The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-11-25

he somewhat regained his composure,
and the crystal flask in my hand at
traoted his attention.
What is that?" he demanded.
| Il do not know. found 1t inside the
saroophagus. Did you ever see any thing
like it before?'
lilo did not answer me, but, snatohing
the vase from my hand, began to ex-
amino 1t very closely, at tho same time
muttering exoitedly to himself. His in
spection lasted some time. Finally his
| face frightened and assumed an express
sion Of decision.
lit 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,
como, we shall soon know"
"Come," he said, turning to me,
eve must see that mummy. Let US get
the case out as soon as possible.
I gave the necessary orders to my
! men, and the derrick was once more
called iuto requisition to lift the heavy
oase from the sarcophagus.
"Do you suppose this is Thothmes?'
inquired while the men were occupied
with this task.
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 Oh the massive case,
which had overlooked by reason OF its
size, extending from ono end Of the
case nearly to the othor.
In few moments tho heavy case
| was Oh the stone floor and tho massive
| golden cover was removed, revealing
not tho ordinary swathed and bandaged
mummy, but naked body floating in
an oily substance which emitted an
aromatic smell. If I had expected re-
newed evidence Of excitement from the
doctor, was disappointed. His fea-
| lures assumed set expression, and he
bent over the body without uttering a
| syllable.
".rhis liquid, I exclaimed exoitedly,
"is"-
Honey" replied the doctor Then
he continued as if to himself: "As ex-
! pected. Comel The anoients were not
all fools nor all liars. 1t is o'clock
great day, great dayr'
| The body, as the mummy case had
foretold, was that of young man of
pleasing appearance and majestic fig
ure, the flesh still firm and plump,
with no evidences Of decay. The body
appeared to have been unmutilated by
the hands of tho embalmers. There was
no incision 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 in
their sockets. There was positively no
evidence Of death about tho body, un-
less it were certain rigidity, but 9TH
erwiso it might have been mistaken for
tho person Of some expert swimmer
sleeping Oh the surface of his bath.
"Send your men for some food, a
half dozen bottles of wine and plenty
of water and towels" said the doctor
in an unnatural voice.
had overlooked the fact that it was
past dinner time and hastened to give
the necessary orders to my men, though
what tho doctor wanted of towels 1
could not imagine. The required arti-
cles were soon brought.
"Now dismiss all your men," con-
tinued tue doctor in the same strained
tone &C voice.
obeyed as unqucstioningly as the
wedding guest obeyed tho Ancient Mari
ner, and tho men, after depositing q
number Of lighted torches about the
chamber, retired. After their footsteps
had died away in the long corridors,
the doctor began to pace slowly up and
down the room. Finally he spoke:
'How many kinds of mummies have
you found in your discoveries?'
"Why." I replied. "three kinds, if
you mean the manner Of their prepara-
tion."
"And they were?''
"Why, the first class have all the
viscera and the brains removed, the
cavities filled with resins and spices,
and nave been stepped in natron for a
long time. Tho second have only the
brains removed and the viscera injected
with oil Of cedar. These were also
STEPPED in natron, as we suppose. The
third kind were apparently just sailed
down for a certain length of time. These
are all the kinds I am familiar with. "
"And have you found and seen no
other kind?"
"No"
! "Woll, there was q fourth kind. 1t is
so written in tho book of Manetho. I
have always believed it to be lie of
the priests We are about to SEQ whether
it was such in fact or not. The priests
claimed to have a process by which
they could arrest animation Indefinite
ly, and that they could, after the lapse
of ages, restore life to body in which
existence had been suspended by tho
uso of n certain liquor, if the body were
kept from external injury. The only
thing that has seemed to substantiate
this claim has been tho fact that few
bodies have boen discovered at widely
different times which bore mono Of the
ordinary marks of cmbalming, from
which tho visccra and brain had not
been removed and which were ncverthe-
loss in better state Of preservation
than mummics which had been care.
fully embalmed ! say such bodies have
been discovered. should say, rather,
that 1t is claimed that they have been
discovered, but as l never saw one OF