then, is the treasure?" she whispered. "Is that Sphinx-face of
gold?"

"Even there," I answered, pointing to the sarcophagus. "Draw near and
see."

And she took my hand and drew near.

The cover was off, but the painted coffin of the Pharaoh lay in the
depths of the sarcophagus. We climbed the Sphinx, then I blew the dust
from the coffin with my breath and read that which was written on its
lid. 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 the
body of the Divine Menkau-ra; but the flesh even of Pharaohs is not
gold, 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 of
the coffin while I grasped its foot. Then, at my word, we lifted, and
the lid of the case, which was not fixed, came away, and we set it upon
the floor. And there in the case was the mummy of Pharaoh, as it
had been laid three thousand years before. It was a large mummy, and
somewhat ungainly. Nor was it adorned with a gilded mask, as is the
fashion of our day, for the head was wrapped in clothes yellow with age,
which were made fast with pink flaxen bandages, under which were pushed
the stems of lotus-blooms. And on the breast, wreathed round with
lotus-flowers, lay a large plate of gold closely written over with
sacred writing. I lifted up the plate, and, holding it to the light, I
read:

"I, Menkau-ra, the Osirian, aforetime Pharaoh of the Land of Khem, who
in my day did live justly and ever walked in the path marked for my feet
by 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 my
Throne. Behold, I, Menkau-ra, the Osirian, having in the days of my life
been warned of a dream that a time will come when Khem shall fear to
fall into the hands of strangers, and her monarch shall have great need
of treasure wherewith to furnish armies to drive the barbarian back,
have out of my wisdom done this thing.