River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1905-08-24

some of the tourists said we were right
near the entrance to the great tomb of
the kings, and that we better go in and
at least make formal call on the
crowned heads, and SO we went in,
through dark passages, with little can
dies that the guides carried, and up and
down stairs, until finally we got into
big room that smelled like a morgue,
with bats and evil looking things all
around, and felt creepy.
The guides got down on their knees to
pray, and I thought it was time to be
robbed again. do not know what made
me think of making sensation right
there in the bowels of that pyramid.
where there were corpses thousands of
years old, of Egypt's rulers. | never
felt that way at home, when / visited a
cemetery, but / thought | would shoot
my last roman candle and fire my last
giant firecracker right there in that mos
eleum, and take the chances that we
would get out alive. So when the tour
lists were lined up beside tomb of some
Rameses or other, and the guides were
praying for strength and endurance,
probably, to get away with all the mon
ey we had, ! picked out place up toward
the roof that seemed full of bats and
birds of i'll omen, and | sneaked my
roman candle out from under my shirt,
and touched the fuse to candle on the
turban of guide who was on his knees,
and just as the first fire ball was ready
to come out / yelled: ''Whoop-la-much-
a wano, pluribus unum," and the fire
balls lighted up the gloom and knocked
the bats gally west.
Holy jumping cats but you ought to
have seen the guides, yelling Allah!
Allah! and groveling on the floor, and
the bats were flying around in the faces
of the tourists, and everybody was SIM
ply scared out of their boots. thought
l might as well wind the thing up glo-
rious, so touched the tail of my last
giant firecracker to the sparks that were
oozing out of my empty roman candle.
and threw it into the middle of the great
room, and when it went off you would
think cannon had exploded, and every
body rushed for the door, and we fell
over each other getting out through the
JctoSdSC COW al IAC uOO1.
was the first to get out on to the side
of the pyramid and l watched for the
crowd to come out. The tourists got out
first, and then dad came out putting and
wheeling, and the last to come out were
the Arabs, and they came on their hands
and knees, calling to Mr.. Allah and every
one of them actually pale, and / think
they were conscience-stricken for they
began to give back the money they had
robbed dad of, and an Arab must be pref
ty scared to give up any of his
hard-earned robberies. l think dad was
about the maddest man there was, until
he got some Of his money back, when he
felt better, but he gave me talking to
that will never forget.
He said: Don't you know bet
ter than to go around with explo-
sives, like train robber, and fire
them off in hole in the ground, where
there is no ventilation, and make peo-
pies ears ring? Maybe you have woke
up those kings and queens in there, and
changed dynasty, you little idiot" The
rest of the crowd wanted to throw me
down the side of the pyramid, but got
away from them and went up on top of
the pyramid and hoisted a small Ameri
can flag, and left it floating there, and
then came back to where the crowd was
discussing the explosion in the tomb.
and then we all went down the side of
the pyramid.
The guides got their nerve back after
they got out in the air, because they
wouldn't help dad down unless he paid
them something every stone they helped
him climb down, so when he got down
he didn't have any money. and hardly