The herald., 1898-05-08

1t, secured beneath the projecting edgt
OF the mouth by a thread Of catgut
and smeared thickly with coating Of
bitumen, which would infallibly ex.
clude the air from its contents. Evi'
IDENTIFY the sealing had been done will
more or less haste, for no trouble hat
been taken to shave off the rough edge
Of the skin covering, which stuck ou'
untidiiy in a crinkled rim, yellow with
great age, and splashed here and thert
with blotches of bitumen.
The doctor, turning it over. was
thrown into raptures by the discovery
of what was evidently the manufactur.
er's mark, and finally he shook the
vessel tentatively close against his
ear.
Something inside ratified, with the
muff1ed sound Of but slight looseness.
Whatever it contains is a fairly
tight fit," remarked the doctor. 81
wonder what it is?"
Grant, who was leaning back in his
chair, regarded him with an amused
expression. 1t had seemingly never
occurred to the old Psychologist to
open the Jar.
"why don't you open it?" asked
Grant.
"Ah!" said the other, with an air of
a man grasping a new idea. After
moment or two's hesitation, he said,
"A good idea, we WILL
After a lengthy examination, both
agreed that the skin cover would have
to be removed by the chipping or
scraping off of the bitumen, which 80
completely enveloped it that there was
no chance of discovering the catgut
threads that bound it round the
rim.
Grant took the matter in hand whilst
every now and then giving some direc-
tfons when the operator seemed to,
in his impatience, deal less carefully
with the jar or use more haste in
chipping or scraping Off the bitumen
than was advisable.
The bitumen fell off in small flakes
as Grant Clipped away at 1t with the
end of his pocket knife, now and then
a piece larger than the rest would come
away where some patch of skin had
evidently been more oily than the
rest and the adhesion Of the two sur
faces, in consequence, less perfect.
At length after half an hours work
the whole of the surface Of the skin
on top Of the jar was cleaned, and the
yellow parchment exposed to view.
nothing now remained except to pass
knife blade carefully round, close to
the edge, and then the contents would
be disclosed.
Grant, knowing how keen a pleasure
it would give his friend to open 1t,
handed the knife and jar to him.
The doctor with exquisite care in
serted the knife and then there was a
sound of saving cut-ziz, ziz- and
the skin covering of the jar was raised
on a small hinge which had been left
on it.
The inside of the jar was not clean;
some flour-hke substance still adhered
round the sides, proving with what
haste it had been selected. In the GEN.
tire lay a little bundle, a papyrus man
uscript rolled and tied round with some
threads of golden colored silk, whilst
q few small enameled images Of the
gods served to wedge it in round the
sides.
''This is no doubt a history Of the
girl" exclaimed the delighted doctor,
as he pulled the papyrus out of the jar.
Grant, we are lucky explorers. You
must give that fellow Hafiz hand
some reward. I wouldn't sell this roll
for thousand pounds. and I'm sure
you wouldn't part with your sleeping
beauty over there for twice that sum. .
The doctor united the silken threads
with trembling haste, and began tt
unroll the manuscript with tenderesI
care. Drawings at once caught his
eye, which told him that the papyrus
was, as he had guessed, history of a
Woman-probably the girl they had dis
covered.
Careful as he was. the fragile sub
stance was slightly torn in several
places before it's length was fully un-
rolled.
1T may take me some time" the
doctor admitted, but 1 shall find it all
out, and doing so will keep me out of
mischief till we get to Cairo"
Grant and the doctor were both ex-
amining the papyrus when some one
knocked at the door of the saloon.
They replaced the lid of the coffin, and
then unfastened the door. Hasan en-
tered.
"A message for M'sieu Grant" he
said holding out an envelope. "Hafiz
went to Luxor with the boat early to-
day, and he has just returned. Will
the gentlemen go anywhere to-day?
MOI" he exclaimed. as both shook
their heads, II will not be wanted, so I
will retire.
Grant had torn open the envelope
and was eagerly reading the telegram.
1t was very brief:
Congratulations. Return Cairo,
Alexandria If possible Immediately.
'Sybile' sails tomorrow, will meet you
Alexandria, and bring home
MURRAY"
'The chief has lost no time" re-
marked GEaHtA handins~ the paper to
the doctor. II suppose you're not
very keen about your ramble to Kar-
max. Because if you're not, I think
we'll get under weigh for Cairo at
once"
During the next few days the daha-
beah made slow progress; for the wind
what there was of it--blew generally
more up stream than down, and, ex-
cept for the current and an occasional
spell at the sweeps before the heat Of
the day and after sunset in the even
ing, they would have remained almost
stationary.
Many times the almost irresistible
longing came over Grant when he
looked on the face of the beautiful
sleeping priestess," as the doctor had
named her, to try to put the remaining
part Of his dream into practise.
It was on the last night before they
reached Cairo, fourteen days since they