“But Mr. Peterkin!” at last exclaimed their mother.  “Did you see anything of your father?”

“He is behind,” said Elizabeth Eliza.  “I was looking for the body of Chufu, the founder of the pyramid,—­for I have longed to be the discoverer of his mummy,—­and I found instead—­my father!”

Mrs. Peterkin looked up, and at that moment saw Mr. Peterkin emerging from the passage above.  He was carefully planting one foot on the shoulder of a stalwart Nubian guide.  He was very red in the face, from recent exertion, but he was indeed Mr. Peterkin.  On hearing the cry of Mrs. Peterkin, he tottered, and would have fallen but for the support of the faithful guide.

The narrow place was scarcely large enough to hold their joy.  Mrs. Peterkin was ready to faint again with her great excitement.  She wanted to know what had become of the other little boys, and if Mr. Peterkin had heard from Solomon John.  But the small space was becoming more and more crowded.  The dragomans from the different parties with which the Peterkins were connected came to announce their several luncheons, and insisted upon their leaving the pyramid.

Mrs. Peterkin’s dragoman wanted her to go on directly to the Sphinx, and she still clung to the belief that only then would there be a complete reunion of the family.  Yet she could not separate herself from the rest.  They could not let her go, and they were all hungry, and she herself felt the need of food.

But with the confusion of so many luncheons, and so much explanation to be gone through with, it was difficult to get an answer to her questions.

Elizabeth and her father were involved in a discussion as to whether they should have met if he had not gone into the queen’s chamber in the pyramid.  For if he had not gone to the queen’s chamber he would have left the inside of the pyramid before Mrs. Peterkin reached it, and would have missed her, as he was too fatigued to make the ascent.  And Elizabeth Eliza, if she had not met her father, had planned going back to the king’s chamber in another search for the body of Chufu, in which case she would have been too late to meet her mother.  Mrs. Peterkin was not much interested in this discussion; it was enough that they had met.  But she could not get answers to what she considered more important questions; while Elizabeth Eliza, though delighted to meet again her father and mother and brothers, and though interested in the fate of the missing ones, was absorbed in the Egyptian question; and the mingling of all their interests made satisfactory intercourse impracticable.

Where was Solomon John?  What had become of the body of Chufu?  Had Solomon John been telegraphed to?  When had Elizabeth Eliza seen him last?  Was he Chufu or Shufu, and why Cheops? and where were the other little boys?