Chapter 3 Summary

Mr. Yak arrives by train in San Zwingli, Spain where he befriends a man named Stephan who explains the process of mummification as they drink at a bar. The next day, the two go to the local cemetery and exhume a recently buried woman. They place her in a thick layer of black veils and board another train for Madrid. As they travel, the two men act out a pantomime of conversing with the corpse so that people passing their compartment will not become suspicious. At one point the conductor comes to collect three tickets without noticing anything amiss. Once in Madrid, they carry the corpse past Spanish police slowly, as if helping a very old person to move. Once the corpse is safely ensconced within Mr. Yak's apartment. As previously instructed by Stephan, Mr. Yak inserts a sharp knife blade into the...