By Jane Richards

 

Absolute darkness. That was what surrounded Seth as he slowly came to his senses. He could hear breathing from something very close to him, but was unable to see anything at all. With his hands he carefully felt around him and came upon something warm. "Ramey, is that you?" he thought to himself. Then he put the thought into words, which echoed through the darkness. A groan answered his question, then movement. He felt the warm object turn toward him.

 

"What happened?" a voice asked out of the gloom. "All I remember was my knees shaking. Why is it so dark? Where are we anyway?" the questions fairly tumbled out of the unseen mouth. It was Ramey, all right.

 

"I don't know anymore about where we are, or what happened than you do," replied his brother. "I'm sitting here trying to figure what to do, and not getting very far at the moment." A thought popped into his head. "Hey, wait a minute. Mom gave me a little flashlight yesterday and I put it in my pocket." he hesitated for a moment, "Er, I think it was yesterday. I wonder how long we've been here. Wherever 'here' is." Seth fumbled into the pockets of his jeans. "Here it is! Now maybe we can see something," and flipped the switch. Suddenly, the bright beam lit their surroundings. The path created by the light showed walls with brightly painted people and animals on them. There were strange writings all over.

 

"Wow, Seth, it looks like we've fallen into some kind of tomb or something," declared Ramey. "What kind of stuff is that writing, anyway?"

 

"It's called hieroglyphs, Ramey. That was what the ancient Egyptians used for writing", explained his brother. Remember all the examples we saw at the Cairo Museum?" Seth looked around in awe. "I'm not sure, but it does look like some type of tomb or temple. Look at the figures on the wall, Ramey. There, see that one," the older brother said as he directed the flashlight beam at one particular drawing. "That man who is wrapped like a mummy and has a face painted green. I think that's the god Osiris. They believed that he was the ruler of the 'other-world' where they went when they died."

 

Ramey shuddered at that explanation. "Are you trying to scare me? Because if you are, don't bother. I'm already scared silly!"

 

"We must have fallen through into an ancient temple or tomb. I'll bet they're already trying to get us out. I'm going to turn this light off. Don't want to wear the batteries out," reasoned Seth.

 

As he turned the light out, another glow seemed to be coming from across the large room in which they had found themselves. There was some kind of opening at the other end, and through it a slight glow had appeared. As the light became brighter the boys could make out more details around them. The ceiling was supported by giant columns with flower-like designs at the top. There were large statues sitting on the dirt floor and smaller statuettes standing in niches which gave off a golden glow.

 

"That's probably Dad and some of the men from the camp coming to get us out of here," suggested Seth, hopefully. "Boy will they be surprised when they see this. It must be part of the ancient temple that Dad was talking about!" he said as he put the flashlight in his pocket.

 

As they stood and watched the light getting brighter they began to hear the faint echo of voices. Moving closer to what must be an entrance into the room, the boys expected to see the familiar faces of the archaeologists and their Dad. Suddenly people came through the door. The problem was.....these people weren't familiar to the boys at all! They were dressed in clothing that looked more like the paintings on the walls of the room.

 

 

 

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