The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1897-11-06

sarcOphaRus. DID y0u ever see anything
like it before?"
He did not answer me, but, snatching
the vase from my hand, began to ex-
anime it very closely, at the same time
muttering excitedly to himself. His in
spection lasted some time. Finally his
face frightened and assumed an express
sion of decision.
"It may be. 1t is possible" he said,
still speaking TO himself. why not?
Do not the records of Manetho say so?
1t is not so improbable after all. Come,
come, we shall soon know"
Come he said, turning to me,
1--WE must see that mummy. Let us get
the case out as soon as possible"
l gave the necessary orders to my
men, and the derrick was once more
called into requisition to lift the heavy
case from the sarcophagus.
"Do you suppose this is Thothmes?'
l inquired while the men were occupied
with this task.
at is no more Thothmes, he replied,
ethan it is Habakkuk. 1t is Nef-Rah,
a high priest of Osiris, Of the eighteenth
dynasty pointing at the same time to
a hieroglyph carved OF the massive case,
which l had overlooked by reason of its
size, extending from one end of the
case nearly to the other.
In a few moments the heavy case
was on the stone floor and the massive
golden cover was removed, revealing
not the ordinary swathed and bandaged
| mummy, but a naked body floating in
an oily substance which emitted an
aromatic smell. If l had expected re-
, newed evidence of excitement from the
| doctor, l was disappointed. His fea-
lures assumed n set expression, and he
I bent over the body without uttering a
] syllable.
"This liquid" I exclaimed excitedly,
j "is'-
"Honey," replied the doctor. Then
u he continued as if to himself: GAS | ex-
pected. Come! The ancients were not
, all fools nor all liars. 1t is l o'clock
l a great day, a great day!'
The body, as the mummy case had
= foretold, was that of a young man of
: pleasing appearance and majestic fig
" ure, the flesh still firm and plump,
. with no evidences of decay. The body
Z appeared to nave been unmutilated by
. the hands of the embalmers. There was
:. no i~ncision ON the flank to evidence the
removal of the ~viscera, and the plump
= ness of the closed eyelids led to the pre-.
sumption that the eyes were still il
( their sockets. There was positively nc
; evidence of death about the body, I'M.
> less it were a certain rigidity, but 9th.
j. erwise it might have been mistaken fol
~ tho norcpn nf c0rnn oynorf cvrirnn,o1
sleeping on the surface of his bath.
Send your men for some food, 6
20 half dozen bottles of wine and plenty
of water and towels, " said the doctor
~ in an unnatural voice.
had overlooked the fact that it wa
- past dinner time and FASTENED to Civ
~ the necessary orders to my men, though
g what the doctor wanted of towels
- could hot imagine. The required arti
- cles were soon brought.
Nov dismiss all your men," con
tinued the doctor in the same strained
~ tone of voice.
" l obeyed as unquestioningly as tn
wedding guest obeyed the Ancient Mari
= ner. and the men, after depositing
:, number of lighted torches about tn
lx olhbC CVlACu TItbl UuCiI lOOtSuCp
y had died away in the long corridors
.d the doctor began to pace slowly up an
down the room. Finally he spoke:
40 "How many kinds of mummies hav
q You found i'll your discoveriesf'
u "Why," l replied, three kinds, j
u, you mean the manner of their prepare
ton"
90 land they were?'
"Why, the first class nave all tn
- viscera and the brains removed, tn
cavities filled with resins and spices
~ and have been stepped i'll natron for
r long time. The second have only tn
brains removed and the viscera injecte
with oil of cedar. These were ais
ba stepped in natron, as we suppose. TIL
third kind were apparently just salte
u.s. down for a certain length of time. Thes
are all the kinds l am familiar with.
,Is And have you found and seen n
other kind?"
No"
'to "Well, there was a fourth kind. 1t
~ go written in the book of Manetho.
~. have always believed it to be a lie {
the priests. We are about to see whethe
- it was such in fact or not. The priest
~ claimed to have a process by whic
"a they could arrest animation indefinite
w ly, and that they could, after the laps
w. of ages, restore life to a body in whic
existence had been suspended by til
~ use of a certain liquor, if the body wei
kept from external injury. The onl
-, thing that has seemed to substantial
this claim has been the fact that a fe
T. bodies have been discovered at widel
different times which bore none of ii
on ordinary merks of embalming, frol
Ird which the ~yiscera and brain had NJ
is. been removed and which were neverth'
an less in a better state of preseryatio
III than mummies which had been car
no fully embalmed. l say such bodies ha,
as. been discovered. l should say, rathe
me that it is claimed that they nave bee
l discovered, but as l never saw one
l. any one who had l have been incline
ne to doubt the fact. This body settles Il
ed matter. l doubt no more"
i'll 81 remember now that l have heal
something to the same effect" l T
Ell piled, "but | do not see that this suI
Stimulates the claim of the priests to
DIR. able to suspend animation and to +
store it after the lapse of ages"
Tl,>- L1,-1 - A.