“Danger!--how silly you are!” And then, changing her manner, she added: “Have you any sense? Do you Franks ever think? I know these men who brought thee here. I know that they would take all thy gold and slit your nose--that they would slowly kill thee. Like the bird of prey looking for its victim were they. I saved thee--wilt not the vulture turn upon me? Thou knowest I shall die if I am caught.” There was an eloquent, passionate fervor in her manner which seemed to raise her from the apathetic lazy Egyptian race and elevate her to the level of the American. Max was about to speak, but like a queen she motioned him to be silent. “I have been here since I was so high”--again measuring two feet from the ground. “Did I ever take the sacred bandages from the bodies of the embalmed? Never. And yet thou couldst not be alone an hour without desecrating the dead. Isis will punish thee--Osiris will return and claim his own.” Max listened. He was charmed. What a splendid actress this girl would make! What a magnificent woman she was!--and yet in years she could be only a girl. “You speak of Isis and Osiris as though you believed in them,” Max ventured to say. “My belief is my own. If thou wouldst escape--if thou wouldst find the son’s son of Emin, get thee ready and I will lead thee to the desert, the way that Emin traveled.” “Lead me from here and I will ask no more.” “Thou art a Frank! Thou askest me to risk all, and when thou art safe I may go.” She turned away her head to hide her tears. Going to a secluded part of the cave she took from a sarcophagus a scimiter with edge as sharp as any razor, a knife with double edge, keen as a dagger, and a small stiletto. These she handed to Max. “They may be useful,” she said, coldly, and prepared to leave the cave. “Come, and quickly.” “I have offended thee----” Max commenced, but Girzilla had scrambled through the opening, and could not hear what he was saying. She led him across the burning sands; at every step his feet seemed to be blistering. There was no shade save from the great bowlders, and they were so hot that it was unpleasant to approach them. On she went, keeping in advance of the American. Not one word would she utter; and when he attempted to speak she motioned him to be silent. It was like a new country--a land without inhabitants. Where were they? So near, as it seemed, to the city, and yet not a living thing to be seen. Hour after hour they walked, blinded by the drifting sand, but never stopping. Max would not ask Girzilla to rest, and she was too proud to suggest it. The sun was high in the heavens. The air seemed like the hot blast from a furnace. Max found his tongue swelling in his mouth. He walked along mechanically. All control over himself appeared to be lost. Like the fabled Wandering Jew, he continued moving, without the power to stop. His eyes no longer saw the sand--they were hot and glassy with the glare of the sun.