. "I am sure of it."

Stubbs grinned, and winked at Clyde.

"Let me ask you a question, sir. Supposing this to be a dream, where are you dreaming that you are?"

"In ancient Egypt, of course," the clergyman returned, promptly. "Strange how my reading of the past few days has come to life in my mind!"

"Any particular part of ancient Egypt?" Daunt looked about him in the teeming street. The horses had been pulled down to a walk. His special knowledge identified much of what he saw. The stately, dark-bearded man in a long robe, who shot a keen glance at them from under heavy brows as he stepped aside to let the chariot pass, undoubtedly was an Asiatic. The jewels he wore were from the hands of Tyrian craftsmen. Their like could be seen in many a big museum. The man brushed shoulders with two Phenician merchants—Daunt could have sworn to them. They were