Twenty One

The Princess of Amen-Ra lived some 3,500 years ago. When she died,she was laid in an ornate wooden coffin and buried deep in a vault at Luxor, on the banks of the River Nile.

In the 1890s,four rich young English men visiting the excavations at Luxor were invited to buy an exquisitely fashioned mummy case containing the remains of the Princess. They drew lots,and the man who won paid several thousand pounds and had the coffin taken to his hotel. Two hours later,he was seen walking into a desert. He never returned. The next day,one of the remaining men was accidentally shot by a servant.

The third man in the foursome found on his return home that his bank had gone out of business, living him penniless. The fourth man suffered a severe illness, lost his job and was reduced to selling matches in the street.

Nevertheless, the coffin reached England, where it was bought by a businessman. After three of his family had been inju