"Perhaps, if you are interested in such matters, you would like to read it. It is a curious piece of literature of apparently the Pharaonic dynasty of the Ptolemies--or 323-30 B.C., which ended with Cleopatra."
I took the folios of modern paper in my hand and from them read as follows, written in the Professor"s own crabbed writing:--
"...For of a Verity death, sickness, and sorrow, who knoweth which, may fall upon thee. Therefore, beware of the wrath of Ra, beware lest this cylinder of bronze be opened and its secret be revealed to men, for therein lieth the Thing that shall not speak until the Day of Awakening.
"For:
"He that seeketh knowledge of that which is hidden is accursed of Amon with the ten plagues and doeth so at his own risk, and must meet his fate being cursed of the wolf-G.o.d Osiris, ruler of the underworld.
Truly, cutting off the head of, or the forsaking life is better than the satisfaction of curiosity of what is therein contained.
"Touch not the cylinder with thine hand, for if...
"Let it remain here in the tomb of the Great Merenptah, King of Kings, Lord... wherein it has been placed to slumber until released by Osiris, to whom all kings and princes bow the knee and to whom...
"Observe, He is all-glorious, on whose pleasure fortune waiteth, in whose valour victory, and in whose anger death.
"Since:
"...a gem be tied at the feet and a piece of gla.s.s be worn upon the head, yet still gla.s.s is gla.s.s, and gems are gems.
"It is said:
"Wisdom is of more consequence than strength. The want of it is a state of misery. And as in the night darkness is kept at a distance by the lord of shades (the moon) thus love by seeing and being seen delights the young. The woman...
"Again:
"Women are never to be rendered faithful and obedient; no, not by gifts, nor by honours, nor by sincerity, nor by services, nor by severity, nor by precept!... What women eat is twofold; their cunning fourfold; their perseverance sixfold; their pa.s.sions eightfold; and their patience tenfold. Wherefore the understanding which upon unexpected occurrences remaineth unaffected, may pa.s.s through the greatest difficulties. He who hath sense and worshippeth the Sun-G.o.d hath strength. Where hath he strength who wanteth judgment? Where hath...
"To the unkind the ruin of the worthy bringeth delight, and...
"It is not proper to be alarmed at a mere sound when the cause of that sound is unknown.
"For:
"Upon the great river the city of Thebes there was in the days of Sekhomab a city where... called Aa-tenen, the inhabitants of which used to believe that a certain giant crocodile, whom they called Nefer-biu, infested the waters. The fact was this: a thief, as he was swimming away with a bell he had stolen, was overcome and devoured by a crocodile, and the bell, falling from his hand, was washed upon the river-bank there and picked up by some apes, who every now and then used to ring it in the trees by the river... The people of the town, finding a man had been killed there, and hearing continually the noise of the bell, used to declare that the giant Nefer-biu, being enraged, was devouring a man and ringing a bell, so that the city was abandoned by all the princ.i.p.al inhabitants.
"And so...
"At length, guided by the G.o.d Horus... of Stars of Sopdu, a certain poor woman, having considered the subject, discovered that the bell was rung by the apes. She accordingly went unto King Sekhomab, loved of Ra, favourite of Mentu, and before the priests of Amon, and said: `If, O King. Lord of both Lands, I may expect a very great reward, I will engage to silence this Nefer-biu." The King was exceedingly well pleased, and gave her some silver. So having described some circles and exhibited the worship of strange G.o.ds in a conspicuous manner, she secretly provided such fruits as she conceived the apes were fond of and went unto the river; where, strewing them about, they presently quitted the bell and attached themselves to the fruit. The poor woman, in the meantime, took away the bell and carried it into Sekhomab, who honoured her and gave her great reward. And in the city of Aa-tenen she became an object of adoration to its inhabitants, and her cartouche was inscribed upon the Temple of Amon-Ra... and of the Sun-G.o.d...
"Wherefore I say that it is not proper to be alarmed at a mere sound when the cause of that sound is unknown.
"And wherefore, I repeat that, for fear of great disaster to thyself, let not thine hand touch this brazen cylinder which containeth the Thing which shall remain imprisoned therein in the realms of Tuat (the underworld) until released by Osiris on the Day of Awakening... this 25th of the month Tybi.
"Be ye therefore warned, for by disobedience a.s.suredly the anger of the Sun-G.o.d and of Osiris the Eternal will fall heavily upon thee. And Harnekht shall smite them.
"May disaster happen but in the house of thine enemies. May traitors, day by day, be led by Time to their destruction, and may they remain for ever in Amentet, the place of gloom..."
"Curious," I said, looking up to the Professor"s grave bearded face as he peered over to me through his gla.s.ses.
"Yes. The fable is very interesting. I have not yet decided the actual date of the papyri. But it is certainly much later than King Merenptah," he said. "We have many cartouches of his time here in the Museum, and there are many others about Europe, as St Petersburg and Darmstadt. But in certain ways the hieroglyphics are different. Hence I am of opinion that the bronze cylinder referred to--if it has been found and still exists--was placed with these papyri in the tomb at a much later date."
"You have no knowledge of the person who brought this to you?" I asked.
"Only that his name was Arnold--I see that I made a note at the time-- and that he was staying at the Savoy Hotel."
"Strange that he did not return to claim his find."
"Very. My own idea is that he may have been called abroad suddenly, and will return one day. He seemed extremely intelligent."
"And the cylinder. What do you think it could have contained--what is the Thing to which the papyri refers!"
The old professor shrugged his shoulders.
"How can we tell if the cylinder is non-existent? Probably it was rifled from the royal tomb a thousand years ago and broken open by sacrilegious persons who were unable to decipher these writings, and who cared nothing for the curse of the ten plagues placed upon them," he laughed.
Then Mr Arnold had evidently not revealed to the Professor the existence of the cylinder. Why? Because he had already again hidden it in fear.
"We have many records of objects concealed, but most of the things referred to in the papyri have disappeared ages ago," added the great Egyptologist, who, taking me along the gallery, showed me the mummy of the great Pharaoh Merenptah himself, in whose tomb the fragments of papyri were found.
The Professor was extremely kind, and lent me his decipher to copy them.
After finding that I could obtain nothing further concerning the man Arnold, and that he was not known as an Egyptologist, I thanked him and left without telling him of the existence of the cylinder.
That same night, I returned to Upton End with intention to show Guy Nicholson the curious record when he visited me on Sunday.
Next morning--which was Sat.u.r.day--I opened my newspaper, which, as usual, I found on the library table after breakfast, when my eyes fell upon a heading which caused my heart to stand still.
The printed words danced before my bewildered eyes. For a second I stood like a mail in a dream. I held my breath and eagerly read the half a dozen lines of brief announcement--a report which caused me to clap my hand to my fevered brow, and to involuntarily e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.e the words--
"My G.o.d! It can"t be true--_it can"t be true_!"
CHAPTER ELEVEN.
A SENSATION IN THE COUNTY.
The paragraph I read was truly a startling one, brief, but amazing.
Apparently few details had arrived in London, for it read thus--
"Mr Guy Nicholson, son of the late Mr Nathaniel Nicholson, the well-known ironmaster of Sheffield, and for twenty-five years Member for South Cheshire, was yesterday morning found dead under somewhat remarkable circ.u.mstances. It appears that he entertained some guests at dinner at his house, t.i.tmarsh Court, near Corby, Northamptonshire, and the last of his friends to depart left about midnight. About two o"clock in the morning a friend who was staying in the house, and whose room was directly over the library, was awakened by a man"s piercing shrieks, as though of horror. He listened, and heard a loud thumping sound below. Then all was quiet. It being the first time he had been a guest there, he did not alarm the household, but after lying awake for over an hour dropped off to sleep again. In the morning, however, the maid who went to clean the library found the door locked on the outside, as usual, but, on entering, was horrified to discover her master lying upon the carpet, he had been dead some hours. Considerable mystery attaches to the affair, which has created a great sensation in the neighbourhood, where the young man was well-known and highly popular."
What could actually have happened!
I read and re-read that paragraph. Then I rang up Stokes, my chauffeur, on the telephone, and we were soon tearing along the Northampton Road.
Within a couple of hours we turned into the big lodge-gates of t.i.tmarsh Court, which I found was a fine old place, upon which huge sums must have been spent by Guy"s father in the way of improvements. It was a splendid specimen of the old, moated manor-house, situated in well-timbered grounds and approached by a long shady avenue of chestnuts, which met overhead.
A young man-servant opened the door, and was inclined to be uncommunicative, until suddenly I caught sight of Shaw"s grey car standing against the garage, and inquired for him.