CHAPTER XV
A Frightful Apparition
Startled, confused, bewildered beyond measure, Don and Teddy were whirled down the steep incline at a dizzy speed, until at last they were thrown out on the stone floor at its foot in a medley of tossing arms and legs.
But the one predominant feeling in their minds as they scrambled to their feet and looked at each other, in a consternation that would have been ludicrous under any other circumstances, was that now they could really see each other!
They were in the light, the blessed light; not brilliant, but mellowed and full of shadows. There was no visible source to which it could be traced, but it was light, and as they looked into each other’s eyes half the horror of their situation seemed to have vanished. It brought to each a reinforcement of hope and courage.
“Gee!” exclaimed Teddy, as he shook himself. “Talk about shooting the chutes! That has the big one at Coney Island beaten to a frazzle.”
“It sure does,” agreed Don, as he looked at the slope down which they had sped and marveled at its mirrorlike smoothness.
The boys looked about them to see what kind of a place it was into which they had been so abruptly ushered. They found themselves in a great spacious room, from which a series of doorways at intervals led into smaller ones. The roof was high and slightly arched. On the walls was an almost endless series of paintings that represented almost every possible scene and custom of ancient Egyptian life.
They recognized at once the similarity to the paintings they had seen on their first memorable visit to the tombs of Tut-ankh-Amen and the other monarchs in the Valley of the Kings.
“This must be a tomb,” said Don. “Or perhaps one of the antechambers to a tomb. But it’s on a vastly bigger scale than anything we’ve ever seen before.”
“I should say it was!” agreed Teddy, as his eyes took in its proportions. “The others are only also-rans as compared with this. The fellow this was built for must have been some big bug in his day.”
The lads wandered about the room, studying with interest the scenes depicted on the walls. They had all the stiffness that marks the work of the Egyptian artists, but apart from that, were surprisingly good and accurate.
“I’ve always thought the Egyptians were sad fellows,” remarked Teddy. “But if these paintings tell the truth, they were pretty gay old boys if you ask me.”
There were pictures of royal banquets with wine and flowers in profusion, minstrels playing, men and women dancing, and buffoons and clowns adding their part to the merriment. One dancer was bearing the body of another on his head as he whirled about. Everything in these pictures indicated abandonment to the material pleasures of life.
But there were more stately scenes, troops of soldiers marching through the streets crowded with spectators on both sides, solemn religious ceremonies in the temples with the priests in full regalia. Other pictures represented hunting scenes, fights with lions, chariot races, wrestling, and various athletic sports.
Still others, more in keeping with a mortuary chamber, showed the progress of the soul after it had left the body and embarked on its stormy voyage amid the perils of the underworld and beset by demons that sought to check its progress before it could reach the presence of Osiris and the realms of bliss.
“Look at these cartoons!” exclaimed Teddy, as he came to lighter specimens of the painter’s art. “I’ve seen worse in some of the evening papers.”
He pointed to a hippopotamus seated among the leaves of a tree at a table while a crow was climbing a ladder to wait on him. A cat, walking on its hind legs, drove a flock of geese, while a wolf, carrying a staff and knapsack, led a herd of goats. A battle between mice and cats was shown, with the king of the mice, in a chariot drawn by two dogs, attacking the fortress of the cats.
“The fellow that drew those was throwing himself away,” declared Teddy. “He could have got a good salary in New York.”
But while these novel things served a good purpose for a time in diverting the boys’ minds from their troubles, the latter soon returned with redoubled force, especially when the lads saw that the light was waning. They dreaded the coming of the dark in those surroundings.
“It’s a good thing in one way, though,” said Don, in answer to Teddy’s comment on the growing shadows. “It shows that it’s natural light. It must come in from somewhere; and that somewhere must lead to the outside world. We’ll see if we can’t find out where that is when morning comes.”
They sat down touching each other, for the comfort of companionship, and took stock of their store of provisions. The result was anything but satisfactory.
Don had a few crackers in his pocket and a couple of cakes of chocolate. Besides these, his canteen was two-thirds full of water. The sum total of Teddy’s possessions was comprised in a sandwich and a couple of seed cakes that Ismillah had given him. And his canteen was less than half full.
“Gee!” groaned Teddy, “if we only had some of those ducks and haunches of venison that Tut-ankh-Amen never touched! I wouldn’t do a thing to them!”
“I don’t suppose they’d be much good after three thousand years,” remarked Don, with a lugubrious smile. “Still, if there were any here and I were starving, I’d take a hack at them. We’ll look around to-morrow morning and see if we can find any.”
The shadows gradually deepened until they were in blackness so deep it could be felt. In those sepulchral surroundings, the situation was enough to daunt the stoutest heart.
Suddenly a blood-curdling shriek rang through the vaulted chamber.
The boys sprang to their feet in horror.
Again the shriek rang out, dying away in groans and moanings. Then their eyes almost burst from their head as they saw a great white-sheeted figure, revealed in an unearthly light. It seemed to advance upon them, waving its arms menacingly!