“Swear it, Cleopatra!” I said.

“I swear, beloved! and thus I seal my oath!” and she kissed me on the forehead.  And I, too, kissed her; and we talked of what we would do when we were wed, and how we should overcome the Roman.

And thus I was again beguiled; though I believe that, had it not been for the jealous anger of Charmion—­which, as shall be seen, was ever urging her forward to fresh deeds of shame—­Cleopatra would have wedded me and broken with the Roman.  And, indeed, in the issue, it had been better for her and Egypt.

We sat far into the night, and I revealed to her somewhat of that ancient secret of the mighty treasure hid beneath the mass of Her.  Thither, it was agreed, we should go on the morrow, and the second night from now attempt its search.  So, early on the next day, a boat was secretly made ready, and Cleopatra entered it, veiled as an Egyptian lady about to make a pilgrimage to the Temple of Horemkhu.  And I also entered, cloaked as a pilgrim, and with us ten of her most trusted servants disguised as sailors.  But Charmion went not with us.  We sailed with a fair wind from the Canopic mouth of the Nile; and that night, pushing on with the moon, we reached Sais at midnight, and here rested for a while.  At dawn we once more loosed our craft, and all that day sailed swiftly, till, at last, at the third hour from the sunset, we came in sight of the lights of that fortress which is called Babylon.  Here, on the opposite bank of the river, we moored our ship safely in a bed of reeds.

Then, on foot and secretly, we set out for the pyramids, which were at a distance of two leagues, Cleopatra, I and one trusted eunuch, for we left the other servants with the boat.  Only I caught an ass for Cleopatra to ride that was wandering in a tilled field, and threw a cloak upon it.  She sat on it and I led the ass by paths I knew, the eunuch following us on foot.  And, within little more than an hour, having gained the great causeway, we saw the mighty pyramids towering up through the moonlit air and aweing us to silence.  We passed on in utter silence, through the haunted city of the dead, for all around us stood the solemn tombs, till at length we climbed the rocky hill, and stood in the deep shadow of Khufu Khut, the splendid Throne of Khufu.

“Of a truth,” whispered Cleopatra, as she gazed up the dazzling marble slope above her, everywhere blazoned over with a million mystic characters—­“of a truth, there were Gods ruling in Khem in those days, and not men.  This place is sad as Death—­ay, and as mighty and far from man.  Is it here that we must enter?”

“Nay,” I answered, “it is not here.  Pass on.”

I led the way through a thousand ancient tombs, till we stood in the shadow of Ur the Great, and gazed at his red heaven-piercing mass.

“Is it here that we must enter?” she whispered once again.

“Nay,” I answered, “it is not here.  Pass on.”