Cleopatra
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CHAPTER XI
OF THE TOMB OF THE DIVINE MENKAU-RA; OF THE WRITING ON THE BREAST OFMENKAU-RA; OF THE DRAWING FORTH OF THE TREASURE; OF THE DWELLER IN THETOMB; AND OF THE FLIGHT OF CLEOPATRA AND HARMACHIS FROM THE HOLY PLACE
We stood within a small arched chamber, paved and lined with greatblocks of the granite stone of Syene. There before us--hewn from asingle mass of basalt shaped like a wooden house and resting on a sphinxwith a face of gold--was the sarcophagus of the Divine Menkau-ra.
We stood and gazed in awe, for the weight of the silence and thesolemnity of that holy place seemed to crush us. Above us, cubit overcubit in its mighty measure, the pyramid towered up to heaven and waskissed of the night air. But we were deep in the bowels of the rockbeneath its base. We were alone with the dead, whose rest we were aboutto break; and no sound of the murmuring air, and no sight of life cameto dull the awful edge of solitude. I gazed on the sarcophagus; itsheavy lid had been lifted and rested at its side, and around it the dustof ages had gathered thick.
"See," I whispered, pointing to a writing, daubed with pigment upon thewall in the sacred symbols of ancient times.
"Read it, Harmachis," answered Cleopatra, in the same low voice; "for Icannot."
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 comeafter me, and, if thy soul is pure and Khem be utterly distressed, takethou that which I have left."
"Where, then, is the treasure?" she whispered. "Is that Sphinx-face ofgold?"
"Even there," I answered, pointing to the sarcophagus. "Draw near andsee."
And she took my hand and drew near.
The cover was off, but the painted coffin of the Pharaoh lay in thedepths of the sarcophagus. We climbed the Sphinx, then I blew the dustfrom the coffin with my breath and read that which was written on itslid. 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 thebody of the Divine Menkau-ra; but the flesh even of Pharaohs is notgold, 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 ofthe coffin while I grasped its foot. Then, at my word, we lifted, andthe lid of the case, which was not fixed, came away, and we set it uponthe floor. And there in the case was the mummy of Pharaoh, as ithad been laid three thousand years before. It was a large mummy, andsomewhat ungainly. Nor was it adorned with a gilded mask, as is thefashion of our day, for the head was wrapped in clothes yellow with age,which were made fast with pink flaxen bandages, under which were pushedthe stems of lotus-blooms. And on the breast, wreathed round withlotus-flowers, lay a large plate of gold closely written over withsacred writing. I lifted up the plate, and, holding it to the light, Iread:
"I, Menkau-ra, the Osirian, aforetime Pharaoh of the Land of Khem, whoin my day did live justly and ever walked in the path marked for my feetby 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 myThrone. Behold, I, Menkau-ra, the Osirian, having in the days of my lifebeen warned of a dream that a time will come when Khem shall fear tofall into the hands of strangers, and her monarch shall have great needof treasure wherewith to furnish armies to drive the barbarian back,have out of my wisdom done this thing. For it having pleased theprotecting Gods to give me wealth beyond any Pharaoh who has been sincethe days of Horus--thousands of cattle and geese, thousands of calvesand asses, thousands of measures of corn, and hundreds of measures ofgold and gems; this wealth I have used sparingly, and that whichremains I have bartered for precious stones--even for emeralds, the mostbeautiful and largest that are in the world. These stones, then, I havestored up against that day of the need of Khem. But because as therehave been, so there shall be, those who do wickedly on the earth, andwho, in the lust of gain, might seize this wealth that I have stored,and put it to their uses; behold, thou Unborn One, who in the fulnessof time shalt stand above me and read this that I have caused tobe written, I have stored the treasure thus--even among my bones.Therefore, O thou Unborn One, sleeping in the womb of Nout, I say thisto thee! If thou indeed hast need of riches to save Khem from the foesof Khem, fear not and delay not, but tear me, the Osirian, from my tomb,loose my wrappings and rip the treasure from my breast, and all shallbe well with thee; for this only I do command, that thou dost replace mybones within my hollow coffin. But if the need be passing and not great,or if there be guile in thy heart, then the curse of Menkau-ra be onthee! On thee be the curse that shall smite him who breaks in upon thedead! On thee be the curse that follows the traitor! On thee be thecurse that smites him who outrages the Majesty of the Gods! Unhappyshalt thou live, in blood and misery shalt thou die, and in miseryshalt thou be tormented for ever and for ever! For, Wicked One, there inAmenti we shall come face to face!
"And to the end of the keeping of this secret, I, Menkau-ra, have set upa Temple of my Worship, which I have built upon the eastern side ofthis my House of Death. It shall be made known from time to time to theHereditary High Priest of this my Temple. And if any High Priest thatshall be do reveal this secret to another than the Pharaoh, or Herwho wears the Pharaoh's crown and is seated upon the throne of Khem,accursed be he also. Thus have I, Menkau-ra, the Osirian, written. Nowto thee, who, sleeping in the womb of Nout, yet shall upon a time standover me and read, I say, judge thou! and if thou judgest evilly, on theeshall fall this the curse of Menkau-ra from which there is no escape.Greeting and farewell."
"Thou hast heard, O Cleopatra," I said solemnly; "now search thy heart;judge thou, and for thine own sake judge justly."
She bent her head in thought.
"I fear to do this thing," she said presently. "Let us hence."
"It is well," I said, with a lightening of the heart, and bent down tolift the wooden lid. For I, too, feared.
"And yet, what said the writing of the Divine Menkau-ra?--it wasemeralds, was it not? And emeralds are now so rare and hard to come by.Ever did I love emeralds, and I can never find them without a flaw."
"It is not a matter of what thou dost love, Cleopatra," I said; "it is amatter of the need of Khem and of the secret meaning of thy heart, whichthou alone canst know."
"Ay, surely, Harmachis; surely! And is not the need of Egypt great?There is no gold in the treasury, and how can I defy the Roman if I haveno gold? And have I not sworn to thee that I will wed thee and defy theRoman; and do I not swear it again--yes, even in this solemn hour, withmy hand upon dead Pharaoh's heart? Why, here is that occasion of whichthe Divine Menkau-ra dreamed. Thou seest it is so, for else Hat-shepsuor Rameses or some other Pharaoh had drawn forth the gems. But no; theyleft them to come to this hour because the time was not yet come. Now itmust be come, for if I take not the gems the Roman will surely seize onEgypt, and then there will be no Pharaoh to whom the secret may betold. Nay, let us away with fears and to the work. Why dost look sofrightened? Having pure hearts, there is naught to fear, Harmachis."
"Even as thou wilt," I said again; "it is for thee to judge, since ifthou judgest falsely on thee will surely fall the curse from which thereis no escape."
"So, Harmachis, take Pharaoh's head and I will take his----Oh, what anawful place is this!" and suddenly she clung to me. "Methought I sawa shadow yonder in the darkness! Methought that it moved toward us andthen straightway vanished! Let us be going! Didst thou see naught?"
She made as though to start, then turned back again and spoke once more.
"It was naught--naught but the mind that, in such a house of Horror,bodies forth those shadowy forms of fear it dreads to see. Nay, I mustlook upon these emeralds; indeed, if I die, I must look! Come--to thework!" and stooping, she with her own hands lifted from the tomb oneof the four alabaster jars, each sealed with the graven likeness of theheads of the protecting Gods, that held the holy heart and entrails ofthe Divine Menkau-ra. But nothing was found in these jars, save onlywhat should be there.
Then together we mounted on the Sphinx, and with toil drew forth thebody of the Divine Pharaoh, laying it on the ground. Now Cleopatra tookmy dagger, and with it cut loose the bandages which held the wrappingsin their place, and the lotus-flowers that had been set in them byloving hands, three thousand years before, fell down upon the pavement.Then we searched and found the end of the outer bandage, which was fixedin at the hinder part of the neck. This we cut loose, for it was gluedfast. This done, we began to unroll the wrappings of the holy corpse.Setting my shoulders against the sarcophagus, I sat upon the rockyfloor, the body resting on my knees, and, as I turned it, Cleopatraunwound the cloths; and awesome was the task. Presently something fellout; it was the sceptre of the Pharaoh, fashioned of gold, and at itsend was a pomegranate cut from a single emerald.
Cleopatra seized the sceptre and gazed on it in silence. Then oncemore we went on with our dread business. And ever as we unwound, otherornaments of gold, such as are buried with Pharaohs, fell from thewrappings--collars and bracelets, models of sistra, an inlaid axe, andan image of the holy Osiris and of the holy Khem. At length all thebandages were unwound, and beneath we found a covering of coarsestlinen; for in those very ancient days the craftsmen were not so skilledin matters pertaining to the embalming of the body as they are now. Andon the linen was written in an oval, "Menkau-ra, Royal Son of the Sun."We could in no wise loosen this linen, it held so firm on to the body.Therefore, faint with the great heat, choked with mummy dust and theodour of spices, and trembling with fear of our unholy task, wroughtin that most lonesome and holy place, we laid the body down, and rippedaway the last covering with the knife. First we cleared Pharaoh's head,and now the face that no man had gazed on for three thousand years wasopen to our view. It was a great face, with a bold brow, yet crownedwith the royal uraeus, beneath which the white locks, stained yellow bythe spices, fell in long, straight wisps. Not the cold stamp of death,and not the slow flight of three thousand years, had found power to marthe dignity of those shrunken features. We gazed on them, and then, madebold with fear, stripped the covering from the body. There at last itlay before us, stiff, yellow, and dread to see; and on the left side,above the thigh, was the cut through which the embalmers had done theirwork, but it was sewn up so deftly that we could scarcely find the mark.
"The gems are within," I whispered, for I felt that the body was veryheavy. "Now, if thy heart fail thee not, thou must make an entry tothis poor house of clay that once was Pharaoh," and I gave her thedagger--the same dagger which had drunk the life of Paulus.
"It is too late to doubt," she answered, lifting her white beauteousface and fixing her blue eyes all big with terror upon my own. She tookthe dagger, and with set teeth the Queen of this day plunged it into thedead breast of the Pharaoh of three thousand years ago. And even as shedid so there came a groaning sound from the opening to the shaft wherewe had left the eunuch! We leapt to our feet, but heard no more, and thelamp-light still streamed down through the opening.
"It is nothing," I said. "Let us make an end."
Then with much toil we hacked and rent the hard flesh open, and as wedid so I heard the knife point grate upon the gems within.
Cleopatra plunged her hand into the dead breast and drew forth somewhat.She held it to the light, and gave a little cry, for from the darknessof Pharaoh's heart there flashed into light and life the most beauteousemerald that ever man beheld. It was perfect in colour, very large,without a flaw, and fashioned to a scarabaeus form, and on the under sidewas an oval, inscribed with the divine name of Menkau-ra, Son of theSun.
Again, again, and yet again, she plunged in her hand and drew emeraldsfrom Pharaoh's breast bedded there in spices. Some were fashioned andsome were not; but all were perfect in colour without a flaw, and invalue priceless. Again and again she plunged her white hand into thatdread breast, till at length all were found, and there were one hundredand forty and eight of such gems as are not known in the world. The lasttime that she searched she brought forth not emeralds, indeed, but twogreat pearls, wrapped in linen, such as never have been seen. And ofthese pearls more hereafter.
So it was done, and all the mighty treasure lay glittering in a heapbefore us. There it lay, and there, too, lay the regalia of gold, thespiced and sickly-scented wrappings, and the torn body of white-hairedPharaoh Menkau-ra, the Osirian, the ever living in Amenti.
We rose, and a great awe fell upon us, now that the deed was done andour 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 graspedthe 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 piledthe 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 asmight be carried with ease, and I hid them as many as I could, in thefolds of my robe. Those that were left Cleopatra hid upon her breast.Heavily laden with the priceless treasure, we gave one last look atthe solemn place, at the sarcophagus and the Sphinx on which it rested,whose gleaming face of calm seemed to mock us with its everlasting smileof wisdom. Then we turned and went from the tomb.
At the shaft we halted. I called to the eunuch, who stayed above, andmethought a faint mocking laugh answered me. Too smitten with terror tocall again, and fearing that, should we delay, Cleopatra would certainlyswoon, I seized the rope, and being strong and quick mounted by it andgained the passage. There burnt the lamp: but the eunuch I saw not.Thinking, surely, that he was a little way down the passage, andslept--as, in truth, he did--I bade Cleopatra make the rope fast abouther middle, and with much labour, drew her up. Then, having restedawhile, we moved with the lamps to seek for the eunuch.
"He was stricken with terror and has fled, leaving the lamp," saidCleopatra. "O ye Gods! who is _that_ seated there?"
I peered into the darkness, thrusting out the lamps, and this was whattheir light fell on--this at the very dream of which my soul sickens!There, facing us, his back resting against the rock, and his handssplayed on either side upon the floor, sat the eunuch--_dead!_ His eyesand mouth were open, his fat cheeks dropped down, his thin hair yetseemed to bristle, and on his countenance was frozen such a stamp ofhideous terror as well might turn the beholder's brain. And lo! fixedto his chin, by its hinder claws, hung that grey and mighty bat, which,flying forth when we entered the pyramid, vanished in the sky, but,returning, had followed us to its depths. There it hung upon the deadman's chin slowly rocking itself to and fro, and we could see the fieryeyes shining in its head.
Aghast, utterly aghast, we stood and stared at the hateful sight; tillpresently the bat spread his huge wings and, losing his hold, sailed tous. Now he hovered before Cleopatra's face, fanning her with his whitewings. Then with a scream, like a woman's shriek of fury, the accursedThing flittered on, seeking his violated tomb, and vanished down thewell into the sepulchre. I fell against the wall. But Cleopatra sankin a heap upon the floor, and, covering her head with her arms, sheshrieked till the hollow passages rang with the echoes of her cries,that seemed to grow and double and rush along the depths in volumes ofshrill sound.
"Rise!" I cried, "rise and let us hence before the Spirit shall returnto haunt us! If thou dost suffer thysel
f to be overwhelmed in this placethou art lost for ever."
She staggered to her feet, and never may I forget the look upon her ashyface or in her glowing eyes. Seizing lamps with a rush, we passed thedead eunuch's horrid form, I holding her by the hand. We gained thegreat chamber, where was the sarcophagus of the Queen of Menkau-ra, andtraversed its length. We fled along the passage. What if the Thing hadclosed the three mighty doors? No; they were open, and we sped throughthem; the last only did I stay to close. I touched the stone, as I knewhow, and the great door crashed down, shutting us off from the presenceof the dead eunuch and the Horror that had hung upon the eunuch's chin.Now we were in the white chamber with the sculptured panels, and nowwe faced the last steep ascent. Oh that last ascent! Twice Cleopatraslipped and fell upon the polished floor. The second time--it was whenhalf the distance had been done--she let fall her lamp, and would,indeed, have rolled down the slide had I not saved her. But in doingthus I, too, let fall my lamp that bounded away into shadow beneath us,and we were in utter darkness. And perchance about us, in the darkness,hovered that awful Thing!
"Be brave!" I cried; "O love, be brave, and struggle on, or both arelost! The way, though steep, is not far; and, though it be dark, we canscarce come to harm in this straight shaft. If the gems weight thee,cast them away!"
"Nay," she gasped, "that I will not; this shall not be endured to noend. I die with them!"
Then it was that I saw the greatness of this woman's heart; for in thedark, and notwithstanding the terrors we had passed and the awfulness ofour state, she clung to me and clambered on up that dread passage. On weclambered, hand in hand, with bursting hearts, till there, by the mercyor the anger of the Gods, at length we saw the faint light of the moon,creeping through the little opening in the pyramid. One struggle more,now the hole was gained, and like a breath from heaven, the sweet nightair played upon our brows. I climbed through, and, standing on a pileof stones, lifted and dragged Cleopatra after me. She fell to the groundand then sank down upon it motionless.
I pressed upon the turning stone with trembling hands. It swung to andcaught, leaving no mark of the secret place of entry. Then I leapt downand, having pushed away the pile of stones, looked on Cleopatra. She hadswooned, and notwithstanding the dust and grime upon her face, it was sopale that at first I believed she must be dead. But placing my hand uponher heart I felt it stir beneath; and, being spent, I flung myself downbeside her upon the sand, to gather up my strength again.