All this Egyptologists are perfectly familiar with in the translations of the boastful tablets and inscriptions erected near Sais by Mer-Shen, the three hundred and twelfth sovereign after Queen Nitocris." He looked up at Burke, smiling.

"Therefore," he said, "this papyrus scroll was written by Meris, ex-king, a speculative thousands of years before Christ.

And it begins: 'I, Meris the King.'" "How does all this bear upon what concerns me ?" demanded Burke.
"Wait!" Something in the quiet significance of the Tracer's brief command sent a curious thrill through the younger man.

He leaned stiffly forward, studying the scroll, every faculty concentrated on the symbol which the Tracer had now touched with the carefully sharpened point of his pencil: [Illustration: Glyph] "That," said Mr.Keen, "is the ancient Egyptian word for 'little,' '_Ket_.' The next, below, written in two lines, is 'Samaris,' a proper name--the name of a woman.

Under that, again, is the symbol for the number 18; the decimal sign, [Illustration: Glyph] and eight vertical strokes, [Illustration: Glyph] Under that, again, is a hieroglyph of another sort, an ideograph representing a girl with a harp; and, beneath that, the symbol which always represented a dancing girl [Illustration: Glyph] and also the royal symbol inclosed in a cartouch, [Illustration: Glyph] which means literally 'the Ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt.' Under that is the significant symbol [Illustration: Glyph] representing an arm and a hand holding a stick.