I searched records; but only to one end--death and extinction.

Then I set me to work to find what had become of his treasures; for that such a traveller must have had great treasures was apparent.

I traced a good many to museums in Leyden, Utrecht, and Amsterdam; and some few to the private houses of rich collectors.

At last, in the shop of an old watchmaker and jeweller at Hoorn, I found what he considered his chiefest treasure; a great ruby, carven like a scarab, with seven stars, and engraven with hieroglyphics.

The old man did not know hieroglyphic character, and in his old-world, sleepy life, the philological discoveries of recent years had not reached him.