suspiciously. From where he stood 

 the tell-tale mummy was hidden by the 

 bank and some bushes, and the tell-tale 

 brass rings and armlet were in my 

 gloves which I held as jauntily as pos- 

 sible. He saw nothing wrong. He 

 turned again to us. We betrayed no 

 signs of agitation. Then he spoke 

 grimly, with a deep scowl on his ugly 

 face : 



"No touch 'em; savey?" giving a 

 significant jerk of the head towards the 

 trees. 



We responded by a negative shake 

 of the head. Oh, those brass rings ! 

 Why did I want to steal brass rings 

 from the left thumb of an Indian wo- 

 man mummy! Me ! I should be carv- 

 ing my name on roadside trees next ! 



There was another silence as before. 

 None of us had changed positions, so 



