and if it
was found in the body of Rui, who is gone to Osiris, we here have a
mystery which only the Gods can solve. Follow me into the great court.
Let the gong be sounded, Gagabu, four times, for I wish to call all the
brethren together."

The gong rang in loud waves of sound to the farthest limits of the group
of buildings. The initiated, the fathers, the temple-servants, and the
scholars streamed in, and in a few minutes were all collected. Not a man
was wanting, for at the four strokes of the rarely-sounded alarum every
dweller in the House of Seti was expected to appear in the court of the
temple. Even the leech Nebsecht came; for he feared that the unusual
summons announced the outbreak of a fire.

Ameni ordered the assembly to arrange itself in a procession, informed
his astonished hearers that in the breast of the deceased prophet Rui, a
ram's heart, instead of a man's, had been found, and desired them all to
follow his instructions. Each one, he said, was to fall on his knees and
pray, while he would carry the heart into the holiest of holies, and
enquire of the Gods what this wonder might portend to the faithful.

Ameni, with the heart in his hand, placed himself at the head of the
procession, and disappeared behind the veil of the sanctuary, the
initiated prayed in the vestibule, in front of it; the priests and
scholars in the vast court, which was closed on the west by the stately
colonnade and the main gateway to the temple.

For fully an hour Ameni remained in the silent holy of holies, from which
thick clouds of incense rolled out, and then he reappeared with a golden
vase set with precious stones. His tall figure was now resplendent with
rich ornaments, and a priest, who walked before him, held the vessel high
above his head.

Ameni's eyes seemed spell-bound to the vase, and he followed it,
supporting himself by his crozier, with humble inflections.

The initiated bowed their heads till they touched the pavement, and the
priests and scholars bent their faces down to the earth, when they beheld
their haughty master so filled with humility and devotion. The
worshippers did not raise themselves till Ameni had reached the middle of
the court and ascended the steps of the altar, on which the vase with the
heart was now placed, and they listened to the slow and solemn accents of
the high-priest which sounded clearly through the whole court.

"Fall down again and worship! wonder, pray, and adore! The n