in these underground store-houses,--the engraved talismans, the
slabs of stone on which were deeply carved the geometrical and
astronomical sciences; indestructible glass chests containing
papyri, on which were written the various discoveries made in
beneficial drugs, swift poisons, and other medicines. And among
these many things were thirty great jars full of precious stones,
some of which were marvels of the earth. They are there still! And
some of the great men who died were interred in these caves, every
one in a separate chamber inlaid with gold and gems, and I think,"
here the Princess turned her dark eyes full on Dr. Dean, "I think
that if you knew the secret way of lifting the apparently
immovable floor, which is like the solid ground, and descending
through the winding galleries beneath, it is more than probable
you would find in the Great Pyramid the tomb of Araxes!"

Her eyes glistened strangely in the evening light with that
peculiar fiery glow which had made Dr. Dean once describe them as
being like the eyes of a vampire-bat, and there was something
curiously impressive in her gesture as she once more pointed to
the towering structure which loomed against the heavens, with one
star flashing immediately above it. A sudden involuntary shudder
shook Gervase as with icy cold; he moved restlessly, and presently
remarked:

"Well, it is a safe tomb, at any rate! Whoever Araxes was, he
stands little chance of being exhumed if he lies two floors below
the Great Pyramid in a sealed-up rocky cavern! Princess, you look
like an inspired prophetess!--so much talk of ancient and musty
times makes me feel uncanny, and I will, with your permission,
have a smoke with Dr. Dean in the garden to steady my nerves. The