El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-09-17

to life. At this present hour that hin
there is n mummy. Tonight at o o'clock
it will be n living man"
what nonsense Is this" exclaimed
the man as he struck the coffin with
his cane. do you think 1 am a child
to believe such tales?'
81 think you are n very smart man"
I replied. but there is yet something
to earn. Read of Sonadi Hassassan.
He was the greatest magician the
world We knew. He 1t was who made
the Nile flow backward for n day.
When he had lived for 1000 years.. he
became weary for the want of sleep.
He fell into n trance which was not to
be broken for 1000 years The time is
up at o O'Clock tonight"
"And he will come back to life?'
queried the man, with an incredulous
smile.
"He will. You and your friends will
be here to see. I had read of him, and
1 was nxiou to get his body. 1 paid n
large price for 1t that l may see 1t re-
stored to life with my own eyes"
The Egyptians natural superstition
and my earnestness staggered the a
and when / saw IL I clinched the mat
ter by saying:
"It Is only a few hours to wait. You
shall dine with me at 8 o'clock. At o
my assistant shall unwrap H-assassa
and bring hin to life. Let two Of your
soldiers watch the coffin meanwhile. II
things don't turn out as I say. you shall
carry me OF prisoner and have 500 in
gold as a present"
$50 be It," he said after a long look
~ ma ssh,rf DO not affcmnf fo trick mo
I am no fool"
Two soldiers were left to watch the
coffin, and in my hearing he warned
them hat any remissness on their part
would be followed by swift punish
lei My living rooms were over the
warerooms. When the dinner hour ar
rived. I had the official and two of his
friends to sit down with me. All three
of the men had made up their minds
that I was playing a game Of blum.
and they had a curiosity to know how
/ was going to carry IL through. Fifty
dollars would have bribed n Of them
to shut his eyes for n year. but In this
case they had received their orders d.
rect from the minister and dared not
triie with him. They drank sparingly
of the wine that they might keep their
heads clear, but grew sufficiently good
natured to hope that I might get u Of
the trouble without serious loss
There will be no trouble" i replied.
with calm assurance "Sonadi Hassas-
san has had his sleep and will return
to life, and the government will prob
ably reward me for restoring such q
celebrated man to earth. Come, gen.
tlemen. It Is time"
The soldiers had been sitting before
the coffin for hours. My assistant was
on hand and ready, and we lost no
time in getting to work The coffin
was tilted up on end, the body lifted
forward SO tina 1t could be got at, and
the wraps were soon removed. i knew
that the mummy was a live man, but
never had i looked upon h a of a
subject showing death n the passage
of time more plainly The face would
deceived the wisest professor in
Europe. There were the sunken eyes
and cheeks, the loss of teeth and the
seal brown color, and / found myself
wondering IL some mistake hadn't been
made. The official and his friend quiet
ly chuckled as the business proceeded,
and my assistant villain was the only
one who was perfectly placid. He
did not hurry his work. He was a
full half hour getting down to the last
wrapping. which was a sort of union
garment made for the occasion hen
he stepped ack with a flourish, picked
up n stick and. striking three blows
on the coffin, he called out:
at Is time, Sonadi Hassassan; 1t Is
time!"
The chest of the mummy began to
heave n its eyes to fiutter. Then
came a long breath and its eyes unclos-
The soldiers bolted from the ware
house in alright. and the three men re-
several PAGES In CONSERVATION
Very slowly and without a false mo-
ton he mummy gasped and stretched
and looked about A hand went up to
rub sleep from Its eyes Then It moved
u~neasily and presently stepped from
the coffin, Strengthened up and passed
out of the door into the night with
and dignifed steps
"Well?' / queried as 1 turned to the
trio.
They stood staring with open mouths,
and I had TO put hands on them before
they came back to earth.
Did / not tell you so? Did 1 not say
after n sleep of 1000 years the
great magician would return to lifeF"
They did not answer. but with pale
and chattering teeth they totter-
out into the darkness with a mighty
upon them. i had the agency for
two years longer. and there was a con-
boom In the mummy market.
but after that incident there was never
an official inspection of my stock. The
officials could not ave been hired for
money to poke about In the dark cor
ners-