“See,” I whispered, pointing to a writing, daubed with pigment upon the wall in the sacred symbols of ancient times.

“Read it, Harmachis,” answered Cleopatra, in the same low voice; “for I cannot.”

Then I read:  “I, Rameses Mi-amen, in my day and in my hour of need, visited this sepulchre.  But, though great my need and bold my heart, I dared not face the curse of Menkau-ra.  Judge, O thou who shalt come after me, and, if thy soul is pure and Khem be utterly distressed, take thou that which I have left.”

“Where, then, is the treasure?” she whispered.  “Is that Sphinx-face of gold?”

“Even there,” I answered, pointing to the sarcophagus.  “Draw near and see.”

And she took my hand and drew near.

The cover was off, but the painted coffin of the Pharaoh lay in the depths of the sarcophagus.  We climbed the Sphinx, then I blew the dust from the coffin with my breath and read that which was written on its lid.  And this was written: 

“Pharaoh Menkau-ra, the Child of Heaven.

“Pharaoh Menkau-ra, Royal Son of the Sun.

“Pharaoh Menkau-ra, who didst lie beneath the heart of Nout.

“Nout, thy Mother, wraps thee in the spell of Her holy name.

“The name of thy Mother, Nout, is the mystery of Heaven.

“Nout, thy Mother, gathers thee to the number of the Gods.

“Nout, thy Mother, breathes on thy foes and utterly destroys them.

“O Pharaoh Menkau-ra, who livest for ever!”

“Where, then, is the treasure?” she asked again.  “Here, indeed, is the body of the Divine Menkau-ra; but the flesh even of Pharaohs is not gold, and if the face of this Sphinx be gold how may we move it?”

For answer I bade her stand upon the Sphinx and grasp the upper part of the coffin while I grasped its foot.  Then, at my word, we lifted, and the lid of the case, which was not fixed, came away, and we set it upon the floor.  And there in the case was the mummy of Pharaoh, as it had been laid three thousand years before.  It was a large mummy, and somewhat ungainly.  Nor was it adorned with a gilded mask, as is the fashion of our day, for the head was wrapped in clothes yellow with age, which were made fast with pink flaxen bandages, under which were pushed the stems of lotus-blooms.  And on the breast, wreathed round with lotus-flowers, lay a large plate of gold closely written over with sacred writing.  I lifted up the plate, and, holding it to the light, I read: 

“I, Menkau-ra, the Osirian, aforetime Pharaoh of the Land of Khem, who in my day did live justly and ever walked in the path marked for my feet by the decree of the Invisible, who was the beginning and is the end, speak from my tomb to those who after me shall for an hour sit upon my Throne.  Behold, I, Menkau-ra, the Osirian, having in the days of my life been warned of a dream that a time will come when Khem shall fear to fall into the hands of strangers,