We flew still lower and in half an hour prospected a dozen or more valleys, one of which must certainly have been that from which we had ascended, but the storm had been of such severity that it must have lifted millions of tons of loose sand, burying all trace of our diggings, our burnt-out camp and the dead who lay there.
I knew than that the dunes had moved again, rolling over a little in their slow but relentless march under the pressure of the winds. It was, after all, sheer luck that Sylvia and I had tumbled on a portion of Cambyses’ treasure. As Zakri had stolen Sylvia’s sextant we had been unable to work out our exact position during the time we were working on the ‘dig’, and the Egyptian astrologer’s figures only gave us the site of our old camp some thirty miles to the north-east. A dozen more expeditions might be fitted out and search those endless vales of sand for months before actually locating the place where our camp had been or coming upon any other booty.
We had recovered only a tiny portion of the immense wealth looted out of Egypt; the remainder lies buried there still with the lost legions of Cambyses for those to recover who have the patience and the bravery to go out and search for it.
‘It’ll be Dakhla or nothing soon! I’ve only got about three-and-a-half hours’ petrol left,’ said the pilot. ‘And I know a young woman in Luxor.’
I too, had once known a young woman in Luxor and the thought of her beauty and her laughter thrilled me still, although she was as far removed from me now as if she had been buried two thousand years ago in the Valley of the Queens. My voice was shaking and my attempted lightness a hollow sham as I said:
‘All right, then. “Home, James, and don’t spare the horses.”’
A Note on the Author
DENNIS WHEATLEY
Dennis Wheatley (1897 – 1977) was an English author whose prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling writers from the 1930s through the 1960s.
Wheatley was the eldest of three children, and his parents were the owners of Wheatley & Son of Mayfair, a wine business. He admitted to little aptitude for schooling, and was expelled from Dulwich College, London. In 1919 he assumed management of the family wine business but in 1931, after a decline in business due to the depression, he began writing.
His first book, The Forbidden Territory, became a bestseller overnight, and since then his books have sold over 50 million copies worldwide. During the 1960s, his publishers sold one million copies of Wheatley titles per year, and his Gregory Sallust series was one of the main inspirations for Ian Fleming’s James Bond stories.
During the Second World War, Wheatley was a member of the London Controlling Section, which secretly coordinated strategic military deception and cover plans. His literary talents gained him employment with planning staffs for the War Office. He wrote numerous papers for the War Office, including suggestions for dealing with a German invasion of Britain.
Dennis Wheatley died on 11th November 1977. During his life he wrote over 70 books and sold over 50 million copies.
Discover books by Dennis Wheatley published by Bloomsbury Reader at
www.bloomsbury.com/DennisWheatley
Duke de Richleau
The Forbidden Territory
The Devil Rides Out
The Golden Spaniard
Three Inquisitive People
Strange Conflict
Codeword Golden Fleece
The Second Seal
The Prisoner in the Mask
Vendetta in Spain
Dangerous Inheritance
Gateway to Hell
Gregory Sallust
Black August
Contraband
The Scarlet Impostor
Faked Passports
The Black Baroness
V for Vengeance
Come into My Parlour
The Island Where Time Stands Still
Traitors’ Gate
They Used Dark Forces
The White Witch of the South Seas
Julian Day
The Quest of Julian Day
The Sword of Fate
Bill for the Use of a Body
Roger Brook
The Launching of Roger Brook
The Shadow of Tyburn Tree
The Rising Storm
The Man Who Killed the King
The Dark Secret of Josephine
The Rape of Venice
The Sultan’s Daughter
The Wanton Princess
Evil in a Mask
The Ravishing of Lady Mary Ware
The Irish Witch
Desperate Measures
Molly Fountain
To the Devil a Daughter
The Satanist
Lost World
They Found Atlantis
Uncharted Seas
The Man Who Missed the War
Espionage
Mayhem in Greece
The Eunuch of Stamboul
The Fabulous Valley
The Strange Story of Linda Lee
Such Power is Dangerous
The Secret War
Science Fiction
Sixty Days to Live
Star of Ill-Omen
Black Magic
The Haunting of Toby Jugg
The KA of Gifford Hillary
Unholy Crusade
Short Stories
Mediterranean Nights
Gunmen, Gallants and Ghosts
This electronic edition published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Reader
Bloomsbury Reader is a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square,
London WC1B 3DP
First published in 1939 by Hutchinson & Co. Ltd.
Copyright © 1939 Dennis Wheatley
All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise
make available this publication(or any part of it) in any form, or by any means
(including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying,
printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the
publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The moral right of the author is asserted.
eISBN: 9781448212682
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The Quest of Julian Day Page 44