Don Sturdy

“ Don clasped Teddy in his arms after the reading of the telegram, and the two boys executed a wild dance on the floor of the office, much to the scandal of the native clerks, who looked on open-eyed.
“Glory hallelujah!” cried Don. “You’re going with us, Brick! Old scout, you’re going with us! Do you hear?”
“It’s the reward of virtue,” said Brick, with a shameless grin.
“Virtue!” snorted the captain, trying to look stern, but not succeeding very well. “It simply shows that a young scapegrace can sometimes get by. Come along now. There’s much to do, and we have to hustle.” ”

“ The others drew up their chairs, and it was then for the first time that Don noticed that Teddy was not with them.
[67] “Where’s Teddy?” he asked, as he looked around the room.
“Outside in the hall, I imagine,” replied the professor. “He probably feels shy about coming into what is so strictly a family party.”
“Who’s Teddy?” asked Mrs. Sturdy, with a smile.
“A friend of mine who came along with us,” explained Don. “We met him when we were in the Sahara, and it was his father who first gave us news of the sinking of the Mercury. He hasn’t any mother. He’s a splendid fellow, Mother. ”

“ Sturdy.
The captain hesitated.
“I know just how you feel, Alice,” he said slowly. “But, really, I think it would be better for you not to go with us. The desert is no place for a woman, and it’s going to be a very hard and trying expedition.”
“Oh, but I want to go!” exclaimed Mrs. Sturdy, disappointment coming into her face.
“Of course, you naturally would,” rejoined her brother-in-law. “But all the same I don’t think it would be wise. You agree with me, don’t you, Amos?” he asked, turning to Mrs. Sturdy’s brother. ”

“ Startling News
“Tezra and Nepahak!” exclaimed Don, the faces of the sinister pair coming up before his memory.
“Those precious rascals!” ejaculated Captain Sturdy, a frown passing over his brow.
“How do you know that they have landed?” asked the professor, settling back uneasily into his seat.
“From a sure source,” replied Phalos. “A friend of mine in Alexandria, whom I took into my confidence regarding my experience on shipboard and who agreed to have a watch kept on debarking passengers, brought me word. He knows the men, and assures me there is no mistake.” ”

“ A Deadly Menace
The figure seemed to melt away on the further side of the camels, which had been roused by Don’s shout and stood upright swaying their shaggy heads. They formed a screen that served perfectly the purpose of the marauder, and by the time Don had circled about the animals the man was not to be seen.
Don strained his eyes in every direction, but could see nothing. The night had swallowed up the man as though he had never been.
The shout had roused the other members of the party, and they came rushing out, the captain in the van with his rifle in his hand. ”

“ During his parents’ absence, Don had been left in the care of his uncle on his father’s side, Captain Frank Sturdy, his official guardian, a big game hunter of great repute, whose business of gathering animals dead and alive for museums and menageries had taken him at times all over the world. ”

“ It was evident that they had been lurking about the Phalos villa, had seen the boy depart, noted his route and planned to waylay him on his return.
“So here you are,” snarled Tezra, thrusting his face close to Don’s.
“Don’t seem to be anywhere else, do I?” answered Don, with an airiness that he was far from feeling.
“You will wish you were, before we get through with you,” growled Nepahak, at the same time putting his hand to his belt.
Don had been thinking rapidly. Had the revolver he was carrying in his pocket been loaded, it would have put him more on a par with his enemies. ”

“ Trust the Sturdys to give a good account of themselves and live up to their name,” observed the captain. “But it makes me uneasy to learn that Tezra and Nepahak have turned up again. I’m afraid it bodes no good for our friend Phalos or the purpose of our expedition.”
Their host came in at that moment and caught the names of his enemies.
“What is it I hear about them?” he asked, with a worried face. “Are they in Cairo?”
“They were, up to a few minutes ago,” replied Don, and repeated the essential parts of his adventure. Phalos listened intently. ”

“ Poor Teddy, who had never laid eyes on Brazil, was nonplused. Don came quickly to his relief.
“He thinks it’s a mighty fine country; don’t you, Teddy?” he said brightly.
“Yes, indeed,” answered Teddy, clutching gratefully at the cue thrown to him. “A very wonderful country.”
“You’ll enjoy looking over Mr. Clifton’s plantation,” went on Mr. Sturdy. “I’ll show you around it if you like. It’s a remarkable place.”
To ease the situation, Don urged his father to tell them about the wreck of the Mercury, [180] and Mr. Sturdy did so. ”

“ The announcement of the discovery to the world created a tremendous sensation, and honors were showered without stint on the discoverers. The usual arrangement was made, whereby a certain share of the treasures went to the Government and the rest was equally divided among the members of the party, making every one of them rich beyond their dreams.
But richer far to Don was his finding of his father, a fact that he cabled at the first possible moment to the wife and daughter waiting in America. The delirious joy that the news brought into the Hillville home was beyond expression. ”

“ He was a big man of iron nerve, sinewy, with black hair and eyes. He was a dead shot, and his instructions had made Don also a marksman only second to himself.
Don was also under the general oversight of Professor Amos Regor Bruce, his uncle on his mother’s side, and an eminent scientist and member of many learned societies. He also [14] had traveled extensively in the interest of museums, for whom he gathered rare archæological specimens.
To divert Don’s mind from dwelling on his supposed loss, his uncles, both of whom were bachelors, took him with them on a trip to the Sahara Desert. ”

“ Crouching down in the central hall, baffled and defeated in their efforts to find a way out into the world beyond the great cave, Don and Teddy sat for a long time in an attitude of strained expectation. No word was spoken, but each knew what the other was waiting for. They were hungry and thirsty, but if that had been all they would have resigned themselves and tried to forget their misery in sleep.
But there was more than that—the dread of the supernatural!
Very frequently the bravest of men does not care to go through a cemetery at night. He may laugh and make light of his fears. ”

“ But Teddy did not appear, and when at last the gangplank was drawn in and the great vessel edged her way out into the river, Don turned [24] away with a feeling of disappointment. What on earth had kept his friend from being on hand? It was not like Teddy to fail him in anything.
But though a sore spot remained in his heart, the first days of the voyage were full of interesting things to engross his attention. The weather was fine, and he spent most of the time on deck, enjoying the cool breezes, the never ending fascination of the ocean, and studying his fellow passengers. ”

“ What have those men got against you that they should treat you this way?”
“They are robbers,” replied Phalos. “They knew that I had a great secret—” Here he checked himself and darted a quick glance at his deliverers. “That is, they know I have some valuable property which they want to take from me.”
“Where are they now?” asked Don.
“They’ve gone to their own cabin to get implements to torture me with,” was the startling reply. “I refused to tell them what they wanted, and they said they would find a way to cure my stubbornness. They may be back at any minute. ”

“ The Americans looked at him, startled, and, despite themselves, were a little incredulous.
“It will be one of the greatest triumphs of modern discovery if you do,” replied the professor, after a moment.
“What makes you think you have a clue to [91] its whereabouts?” asked Don, in deep interest.
“It is a curious story,” replied Phalos, smiling at the boy. “One of the romances of archæology.
“Many years ago, when I was still strong and vigorous, I was riding in a remote part of the Valley of the Kings. ”

“ I’m going to Egypt.”
There was an exclamation at the other end of the wire as though Brick had been stunned. Don went on to explain the good news he had received and Teddy was overjoyed.
“It’s glorious, Don!” he said. “It’s the best news I’ve heard in months. But, say, Don, [21] if you’re going to Egypt, why can’t I go along?”
“That would be great,” responded Don enthusiastically. “I’d be tickled to death. And I’m sure my uncles would have no objection. You know what they think of you. They think you’re about the finest boy that ever wore shoes. But how about your father? ”

“ One was an elderly man of benevolent expression, with deep piercing eyes peering out from beneath shaggy eyebrows. He seemed a sage and a scholar, rich in wisdom and experience. Don instinctively liked him without exactly knowing why. His name, as the boy ascertained from one of the deck stewards, was Zata Phalos.
[25] Two other Egyptians, who, as Don learned from the same source, bore the names of Tezra and Nepahak, aroused in Don a feeling of suspicion and distrust. They were always together, and usually conversing in low tones, as though fearing to be overheard. ”

“ So Don and Teddy secured a native guide and rode on donkeys toward the massive creations, the greatest built by human hands, that loomed up in the brightness of the Egyptian sunshine.
They were prepared to be impressed, but that word was too weak to express their feeling of awe when they stood before the largest pyramid of the three and gazed aloft at its towering top. Overpowered would have come nearer to their actual state of mind. ”

“ We’ll make things hum though, you can be sure of that.”
“How long will the voyage take?”
“Three weeks, probably. Possibly a little less if we make good connections. We’ll have to go to England first, and book passage on a liner from there. But they run frequently, and we won’t have long to wait.”
It was getting dark as they drew near the [17] Sturdy home. In the dusk Don saw two figures walking by the side of the road whom he recognized at once. He called to Dan to stop, and the car halted abreast of them.
“Hello, Emily! Hello, Fred!” Don called out. “Jump in. Where are you going?” ”

“ It was evident that the happy shock of seeing Don had in some way swept away the knowledge of this present Egyptian adventure and carried his father back again to Mr. Clifton’s plantation.
Don knew little of mental science, but he knew instinctively that any revelation he might make to his father of the real condition of things must be made gradually and tactfully.
“Oh, I got impatient to see you,” he said, [179] with perfect truth. “And as Uncle Frank and Uncle Amos were coming to Brazil on a hunting expedition, I got them to bring me along.” ”

“ But there was plenty of human life in evidence, men guarding the tombs and scores of others digging in the foothills that rose until they were lost in the mountainous cliffs that rimmed the valley.
The searching party passed the wonderful temple of Queen Hatshepsut, with its rows of pillars standing like sentinels against the dark mountain masses beyond. Soon they were at the tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen, the most remarkable discovery of its kind in modern times. ”

“ They were trapped, shut out, perhaps forever, from the sight of men, doomed possibly to die amid the lingering agonies of hunger and thirst in this subterranean enclosure, to which greater terrors were added by the darkness. ”

“ Gold, gold, gold everywhere, in columns and tablets and coffin lids and statues, in beds and chariots and boats and amulets, in chairs and maces and scepters and symbols, gold in a profusion that stunned them and took away their breath. And besides this immeasurable wealth, there were other things quite as priceless, rings, robes, cups, whips, vases, inlaid and encrusted with precious stones. And on a great golden slab lay the sarcophagus of the mighty monarch who once possessed all these treasures and had ordered them to be brought to his tomb as emblems of his boundless wealth. ”

“ A sicht o' you is guid for sair een [sore eyes] ."
"I know you are tired, poor Auld Reikie," said Sturdy as they shook hands.
"What way that, man?"
"Because when you're tired you always talk broad Scotch; secondly, because you don't seem to have shaved for a week; and thirdly, because you're as dirty as any old tramp."
"Ah! goodness help us, Sturdy," replied the doctor, "it is tramp, tramp all day and all night here. I haven't had my shoes off since the hurricane, nor poor Paddy here either; and as for Jack, he's working in the trenches now with the naval brigade at the big guns. ”

“ Just then Jennie was interrupted by a call from the dining room and scurried away, saving the housekeeper the necessity of listening to any further details for the moment.
Don finished his dinner and then went out and sat down in a chair on the porch. It was a beautiful summer evening, and in the great old trees about the house the birds were singing their vesper songs.
[8] Ordinarily the charm of the hour would have appealed to Don, but now the outer peace only helped to emphasize by contrast the ferment of anxiety in his mind. Where was his father? Where was his mother? ”

“ They must have had ropes with thousands of men hauling the stones along on rollers and then pulling them up and piling them on each other.”
“If one of the ropes broke, the stones tumbling down must have crushed hundreds at a time,” remarked Teddy. “I guess it wasn’t [101] peaches and cream to be a laborer in those days.”
“I guess not,” agreed Don. “Little old America is good enough for me.”
Five hundred yards away from the Great Pyramid was the head of the Sphinx, that lion-bodied, human-headed mystery of the ages, carved out of the mother rock that forms the floor of the desert. ”