The Irish standard., 1889-11-23


forever and foreverl For, Wicked One, there
In Amenti shall we como face to facet
.And to the end of the keeping OF this secret
have I, Menka-ra, set up q Temple Of my
Worship the which have built upon the
caste reside of thus my House OF Death. To the
hereditary High Priest of this my Temple
shall 1t be made known from time to time.
And If any High Priest that shall be, do reveal
this secret to another than the Pharaoh, or
Her who wears the Pharaoh's crown and ia
seated upon the throne of Khem. accursed be
he also. Thus have I, Menka-ra, the Osirian,
written. Now to thee. who, sleeping in the
womb of Nout, yet shall upon time stand
over me and read, I say, judge thoul and it
thou judgest evilly on thee shall fall this the
curse Of Menka-ra, from which there is no es-
cape. Greeting and farewell"
'sThou hast heard, U Cleopatra said
solemnly; ''now search thy heart; judge
thou, and for thine own sake judge justly"
She bent her head in thought.
II fear to do this thing" she said pres
emily. ''Let us hence"
sit is well'' said, with Tightening of
the heart, and bent me to lift the wooden
lid. For1, too, feared.
"And yet what said the writing of the di-
vine Menka-ra?-'twas emeralds, was 1t
not? And emeralds are now so rare and
hard to come byl Ever did love emer-
aids, aud never can find them without q
flaw''
ss'Tis not matter of what thou dost love,
Cleopatra" 1 said; '''tis matter of the
need Of Khen and Of the secret meaning Of
thy heart, which thou alone canst know
SAY, surely, Harmachis; surely! And is
not the need of Egypt create There is no
gold in the treasury and how can I defy the
Roman if have no gold! and have not
swor:. 70 thee that will wed thee and defy
the Roman; and do not swear it again
yea, even IN this solemn hour, with my hand
upon dead Pharaoh's heart? Why, here is
that occasion whereof the divine Menka-ra
did dream. Thou seest'it is so, for else had
Hatasu or Rameses or some other Pharaoh
drawn forth the gems. But no; they left
them to this hour because the time was not
yet come. Now it must be come, for il
take not the gems the Roman will surely
seize on Egypt, and then there will be no
Pharaoh to whom the secret may be told.
Nay, let US away with fears and to the
work. Why dost look SO frighteda Having
pure hearts, naught is there to fear, Harma-
chis''
Gwen as thou wilt" said again; s4for
thee it is to judge, since it thou judg st
falsely, or thee will surely fall the curse
from which there is no escape. !" ..
$50, Harmach1s. take Pharaoh's head and
will take his Oh, what All awful place
is thisP' and suddenly she chung to me.
'Methought saw shadow yonder in the
darknessl Methought that 1t did move
toward us and then straightway vanishl
Let us be going! Didst thou see naughts"
IT saw naugLt, Cleopatra; but mayh it
was the Spirit Of the divine Menka~ra for
ever does tho spirit hover round its mortal
tenement Let US then be going; right
glad shall be to 60"
She made as though to start, then turned
back again and spoke once more:
"'Twas naught-naught but the 1nlnd
that in such house of Horror doth body
forth those shadowy forms of fear it breads
to see. Nay, / must look upon these en-
eralds indeed; if Gle, must lcok Come
Ito wor]x!'' and STOPPING she with her own
hands lifted from the tomb one of the four
alabaster jars, each sealed with the craven
likeness Of the heads ofthe protecting Gods,
that held the holy heart and entraiis Of the
divine Menka-ra. But in those jars w;.s
nothing found, save only what should be
there.
Then together we mounted on the sphinx
and drew forth with toll the body OF the
divine Pharaoh, laying it on. the ground.
Now Cleopatra took my dagger, and with 1t
cut loose the bandages which held tire wrap
pings in their place, and the lotus flowers,
that had been placed therein Ivy loving
hands, three thousand years before, fell
down upon the pavement. Then We searched
and found the end of the outer bandage,
which was fixed in at the hinder part of the
neck. This VIC cut loose, for it was fast
glued This DONE we ber,an to unrol the
wrappings Of the holy corpse. Setting my
shoulders against the sarcophagus, sat
upon the rocky floor, the body resting on
my knees, and, as turned it Cleopatra un-
wound the cloths; and awesome was the
task. Presently something fell out; it was
the scepter of the Pharaoh, fashioned OF
gold, and at the end thereof was a pome-
granate cut frorl single emerald.
Cleopatra seized it and gazed thereon in
silence. Then once more we went on W1th
our dread business. And ever as we I'M
wound, oth.r ornaments of gold, such as
are buried with Pharaohs, fell from the
wrappin gs-collars and bracelets, models
of sistra and inlaid axe, and an image of the
holy Osiris and of the holy Khem. At
length all the bandages were unwound,
and beneath we found covering OF
coarsest linen; for in those days the
were not so skilled IN mat
ters pertaining to the embalming OF the
tody as now they are. And On the linen
was written in an oval, ''Menkarra, Royal
Son of the Sun" This linen we could in
no wise loosen, so firm it held to the body.
Therefore, faint with the great heat,
cboked with mummy dust and The odor
of spices, and trembling with feaspf our
unholy task, wrought in that most lonesome
and holy place, we laid the body down, and
with knife ripped away the last covering.
First we cleared its head, and now the
face that no man had gazed on for three
years was open to our view. 1t
was q great face. with q bold brow yet,
crowned with the Royal urseus, beneath
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