For the third time the Egyptian turned pale. "Are you certain," he said,
"that this man is still among the living?"

"I spoke to him myself yesterday. He was formerly, you know, high-priest
at Heliopolis, and was initiated into all your mysteries there. My wise
countryman, Pythagoras of Samos, came to Egypt, and after submitting to
some of your ceremonies, was allowed to attend the lessons given in the
schools for priests. His remarkable talents won the love of the great
Onuphis and he taught him all the Egyptian mysteries, which Pythagoras
afterwards turned to account for the benefit of mankind. My delightful
friend Rhodopis and I are proud of having been his pupils. When the rest
of your caste heard that Onuphis had betrayed the sacred mysteries, the
ecclesiastical judges determined on his death. This was to be caused by a
poison extracted from peach-kernels. The condemned man, however, heard of
their machinations, and fled to Naukratis, where he found a safe asylum
in the house of Rhodopis, whom he had heard highly praised by Pythagoras,
and whose dwelling was rendered inviolable by the king's letter. Here he
met Antimenidas the brother of the poet Alcarus of Lesbos, who, having
been banished by Pittakus, the wise ruler of Mitylene, had gone to
Babylon, and there taken service in the army of Nebuchadnezzar, the King
of Assyria. Antimenidas gave him letters to the Chaldians. Onuphis
travelled to the Euphrates, settled there, and was obliged to seek for
some means of earning his daily bread, as he had left Egypt a poor man.
He is now supporting himself in his old age, by the assistance which his
superior knowledge enables him to render the Chaldoeans in their
astronomical observations from the tower of Bel. Onuphis is nearly
eighty, but his mind is as clear as ever, and when I saw him yesterday
and asked him to help me, his eyes brightened as he promised to do so.
Your father was one of his judges, but he bears you no malice and sends
you a greeting."

Nebenchari's eyes were fixed thoughtfully on the ground during this tale.
When Phanes had finished, he gave him a penetrating look and said: "Where
are my papers?"

They are in Onuphis' hands. He is looking among them for the document I
want."

"I expected to hear that. Be so good as to tell me what the box is like,
which Hib thought proper to bring over to Persia?"

"It is a small ebony trunk, with an exquisitely-carved lid. In the centre
is a winged beetle, and