Part 84 (1/2)

”Stop, that's enough!” Michael cried. ”Stop it!” Every word had lashed his nerves and brought back to his memory his own struggles, his own weakness.

”I fled,” Millicent went on, not heeding his interruption. ”I spent some weeks in Upper Egypt. I thought I had escaped the horrible disease. . . . I thought Ha.s.san had taken every precaution. He sent some of my boxes straight on to Cairo; I opened them the night I saw you. They must have carried the infection--that is how I got smallpox.

It lay in wait for me.” She paused, breathless, and then went on excitedly: ”I know nothing about the treasure. I am absolutely innocent in that one respect. I can tell you nothing more, nothing.”

As Millicent ceased speaking, Michael took up her story.

”Margaret,” he said, ”some days after she left us the saint died. When he was buried, we moved on.” As he spoke, he visualized the desert burial. ”We journeyed to the hills. On our way we pa.s.sed through a subterranean village--a terrible place, of flies and filth! The _Omdeh_ of the village, a fine old gentleman, told us of the growing unrest among the desert tribes--German work, of course; we are seeing the fruit of it now. I paid no heed to him; I felt too ill, too tired.

I only cared about reaching the hills. When we did reach them, we found that a camp was already established. Information had been given to the Government.” He heaved a deep sigh. ”The thing was out of my hands. I suppose the shock finished me for the time being, for when I left the excavation-camp I became ill, so ill that Abdul had to take me as quickly as he could to the _Omdeh's_ house near the subterranean village. I stayed there until late on in May.” He stopped abruptly.

”The rest won't bear speaking about. What made things so much worse, Meg, was thinking about what you would be suffering, what Freddy would be saying.” His eyes sought Margaret's. ”It is best to forget, it is wiser to think of tomorrow.”

”Yes, let us forget all about it,” Margaret said. Michael's expression frightened her. As a soldier he had enough to bear without raking up what was past.

”Abdul became as dear to me as a brother,” Michael said quietly. ”His devotion was wonderful! We are not of the same faith”--he was speaking to himself--”but our G.o.d is the same G.o.d, our love for Him the same.

Abdul knew that.”

”And your illness?” Millicent said. ”Was it smallpox?”

”No, no--none of my camp caught it. It was enteric fever. I suppose I was worn out, both mentally and physically. The disappointment about the treasure was the last straw, it was so cruel. I am able to accept it now, it doesn't hurt me any longer. The war has done that; the war is like concentrated time--it obliterates and wipes out, and even heals.”

”But you discovered it, Michael! You were the real discoverer. If it hadn't been for you, and for your special knowledge, the man who stole it, who gave the information, would never have found it. And, after all, as Michael Ireton says, that is the main point of interest.”

Margaret's eyes glowed with pride. ”And haven't you heard the sequel to that tragedy?--the finding of some ancient jewels which the thief must have dropped in the desert, not so very far from the hill-chambers?”

As Michael had not heard that the gems had been found, Margaret told him the story which Hada.s.sah had written to her.

”They prove, Mike, what after all is to us the most important fact in the whole affair--that you were right, that all the information given you by the seer was correct.”

Margaret did not include her vision of Akhnaton in Millicent's presence; it was always a sacred subject between them.

”That is what Abdul said, and I know it is true. But who can prove it?

To the disbelieving no one can prove that there was any treasure, any gold or great wealth of jewels.” He looked into Margaret's eyes. He said plainly, ”Freddy died unconvinced on that point.”

Margaret understood. She had so often wished that Freddy could have known all that had transpired since his death.

”I will spend all my money and wits on finding the wretch,” Millicent said humbly. ”I will hunt this treasure to earth. If there were jewels, they shall be found. I will never stop until I have traced them, never! That will give me some interest in life--if you will let me do it, that is to say.”

”The jewels will all be cut by this time, the gold will be melted. No one will be able to recognize them.”

”You can't find the thief,” Margaret said. ”He died of smallpox--Mr.

Ireton heard that from the Government authorities. They set detectives on his track, and discovered his whereabouts, but he was unconscious.

They think that he buried the treasure, that it is again lost to the world. It is still waiting for you, Mike.”

”I know that there were many more jewels where the crimson amethyst came from,” Michael said, ”whether they are ever found again or not.”

He was thinking of the words of his old friend in el-Azhar. If he came out of the war alive, he might again hope to discover them.