Papers and Bats (and a Bit of a Surprise)
Petrie called Lady Evelyn back and she soon came over. He opened the door and she was already smiling at Petrie's mistake. She came into the room. Seeing the numerous books on archaeology, she went over, took one down, and started flipping through the pages.
"We have to go now," Petrie said. "That carriage is still waiting."
"What's this?" Lady Evelyn asked. She pulled some papers out of the book.
"I don't know. [Note--I can't be sure of the apostrophe placement in some locations. When I was young I consistently misspelled words like "don't" and "couldn't," but I eventually broke myself of this habit.] We'll see them when we get back." Petrie motioned to them and Fredestaire, Coventry, Dufferin and he left.
"What are those?" Lord Carnarvon asked. He and the Lady went over to see the papers.
On them were sketches of pyramids and chambers and other strange things. There was a sheet of heiroglyphics [sic] with them.
"Can you decipher what it says?" Lady Evelyn asked.
Lord Carnarvon stared blankly at it a moment, and then said, "Yes, I could."
"Do it, then." Lady Evelyn spread it out on a table.
Lord Carnarvon bent over them and looked at them silently for a few minutes. Then he started, "'Death will come on swift pinions to those who disturb the rest of the Pharaoh.'" He continued looking at the papers. "'Death will slay with his wings whoever disturbs the peace of Pharaoh. Any man who does harm to Pharaoh's tomb will be judged with him by the great god. He is an accomplished soul, knowing all the secrets of magic.'" [Note--these are various versions of the "curse" that was supposedly placed on the people who opened Tut's tomb.]
Lady Evelyn half smiled. "Those people were real wackos."
"They believed that there was a god for everything," Lord Carnarvon said. "They also believed that they could put a curse on the pharaoh's tomb, doing something terrible to anyone who entered it, whether stealing the treasure or taking it to a museum."
Lady Evelyn rolled her eyes. "Real wackos!" she said again, and went over to sit down in the armchair that Lord Carnarvon had been in earlier.
Meanwhile, Dufferin, Coventry, Petrie, and Fredestaire had almost reached Stonehenge. The moon filtered through some big black clouds, giving the stones a ghostly appearance. It had rained recently, so when the moon was in full view, the stones glistened.
[Illustration: A two-page spread--Stonehenge is silhouetted in the distance on the right, the moon peeking out from some clouds above it. On the lefthand page, Lord Dufferin, Fredestaire, and Lady Coventry are hiding around a standing stone (Petrie isn't in sight); Dufferin has his back to it and is peeking around toward Stonehenge, Fredestaire is just barely visible on the other side of it peering out with a worried look on his face, and Coventry is a bit away from it, her back to the viewer. The tiny silhouettes of the bad guy dogs are visible around Stonehenge; one is lying atop a stone, apparently talking down to one of his comrades below. In the upper lefthand corner can be seen a flock of bat silhouettes just coming into view. My illustration style has changed since the earlier drawings. The caption reads: "The enemy is spotted!"]
There were six dogs at Stonehenge; one up on top of a stone, two digging, two looking around, and one talking to the one on top of the stone.
"Look! Bats!" Dufferin whispered nervously.
"Shh!" Petrie snapped.
"But I'm aller--alli--allee--ah-ah-ah-ACHOO!!"
The six dogs at the rocks looked in their direction, alarmed. One shouted something and pointed.
"They can see us!" Coventry said.
"No, they can't," Fredestaire said, pointing at the sky. "That's what they see."
Bats! Millions of them! They fluttered down towards Stonehenge to rest. But, seeing the dogs, they decided to have a little fun. They bit the dogs over and over while Fredestaire, Petrie, Coventry, and a sneezing Dufferin made their escape.
They burst into Petrie's house to tell Lord Carnarvon about the dogs, only to find the papers gone as well as the lord and the ladies.
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