lay glittering in a heap
before us. There it lay, and there, too, lay the regalia of gold, the
spiced and sickly-scented wrappings, and the torn body of white-haired
Pharaoh Menkau-ra, the Osirian, the ever living in Amenti.

We rose, and a great awe fell upon us, now that the deed was done and
our hearts were no more upborne by the rage of search--so great an awe,
indeed, that we could not speak. I made a sign to Cleopatra. She grasped
the head of Pharaoh and I grasped his feet, and together we lifted him,
climbed the Sphinx, and placed him once more within his coffin. I piled
the torn mummy cloths over him and on them laid the lid of the coffin.

And now we gathered up the great gems, and such of the ornaments as
might be carried with ease, and I hid them as many as I could, in the
folds of my robe. Those that were left Cleopatra hid upon her breast.
Heavily laden with the priceless treasure, we gave one last look at
the solemn place, at the sarcophagus and the Sphinx on which it rested,
whose gleaming face of calm seemed to mock us with its everlasting smile
of wisdom. Then we turned and went from the tomb.

At the shaft we halted. I called to the eunuch, who stayed above, and
methought a faint mocking laugh answered me. Too smitten with terror to
call again, and fearing that, should we delay, Cleopatra would certainly
swoon, I seized the rope, and being strong and quick mounted by it and
gained the passage. There burnt the lamp: but the eunuch I saw not.
Thinking, surely, that he was a little way down the passage, and
slept--as, in truth, he did--I bade Cleopatra make the rope fast about
her middle, and with much labour, drew her up. Then, having rested
awhile, we moved with the lamps to seek for the eunuch.

"He was stricken with terror and has fled, leaving the lamp," said
Cleopatra. "O ye Gods! who is _that_ seated there?"

I peered into the darkness, thrusting out the lamps, and this was what
their light fell on--this at the very dream of which my soul sickens!
There, facing us, his back resting against the rock, and his hands
splayed on either side upon the floor, sat the eunuch--_dead!_ His eyes
and mouth were open, his fat cheeks dropped down, his thin hair yet
seemed to bristle, and on his countenance was frozen such a stamp of
hideous terror as well might turn the beholder's brain. And lo! fixed
to his chin, by its hinder claws, hung that grey and mighty bat, which,
flying forth when we entered the pyra