the shoeing of a horse.

I could not have continued the exercise long. I should soon have been
tired down at it; and then the implacable crowd would have rushed in;
but it was not necessary for me to work very long--for just then, I felt
my companion pressing past me towards the entrance, which the next
moment became darkened up. Only through some chinks, could I
distinguish the blaze beyond, and only through these was the light
admitted into the chamber!

What had caused the interruption? What was it that was stopping up the
entrance? was it the body of my companion, who was thus exposing himself
to the assaults of the infuriated crowd without?

Not a bit of it. Ben Brace knew better than to sacrifice his life in
that idle way; and, on stretching forward his hand, and touching the
dark mass that was now interposed between us and the danger, I perceived
what it was. It was one of the malefactors!

Neither more nor less was it than one of the mummies, which Ben had
seized hold of, and, after doubling it up, had crammed chuck into the
entrance, which it nearly filled from bottom to top.

The barricade was not yet complete; and my companion after directing me
to hold it in place, glided back to procure another of the same. This
he soon brought forward, and after doubling it up as he had done the
first, and bundling it into the proper size and shape--regardless of the
snapping of bones and the crackling of joints--he pushed it in alongside
the other, until the two wedged each other, and completely shut up the
doorway!

Such a scene might have been comic enough--notwithstanding the sacred
character of the place--but neither my companion nor I were in any
humour for comedy. Matters were still too serious; and although the
idea of this skeleton barricade was a good one, we were not yet assured
of safety. It might only give us a temporary respite; for we feared
that our ferocious assailants would attack the mummies with their teeth,
and soon demolish the barrier that lay between us.

And this they certainly would have done, but for a contrivance which
occurred to us; and that was to leave two small apertures through which
we could still "job" them, and keep them off. Two chinks were found
between the bodies of the malefactors, and these were soon worked to the
proper size--so that the musket could be protruded through one, and the
stick through the other--and by keeping these weapons in constant play,
we were