“Wonderful!” declared Sylvia as they entered the car. “The public speak airily of wireless, yet they little know to what marvellous perfection it is being brought.”
“That’s so, dear,” replied the South American widow. “I’m sure we’re awfully obliged to Geoffrey for showing us the station. It is a privilege accorded to very few.”
“Well,” laughed Geoffrey, “the company certainly do not encourage the merely curious. Otherwise all our stations would be overrun with visitors.”
The drive back through Llanrug to old-world Carnarvon was delightful, and after tea Sylvia and her lover took a stroll through the town as far as the great mediæval fortress which is washed on two sides by the waters of the Menai Straits and the Seiont. They were shown the Eagle Tower, where the first Prince of Wales was born; the Queen’s Tower, and the other historic portions of the fine old castle, and then returned to the hotel to rejoin Mrs. Beverley.
Later on, while they were at dinner, a tall, good-looking, dark-haired young man entered and glanced around to find a seat.
Instantly Geoffrey recognised him as Jack Halliday, an old schoolfellow at Shrewsbury, who was now a mining engineer, and was rapidly rising in his profession. The men greeted each other warmly, and on being introduced to the two ladies, the newcomer was invited to a vacant seat at their table.
“When I last met you, Jack, you were just going out to Peru,” Geoffrey said.
“Yes, that was a couple of years ago--wasn’t it? I did some prospecting in the Andes, and was quite successful,” replied the young man. “Now I’m off to Egypt for a trip.”
“How lovely!” remarked Sylvia. “I wish you’d go to Egypt, mother.”
“Mine will not be a very comfortable journey,” said the young man. “I’m going prospecting.”
“Yes. There is believed to be a rich deposit of gold at a spot a little to the south of the ancient city of Berenice, on the west coast of the Red Sea, not far from Cape Ras Benas. I have obtained from the Egyptian Government a permit to prospect.”
“How extremely interesting!” remarked Mrs. Beverley. “What makes you think that gold is there?”
“Well, it appears that after Pharaoh Ptolemy II founded the port about three centuries before the Christian era, gold was discovered in considerable quantities about eight miles off. For several centuries the mines were worked, until, with the destruction of the city, they were also obliterated,” was Halliday’s reply. “Quite recently, however, my friend, Professor Harte, the well-known Egyptologist, has been exploring the ruins, and among the hieroglyphic inscriptions there, he found mention of the mines and of their richness. Therefore, it is my intention to endeavour to locate them.”