I thought she was joking until I got a good look at her pale face. I’d read in the tabloids that Samantha Chilton had pulled off some pretty extreme pranks in her time. But she was shaking all over and her blue eyes were wide with fright.

“Calm down,” Joe told her, rubbing her arms up and down. “Take a deep breath. That’s it. Now close your eyes and let the breath out slowly.”

Samantha closed her eyes, took a deep breath and let it out. She was still shaking. “You’d better sit down,” Joe said, “and tell us what happened.”

She sat on the edge of her bed and Joe crouched down in front of her, giving her hand a squeeze.

Just as I was thinking what Tommy would do if he saw the two of them like that, he burst in through the door. With a roar, he grabbed Joe by the shoulder, yanked him to his feet and shoved him across the room. “What did you do to my girl?” he yelled. “I swear I’ll tear you limb from limb if you hurt her.”

“Tommy, stop it.” Samantha’s color was better and now she looked angry. “Leave him alone – he was just trying to help me.”

Tommy took a deep breath and started to advance on Joe. I stepped in front of my brother. “Calm down,” I said harshly. “And back off.”

He stopped, glared at me, then over my shoulder at Joe. “Keep your hands off of her.” He turned to Samantha. “Did he hurt you?”

She shook her head. “They just came in here because I screamed.”

“Why’d you scream?” asked Tommy, looking confused.

“Because there was a mummy in here!” Samantha nearly shouted.

“A what?”

“A mummy! What are you, deaf?”

Tommy looked around the room, still looking confused. “You mean, a real mummy?”

Samantha took a deep breath. “I was up at the front of the ship, trying to get a cell phone signal so I could call my mom but I guess there’s a dead zone around here.”

Dr. Volsky’s head peered around the side of the door, followed by Theo’s. “What’s going on?” asked Theo, sounding very concerned.

Dr. Mounir showed up, and Leila, Nels and Jurgen followed, crowding into the doorway. Joe stepped around me but didn’t get too close to Samantha. “There, everybody’s here. You can just tell the story once.”

“I came back here to my cabin and the door was locked. And I remembered the doors only lock from the inside. Just as I was about to go get Hassan, the door opens and this...this thing is standing there! In my cabin! I started screaming and it knocked me over and ran.”

“Which way did it go?” asked Theo.

“I don’t know...that way, I think,” she said, pointing toward the stern. “But I’m not really sure. I was just so scared...”

“Did you chase after the mummy,” asked Leila.

“Are you kidding me? Would you have? I’m telling you, I was totally terrified.” She took a shaky breath. “I still am.”

“Obviously,” muttered Volsky.

Samantha’s head snapped up, her blue eyes flashing. “There’s a mummy on this yacht. You’d have screamed too.”

“Listen,” said Volsky, “you’re overtired. You probably had a bad dream that seemed very real—“

I moved closer to Joe and lowered my voice. “You okay? He shoved you pretty hard.”

Joe rolled his eyes. “I’ve been hit worse in football. I’m fine.” He clenched his hands into fists.

“Joe, don’t even think it.”

“I did not have a dream,” said Samantha, her tone of voice rising. “I was wide awake.” She glanced at Mounir. “You believe in mummies, don’t you, Dr. Mounir?”

The man looked embarrassed. “I do indeed – but the ones I have seen with my own eyes have always been as still as the grave.”

“You said yourself, there are mummies’ curses.”

“Yes,” said Mounir solemnly. “And I believe it is true that you saw the mummy, Ms. Chilton, but perhaps it was only in your mind – perhaps you have been sent the vision because the pharaoh’s spirit does not want foreigners to enter his burial chamber. Perhaps you should stay behind and allow Egyptians to lead the expedition to uncover the tomb.”

I shared a look at Joe, thinking of what we’d just talked about. Samantha put her hands to her head and let out a low scream of frustration. “It was not a vision! It was a real mummy – it knocked me down, for goodness’ sake. Why does nobody believe me?”

“Okay, okay.” Tommy sighed. “We’ll go search the ship. If there’s a mummy on board, we’ll find him.” He slid a look at Joe and I worried that he’d actually try something in front of witnesses. “Nobody messes with my girlfriend. Nobody, dead or alive.”

Samantha moved close to Tommy and grasped his arm with both of hers. “Thank you, sweetie. But somebody’s got to stay with me. I don’t want to be left alone.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Joe open his mouth and I nudged him hard. He shot me a glare as Tommy rolled his eyes. “Okay,” said Tommy. “I’ll stay with you. Everyone else can search.”

“Come on, everybody,” I said. “Let’s break into groups and search the whole ship. Check every cabin, every closet.”

Leila, Mounir, and Volsky took the bow. Theo and his video crew went down below to the crew’s quarters and the engine room. Joe and I headed toward the stern, where Samantha had last seen the so-called mummy heading. We checked every cabin along the way. As Samantha had noticed, the doors to the cabins only locked from the inside, and they were all empty, since everyone was out searching for the mummy.

“Frank, you don’t really think she saw a mummy, do you?”

I peeked into an empty cabin and pulled the door shut. “No. I do believe she saw someone dressed up as a mummy.”

Joe stared at me a moment, glanced over his shoulder and then frowned. “You think someone on board is after the map.”

I nodded. “Yes. That map has to be in Samantha’s cabin. If someone else got their hands on it, they could find the treasure first and make off with it all.”

Joe sighed and folded his arms across his chest. “Whoever it was, was good. You couldn’t tell anyone had been in the room.” He narrowed his eyes. “In fact, the only person who saw the mummy was Samantha.”

I looked over at him. “What happened to my starstruck brother?”

He rolled his eyes. “Everyone’s a suspect in this. She might be up to something, like faking everyone else out, because she knows exactly where the treasure is.”

My brother may be something of a jock but he has some pretty good gut hunches on cases. “You think she’s faking everyone else out? But then, would that mean she did know of Corson’s death?”

Joe shrugged. “I don’t know. Her message to her mother sounded honest but who knows.”

“Well, one way to prove her story is to find the wrappings.”

He wrinkled his nose as if he’d caught a whiff of a skunk. “Yuck.”

“You need lots of gauze to dress like a mummy, Joe.” We were at the stern now which was dark and quiet.

Joe leaned over the railing, peering down in the darkness. “You think whoever it was threw the wrappings overboard. What if they didn’t throw far enough?”

I joined him at the railing. “Hmm, there’s a possibility.”

“Hey...I think I see something down there.” He climbed over the railing before I could stop him and lowered himself over the other side.

“Hey, be careful.” I said, trying not to shout as he dangled, swinging back and forth until he dropped down on the edge of the lower deck, where the crew had their quarters. Then he reached over that railing and down toward the water.

Something was trailing off a hook that protruded from the back of the yacht, near the exhaust pipe. Something white, streaming out into the black water. Joe reeled it in and held it up for me to see. “Gauze!” he called up to me.

I met him at the stairs amidships and we took our find back to show the others. They had already finished their searches and had found nothing. Samantha stared at the strip of gauze. “So it wasn’t a real mummy after all,” she said, frowning.

She had really been scared when she thought there was a real mummy around. But no mere human wrapped in gauze was going to keep Samantha Chilton from being the first to find the legendary tomb and getting all the televised glory.

“Well,” said Dr. Mounir. “I see that in this case, you are correct. It was not a mummy, for certain, but a live human being. That does not mean, however, that there is no mummy’s curse.”

“Mummy’s curse? Yeah, right,” said Tommy. “Ha! What a load of baloney. I’ll bet you’re the one who did it, just to scare us into calling off the expedition.”

“That is an outrageous accusation!” Dr. Mounir shouted, pointing a pudgy finger at him. “I demand a full apology.”

“No way,” said Tommy, hotly.

“Apologize to Dr. Mounir, Tommy,” said Samantha in an authoritative tone.

“Huh? Why should I?”

“It wasn’t him. I’m sure of it.”

“How do you know?” Tommy asked. “It could have been anybody, since everyone was in their own cabin.”

“Yes,” agreed Dr. Mounir, glaring at Tommy. “Even you, sir.”

“It wasn’t Dr. Mounir,” Samantha said again. “I’d have known. There aren’t too many...ahem...chubby mummies.”

Dr. Mounir made a face, then glared at everyone, especially me and Joe. Clearly, he was unhappy with the sudden attention. He had tried to convince Samantha to give up the expedition and to let him uncover the mummy’s tomb himself – and now everyone was putting the pieces together. Not just us.

Joe and I, it seemed, had just made another enemy. And even if Mounir wasn’t the one who’d broken into Samantha’s cabin, he might have still have been behind it. He was someone we’d have to be careful around.

***

The next morning Joe and I woke up with the sun streaming through the porthole of our cabin. The yacht had already docked and porters were busy unloading the tents, food, and other goods that would be traveling into the desert with us on the backs of our camels. We showered, dressed and repacked our duffle bags and headed up to the deck and the railing to watch all the activity.

The camels were lined up below, just beyond the dock. Workers were strapping bundles of food, tents, video equipment, and other tools onto the backs of the camels. Just beyond all the activity was a sight that took my breath away. It soared up from the horizon, giving the appearance of a mirage since it was the same color as the sand, with twelve square columns to support the low roof. Faded images marched around the columns and along the walls that were visible.

“The Temple of Seti I,” said a hushed voice.

I knew by the accent it was Volsky. I turned away from watching Tommy check names off a list on his clipboard and Samantha paying the workers to see him join us at the railing. “Who was he?” asked Joe.

“Only a wise and fair pharaoh, the father of the venerable Ramses II.” He stared off into the distance. “And Ramses...well, he was the most grand of them all.”

Shouts forced our gazes downward where Mounir was arguing with Samantha and Tommy. Nearby, the video crew – Nels, Theo, and Jurgen – were recording all the commotion. “Do not trust him,” said Volsky in a low voice, nodding in Mounir’s direction. “Ms. Chilton will rue the day she has trusted him.”

Joe arched an eyebrow. “Are you saying he’s corrupt?”

Volsky arched an eyebrow. “The man makes a modest salary, even by local standards and yet...you saw the Cadillac. He owns a fairly large estate. How else could he possibly pay for all that?”

I narrowed my eyes. “What about you?”

“What about me?” retorted Volsky.

“Why’d you tag along?”

“This treasure will be the find of this century. The discovery of the golden mummies in 1999 turned all eyes on Egypt again – but this...the treasure alone...” Volsky shook his head and walked away.

I shared a look with Joe. “Wasn’t the answer I was looking for.”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly subtle.” Joe sighed. “You’re losing your touch, bro.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh be quiet.” We grabbed our duffles and made our way down to the dock to find out what Mounir and Tommy were arguing about this time. To one side, a group of men clad in jellabias and kaffiyiehs waited silently.

“No,” Mounir was saying, “I cannot allow those men to join the expedition.” He gestured to the group of men waiting so quietly. “They have not been cleared by government security. These are very sensitive treasures we are searching for. Not just anyone is fit to handle them.”

“And you think those guys are more trustworthy?” Tommy asked, pointing to another group of men, standing behind Dr. Mounir. I noted he held a bottle in his other hand. Apparently, he liked one particular type of sports drink. He seemed to drink it all the time.

I gave those men a quick look and was reminded of Ali Baba’s forty thieves. One had a long scar going all the way down his face, crimping his left eyebrow and pulling the left corner of his mouth into a perpetual sneer. Another wore a black eye patch. All six of the men wore long, curved knives in their belts and they looked as if they would kill you as soon as look at you.

“These men are from my personal staff,” Dr. Mounir assured Tommy and Samantha. “You can trust them with your very lives.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Tommy, sounding aggravated. “You trust them?”

“Yes,” said Dr. Mounir, gravely. “I do.”

I thought about what Volsky had said and I nudged Joe. “We’re going to have to keep an eye on them.”

He nodded and shifted his gaze toward the desert. “I think we’re going to have to keep an eye on everyone,” he muttered. “Once out there, we’re really on our own.”

“I agree. And mummy’s curse or not, we’ll have to stay close to Samantha. Something tells me she’s in real danger here.”

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.