“Peace, brother!  You will rouse the guard,” said the elder.  “What can have befallen you?”

The other controlled himself, and said with a groan, “Ladronius, we are ruined.  I am held fast in a trap, and I think my leg is broken.  O Horus, Lord of Life, deliver me!”

With some difficulty Ladronius crawled through the opening to aid his brother, for, though a thief, he was no coward.

“Go back, Ladronius, go back!” cried his brother.  “Leave me to my fate!  I think I hear the cries of the guard.  No, brother, waste no more time!” he entreated, as Ladronius tugged in vain at the cruel teeth of the trap.  “One thing remains to be done.  Cut off my head, and take it away with you, that I may not be recognized and so we both perish!  I hear the footsteps of men approaching.  Do not rob our mother of both her sons!”

And Ladronius, seeing that there was nothing else to be done, drew his sword, cut off his brother’s head, and escaped through the opening, not forgetting to replace the stone behind him.  He was only just in time, for scarcely had he gained the cover of a clump of trees, when the soldiers of the guard came running to the place and began to belabor the door.  To their surprise they found everything quiet and nothing displaced.  They examined the outside of the building thoroughly, and then, supposing that they had been roused by a false alarm, they returned to the palace.

In the morning, Rhampsinitus paid his daily visit to the chamber, and discovered the headless body in the trap.  He was more puzzled than ever.  He examined the fastenings of the door and the whole of the chamber over and over again, and no hole nor crevice could he find.

“Nevertheless,” said he, “I have now bait for my trap.  What can I do better than set a thief to catch a thief?”

So he ordered the body to be hung from the outer wall of the chamber, and placed sentinels to guard it, strictly charging them to bring before him any one who showed pity or sorrow for the dead.

When the mother heard of her son’s death and how the body had been treated, she reproached Ladronius bitterly for his cowardice, and implored him with many tears to bring back the body for proper burial.  For the Egyptians thought that unless a man’s body were properly embalmed and buried whole, he could have no life in the next world; so that it would be a terrible misfortune if the head and the body were buried separately.  Ladronius attempted to comfort his mother, but did not dare to carry off his brother’s body so long as the sentinels were watching.  In vain his mother wept and entreated him, until at last her grief was turned to anger, and she vowed that, if he did not obey her, she would go to the king and tell him the whole story.  Then Ladronius, seeing her so determined, promised to do as she wished, and set his wits to work to invent some means of carrying off the body without being caught by the sentinels.  At last he thought of a plan, which seemed to have some chance of success.  He hired two donkeys, and having bought some wineskins, which were used in the place of bottles, he filled them with strong wine and placed them on the donkeys’ backs.