A stale smell certainly." "The Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel! Think of it! A parchment roll--perhaps two or three rolls--not too big to go into a valise--worth more than all the other ancient manuscripts in the world all put together! Himmel! What a find that would be! What a record! What a refutation of all the historians and the fools who set themselves up for authorities nowadays! What a price it would bring! What would your Metropolitan Museum in New York not pay for it! What would the Jews not pay for it! They would raise millions among them and pay any price we cared to ask! The Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel-- only think!" "But why the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel in the tomb of the Kings of Judah ?" Grim asked, more by way of keeping up the conversation, I think, than because he could not guess the answer.

He is an omnivorous reader, and there is not much recorded of the Near East that he does not know.
"Don't you know your history?
You know, of course, that after King Solomon died the Jews divided into two kingdoms.

The latter-day Jews speak of themselves as Israelites, but they are nothing of the kind; they are Judah-ites.

The tribe of Judah remained in Jerusalem, forming one small kingdom; their descendants are the Jews of today.

Part of the tribe of Benjamin stayed with them.