A story
"A descendant of an Egyptian priest?" Fredestaire asked, growing excited.
Lord Dufferin nodded. "Direct. And he forgot this."
Lord Carnarvon took the tablet. "Look at this one! It tells about the high priest's fortune!"
"So that's what they're after!" Petrie exclaimed.
"He may be a descendant--the descendant--of a priest," Fredestaire said, "but that gives him no right to a treasure."
"The treasure would belong to Egypt," Dufferin added, though somewhat uncertainly. [Note--so how come they were so blithely selling treasures at the beginning of the story...?] Fredestaire nodded.
"Do we know of anyone in Egypt who knows enough to claim the treasure for the country?" Petrie asked, looking around.
A cloudy look cast over Fredestaire's face. "I know of one, but we wouldn't want his help."
"Who?" Lady Coventry asked, sitting down to listen.
"His name is Pierre Lacau," Fredestaire began. "This was a long time ago when I was just beginning to get interested in archaeology, when I was a watercolor artist. [Note--this must be around the time I checked out that library book. The real Howard Carter did start out as a watercolor artist, and as I already mentioned, he did have some nasty run-ins with Pierre Lacau. Notice how what started out as a very meandering, basic story suddenly gets all involved and detailed and actually gains a bit of a plot, inspired by the library book. This is also where the story begins to really tie in to The Secret Of The Pyramid.]
"I was working for someone who had just discovered a huge Egyptian statue, and he had legal documents claiming the sculpture for England.
"That was when Lacau came in. He scoffed at the documents and said that the statue was staying in the museum he worked for--legal or not!
"A silent conflict ensued. We were enraged at how coolly Lacau explained the case to the Director General of Antiquities. Then he showed him the documents--only they weren't the documents! They were fake copies, showing clearly that they were illegal. The Director General, of course, ordered us to leave or be arrested. We furiously left the country, and Lacau's museum got to keep the statue illegally. And then they made him Director General. They made him Director General of Antiquities, the cheater!"
Fredestaire calmed down. "So of course we can't go to him. He would probably laugh us out of the country again."
Everyone thought silently about the story of Pierre Lacau, each of them drawing their own conclusions as to what he would do if they met him on their next trip to Egypt. They were worried at their unluckiness. If Pierre Lacau stepped in again, maybe they wouldn't get to claim a thing at all!
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