'You don't come here for pleasure,' the Professor replied. 'When you come here, you want to find out something. What is it this time?'

'Have you heard of Dr John Farrow?' asked Salahadin.

'I've got his book here on my shelves,' replied the Professor, pointing to the bookshelves behind him.

'And have you read his ideas about Queen Axtarte and about where she was buried?'

'Yes, I have,' replied Professor Gomouchian. 'And I think he may be right.'

'I'm beginning to believe that he is right too,' said Salahadin.

'We know that Queen Axtarte was afraid of tomb robbers,' continued the Professor. 'It is possible that she had her tomb made on the east bank of the Nile because all the other tombs were on the west bank.'

'But what about all the slaves who dug her tomb?' asked Salahadin. 'And all the nobles who attended her funeral? Why did none of them ever tell the secret of her tomb?'

'The slaves were easy to deal with,' replied Professor Gomouchian. 'The Queen had them all killed.'

'And the nobles?'

'It was the custom to have a feast after a funeral in Ancient Egypt. The great feast after the funeral of Queen Axtarte was held in the Temple of Karnak. We know that before her death, the Queen ordered all the food to be poisoned . Everyone who attended her funeral had to attend the feast and eat the food. And they all died a terrible death.'

'And that explains the writing on the stone pillar from the Temple of Kamak,' added Salahadin.

'That is a possible explanation,' agreed the Professor. 'One of the mourners managed to write a message on a stone pillar before he died.'

'And the Curse of Queen Axtarte. What do you think about that?' asked Salahadin. 'Do you think she was trying to frighten away any tomb robbers? Or do you think she had another plan?'

Professor Gomouchian wheeled his chair up to the book-shelves and took down a copy of Farrow's book. He opened the book and read out the words which are known as the Curse of Queen Axtarte.

'I am Queen Axtarte - Queen of Queens. I shall live forever. These are my words: anyone who enters my tomb - anyone who steals from my tomb - anyone who touches my body - that person will die - that person will die a terrible death. And many more shall die with him."

'If you found the Queen's tomb, would you go into it and touch anything?' Salahadin asked the Professor.

'No, I would not,' was the immediate reply. 'I would want to have a lot of scientific tests done before I did anything at the tomb of Queen Axtarte.'

'But, why?'

The Professor took down another book from his bookshelves. It was called Poisons and Diseases in Ancient Egypt.

'The Ancient Egyptians knew much more about the world than we think,' he told Salahadin. 'They knew something about disease and about poisons. There were many great plagues in Ancient Egypt. It is possible that Queen Axtarte had the germs of a terrible disease put in her tomb.'

'So if anyone found the tomb, they might be in great danger?'

'If anyone found the tomb and went inside, they would be in great danger,' replied Professor Gomouchian.

'I must go to Luxor immediately,' said Salahadin. 'Can you show me where the tomb might be?'

The Professor wheeled his chair to where a large map of Ancient Egypt was hanging on the wall. He took up a stick and pointed to a place thirty kilometres north-east of Karnak.

'That's where Farrow says it is,' he said. 'And I agree with him.'

While Salahadin was talking to Professor Gomouchian, Leila and Ahmed were at the Hotel Mirabel. They asked to speak to the Manager who was not pleased to see them.

'We've had enough trouble from the police already because of Mr Farrow,' the Manager said. 'There's nothing more we can do to help you.'

'Yes, there is,' Leila said politely. 'We want to see the room that Mr and Mrs Farrow stayed in.'

The Manager checked the hotel register.

'Room 501,' the Manager told them. 'It's on the fifth floor - and it's empty. You can look there if you want.'

Room 501 was a small room. It had one window which looked out onto the roof of a block of flats. There was a double bed, a wardrobe, and a small chest of drawers in the room. There was a small bathroom at one side.

Leila searched the bed - the mattress and the pillows. Then she looked inside the wardrobe and the chest of drawers. Ahmed searched the floor, the walls, and the lightshades. Then he looked carefully through the bathroom. They found nothing.

'There's nothing here,' said Ahmed. 'Let's get out of this room.'

Leila had a last look round, but she found nothing. As she was walking to the door, she stopped at the window and looked out. The roof of a block of flats was quite near the window and slightly below it. The roof was covered with all kinds of rubbish.

'I think we've found something,' said Leila.

Leila had seen a book lying among the rubbish. It was just under the window of room 501. And, from the hotel bedroom window, Leila could read the title of the book. It was The Mystery of Queen Axtarte.

CHAPTER SIX

A Call for Help

Forty minutes later, Leila and Ahmed were back in Salahadin's office near Tahrir Square.

Salahadin had arrived a few minutes before them and was speaking on the telephone. He was arranging for a police plane to take him up to Luxor. He had a large map on the desk in front of him. It was a map of Luxor and the desert around Luxor to the north and to the east. Salahadin had marked a large X on the map about thirty kilometres north-east of Karnak.

'OK, one o'clock at Cairo airport,' said Salahadin on the telephone. 'Yes, I'll be there. Tell the pilot to be ready to take off at one o'clock.'

Salahadin put the telephone down and Leila placed Farrow's book on top of the map in front of him.

'We've found a message from Farrow,' she said. 'It's on page ten.'

Salahadin opened the book and turned the pages. Farrow's message on page ten had been written quickly.

HELP!

My name is Farrow.

I'm a prisoner of a gang of smugglers. They want me to take them to the tomb of Queen Axtarte. My wife held in Cairo by man called Greer. Gang afraid of policeman called Salahadin.

PASS THIS MESAGE TO POLICEMAN SALAHADIN.

Queen's tomb 30 kilometres north-east of Karnak between snakes head and sitting man.

Don't open tomb.

Great danger!

'So I was right. The news report in The Sunday Times was a message. And it is the Amsterdam Ring. Jan Greer is a well-known criminal. He is wanted by Interpol for smuggling and murder.'

Salahadin stood up. He walked over to a wall which was covered with a large map of Cairo.

'I'm flying up to Luxor at one o'clock,' he said. 'Leila, you and Ahmed will have to find Farrow's wife.'

'Cairo's a big city,' said Leila. 'It won't be easy to find her.'

Salahadin pointed at the map of Cairo.

'Christine Farrow is being held by the Amsterdam Ring- they're all Europeans - and she's English,' he explained. 'They are foreigners here in Egypt. If they are holding the woman in an Arab part of the city, someone would notice them. They must be in a European part of Cairo - somewhere where lots of foreigners live.'

Salahadin placed his finger on the large part of Cairo, called Heliopolis.

'Lots of Europeans live here,' he said. 'They could be in a house or a flat in Heliopolis.'

Salahadin moved his hand to the centre of Cairo. He pointed to Zamalek where Professor Gomouchian lived. 'Or they could be somewhere here.'

'The men who own the small shops in the streets - they will remember if they have seen any strangers,' said Ahmed. 'I'll send my policemen to the European parts of Cairo. They'll ask the shopkeepers if they have noticed any strangers in the last week.'