The sun slid lower into the sky, highlighting a large hole in the ground. It was behind the temple and I wondered at what I could see, large square columns. I couldn’t tell if they were ornamented like the columns in the temple.

To my left were ruins, low wall-like structures, forming what looked like small houses. I was beginning to wish I’d been able to do some research about Abydos. I spied Volsky and decided to ask a few questions. I urged the camel faster which it didn’t like and came up next to Volsky. I glanced over my shoulder to see Joe gulping down water and looking half asleep on his camel. “Dr. Volsky?”

He blinked and shifted slightly on his camel. “Hmm?”

“I saw a large hole in the ground back behind the temple...”

“Temple of Osiris. It’s a subterranean temple, due to the rise in the water table, it’s actually flooded most of the year. No one knows who built it. It is said if it was Seti I, he broke from traditional architecture. The columns have no carvings, no paintings.”

I pointed to my left. “And that?”

“An ancient village,” said Dr. Volsky after he took a long look. “Possibly the workers who built the Temple of Seti I.”

“Where exactly are we headed?”

“I’m not sure,” he said. “Traditionally, first and second dynasty kings were buried within the boundaries of ancient Abydos. Both King Narmer and Aha were said to be interred there. Some believe that the legendary Menes is actually a combination of Narmer and Aha. There is a stele that shows King Narmer actually wearing the double crown.”

I saw Joe come up on Volsky’s other side. “What’s the double crown?”

“The white crown of Upper Egypt and the red crown of Lower Egypt. The white crown was a simple conical headdress that fit inside the open red crown. The double crown was the strongest symbol of a united country.”

We continued to ride toward the west until after the sun had set and night had fallen. Instead of a period of slowly darkening twilight, night came in a rush, plunging us into near blackness. Above us a nearly full moon shed its cold light. In a matter of minutes the temperature fell as well.

Dr. Mounir’s team proceeded to set up camp. They built a fire inside a ring of white stones and began setting the tents up to circle the fire. It was a small oasis with a few palm trees and a crystal clear pond.

We all practically fell off our camels and just sat where we’d landed, too exhausted to do anything else. Joe downed another bottle of water in one gulp. I nudged him. “Conserve your water. You’ll run out.”

He just grunted and kept drinking. I saw Samantha go talk to Theo and I hoped she was setting things up for the closed-circuit camera. I watched him lean close to her, nod his head and started digging into the boxes that held the equipment for the video shoot.

Meanwhile, Dr. Mounir was settled under one of the palm trees, munching on a bunch of dates. He was telling stories to anyone who would listen, namely Leila, Nels, Jurgen, Dr. Volsky and Ahmed who was also busy preparing our dinner.

“It began with an inscription said to have been buried by the excavators. One concerned Egyptologist had it translated it. ‘Death shall come on swift wings to whoever toucheth the tomb of the Pharaoh’.”

Dr. Volsky shook his head. “That inscription did not exist.”

“Someone found it and had it translated, so obviously it did exist.” Dr. Mounir said in a voice that didn’t welcome disagreement. “Am I not correct, Leila?”

Leila looked down at the ground. It was impossible to know what she thought about anything but I could see that she was uncomfortable being put on the proverbial spot. “Whatever you say, Doctor.”

“There, you see? She agrees with me.”

“If there had been a curse,” said Dr. Volsky. “Why is it that Carter lived to be an old man? Lord Carnarvon was just an unfortunate footnote to archaeology. There was no curse.”

“I’ll tell you what,” Nels spoke up, miming a shiver. “I’m getting the willies just thinking about it.”

“Me too,” Jurgen said. “Can’t we change the subject?”

“If it were only that simple,” Dr. Mounir gravely. “But if you wish not to continue, I will go on alone with my men and my trusted assistant.” He put a hand on Leila’s shoulder and I saw her stiffen. “We will discover what is there and we will leave it in place, respecting the dead and our glorious history.”

Joe and I shared a look as Tommy said, “No way. If it weren’t for Sam, you wouldn’t even be out here. It’s just a good thing she wants to give it all to the Egyptian people, rather than lay claim to it.”

The air was thick with tension until Ahmed clapped his hands, and everybody nearly jumped three feet in the air. “It is time to eat,” he announced and proceeded to serve us the most delicious meal Joe and I’d had so far in Egypt: lamb cubes roasted over an open fire, with hummus and marinated salad on the side.

The stars glittered overhead, so brilliant, so close it seemed we could almost touch them. The fire was welcome as the temperature continued to drop. I knew temperature differences were pretty extreme in the desert, but even so the change was rather drastic.

As we finished eating, I could see that everyone was exhausted. Even Samantha who always seemed to have more energy than anyone else, was yawning. It was time to turn in for the night. I noticed that while Joe and I shared a tent, Samantha had her own. So did Tommy. His was placed next to hers, with Leila’s on the other side.

Theo had placed his small camera on top of Samantha’s tent pole, cleverly disguised under a flap of canvas. I hadn’t noticed him putting it there in the dark and I’m pretty sure no one else had either. The camera would provide a perfect view of the opening of Samantha’s tent. If anyone tried to search for the map, the camera would definitely catch them in the act.

I was glad I’d thought of it. Our job was to protect Samantha Chilton but we couldn’t guard her twenty-four hours a day. We settled into our tent and it wasn’t fifteen minutes later, that Joe was sound asleep, snoring softly. I tried to get to sleep as well, but in the small space, it sounded twice as loud. I was just about to get out of my sleeping bag to shake him awake when I saw a human figure standing at the opening of our tent.

I reached into my pocket, pulled out my flashlight and shone it on the intruder. It was Leila. She put up a hand to shield her eyes so I switched it off. I hurried toward her. “What’s wrong?”

“I...” She glanced at my brother and cleared her throat. “Can we talk?”

“Of course.” I led the way outside and let the tent flap fall closed behind me. “What’s wrong?”

She stared out across the desert. “I must talk to someone, and – I don’t know why, but...well...I feel as though, somehow, I can trust you.”

“Of course you can,” I assured her. But I couldn’t help but wonder why she had picked me.

She cleared her throat and gestured with her hands. I noted then that her hands were all tattooed. She saw me staring at the dark red-brown designs, swirling patterns that reminded me of spiderwebs. “It’s henna,” she explained. “A natural dye – it comes off after a few weeks. Egyptian women, especially here in the desert, use it for special occasions, to decorate themselves.”

“What’s the occasion?” I asked, curious.

“We are about to enter into the presence of a great pharaoh,” she said, softly. She ran a light finger along the patterns on her opposite hand. “In honor of him and of our heritage, I beautify myself.”

She was beautiful. At the moment, under the glittering stars, with her dark eyes flashing at me, I could easily forget why we were there. I wanted to say something but I’d noticed her responses when Mounir would touch her or put her on the spot. I didn’t want to embarrass her. “Your heritage is amazing, the beautiful temples and pyramids.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.

There was a moment’s silence and then she finally turned to look at me. “There is great danger – I can feel it.”

I swallowed hard. I could feel it too. “What do you mean?”

“Ms. Chilton – she is very foolish. She does not realize the evil she brings with her.”

“Evil? You don’t mean the mummy’s curse, do you?”

“Of course not,” she snapped. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

I did feel ridiculous. I mean, I knew curses weren’t real but out there in the dark desert night, you could almost feel that they were real. “What do you mean then?”

“This treasure is cursed. Cursed by human greed. Some people have no respect for history or culture – and if bad things happen to them, they will have only themselves to blame.”

I could feel a deep anger surging inside of her. Was it merely cultural pride or something more?” “Is that all you wanted to tell me?” I asked her.

She shook her head. “I saw someone...sneaking around Ms. Chilton’s tent.”

“You did? Who was it?”

“Theo.”

“Oh.” I cleared my throat. What else could I say? I knew why Theo had been there – he’d been setting up the video surveillance Joe and I had asked for. But I couldn’t tell that to Leila, could I?

“I...wouldn’t be too worried about that,” I said. “It probably has something to do with the video they’re making.”

Leila made a face. “You don’t believe me.” She squared her shoulders. “You will see that the closer we get to the treasure, the more the curse of greed will come to haunt us all.” She turned and walked away into the darkness, heading for her tent.

I stared after her until she disappeared behind her tent flap, then went back and lay down on my cot, thinking about all she’d said. What had she really been trying to tell me? Who did she think was greedy? Who was dangerous? My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a scream from Samantha’s tent.

“Oh, no!” Joe said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “Not again.” He was already up and moving – Joe to the rescue as usual.

I followed him outside. Everyone was rushing towards Samantha’s tent. Then she appeared, lifting her tent flap and shouting, “It’s gone! Somebody stole my belly bag!”

Joe blinked and looked at me. I nodded and moved over to Theo. “Did we get it all on tape?”

“I’ll check,” he said and went to retrieve the hidden camera. Meanwhile, Tommy was ranting and raving about how he planned to find out who the thief was and break their neck. He kept eying Mounir’s men like he suspected them. I didn’t agree with his behavior but I suspected them as well.

Leila was glaring at Tommy. “How dare you accuse them. You do not know who it was.” She paused and narrowed her eyes. “It could have even been one of you.”

Their argument escalated to a screaming match with Dr. Mounir and Dr. Volsky trying to have their say as well. I turned around to see Joe was trying to get the story of what happened from Samantha. I followed them both into her tent.

“I guess I dozed off,” she said, gesturing to the rumpled cot with one hand and running her other hand through her tangled blond hair. “I was dreaming that my map was being stolen. I thought I heard a noise and when I woke up, my belly bag was gone!”

I cleared my throat. “And the map was inside?” I asked in a low voice.

She nodded. “I always wear the bag under my shirt, so no one could take it.”

Joe frowned. “Were you wearing it while you slept?”

“No, that would have been uncomfortable. I put it under my pillow instead.”

Joe shared another look with me. I sighed. “Don’t worry, we’ll find it for you. It had to have been somebody here.”

“Knock, knock.” Theo lifted the tent flap. He held the small camera in his other hand. “We’ve got the thief on tape, red-handed.” He sat down on the edge of Samantha’s cot and we all watched the tiny monitor as someone sneaked into Samantha’s tent, then, a couple of minutes later, crept back out.

I was tempted to rub my eyes to make sure I’d seen it. It was Leila! I was stunned and a quick glance at my brother told me he was surprised as well. I couldn’t believe it. She’d just come to talk to me about human greed and here she was, stealing someone else’s property.

It did make a twisted kind of sense. How better to keep people from finding the treasure than to steal the map. I narrowed my eyes. Wait a minute... “Could you run that tape back again?” I asked Theo.

Theo nodded and this time I noticed that Leila’s hands were empty as she left Samantha’s tent. “Where’s the belly bag?”

Theo shrugged. “Under her robe?”

“Why don’t we just ask her,” Joe suggested.

We went outside to find that Mounir’s men had lit lanterns. The campsite was lit with an eerie orange glow. I found Leila immediately and walked over to her. “Where is the belly bag?”

She stared at me, her dark eyes wide with shock. Her gaze flicked to Samantha and back to me. “I didn’t take it.”

Theo cleared his throat. “We have you on camera.”

She went pale. “I didn’t take it,” she snapped, her voice low and angry. “I went in to check on Ms. Chilton, I thought I heard something.”

Dr. Mounir was studying her with an odd, almost loathing expression on his face. “Leila, is this true? Did you steal from the young lady? I cannot believe it.”

Leila whipped her head around to look at him, going even paler. “No. I did not take it. The bag was still there under the pillow.”

Samantha strode over to her. “How would you know that?”

“Search her tent,” said Tommy and three of Mounir’s men ducked into the canvas tent. Not ten minutes later, they came out again – empty-handed. Tommy narrowed his eyes. “Sam, she’s still got it on her. Search her.”

I moved to intervene. Something told me that would be incredibly rude to do. Samantha looked hesitant and she gazed at Leila for a moment. “Would that be all right?”

Leila looked around at all the men surrounding her. She could have been carved from marble, she was so pale against the dark of her robe and her hair. “In private,” she said, barely audible. The two women went into Samantha’s tent and then came out again a few minutes later, both looking uncomfortable.

“She doesn’t have it on her person,” said Samantha quietly.

“It’s her,” insisted Theo. “There’s no denying the tape. She must have stashed it somewhere.”

I glanced at the camera in Theo’s hands and thought about Leila’s visit to our tent. “Theo, maybe someone else went into Samantha’s tent. Try running the tape forward.”

He held up the camera and everyone crowded around to see the small monitor. We all saw Leila leave Samantha’s tent empty-handed. Then for around five minutes, all we saw was the dark tent, no one going in or out.

Tommy let out an explosive sigh. “Enough of this. It’s her, all right. She must have hidden the bag somewhere—“

“Wait,” I said. “The tape’s not over yet.”

Before he could respond, we all saw another furtive figure appear on the monitor. I recognized him as one of Mounir’s camel drivers, the one with the eye patch. He looked around to make sure no one was watching him, then ducked inside Samantha’s tent. He came back out, the belly bag clutched in his hands.

Everyone gasped and looked around but the camel driver caught on tape was no where to be seen. Tommy scowled. “He’s got to be here somewhere. Check the camels and see if they’re still here. If he escaped, we can still catch up to him by following the camel’s tracks.”

One quick look told us all the camels were still there which meant the man had gone off on foot – not a smart move. We were more than a day away from civilization and going on foot was just plain crazy.

“Find him!” roared Dr. Mounir, sounding incensed and betrayed. The rest of his men raised their lanterns high and began to search. It was only a few moments later but one of the men gave a shout. We followed the sound of his voice to a nearby wadi. The man who’d shouted stood at the bottom, his lantern held high to show what he’d found.

It was the camel driver who’d been caught on video. And there was no doubt about it....He was stone cold dead.

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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.