e is known to the ordinary
student, this queen is also known to certain inquirers as the
Witch-Queen. She was not an Egyptian, but an Asiatic. In short, she
was the last high priestess of a cult which became extinct at her
death. Her secret mark--I am not referring to a cartouche or anything
of that kind--was a spider; it was the mark of the religion or cult
which she practised. The high priest of the principal Temple of Ra,
during the reign of the Pharaoh who was this queen's husband, was one
Hortotef. This was his official position, but secretly he was also the
high-priest of the sinister creed to which I have referred. The temple
of this religion--a religion allied to Black Magic--was the Pyramid of
Meydum.

"So much we knew--or Ferrara knew, and imparted to me--but for any
corroborative evidence of this cult's existence we searched in vain.
We explored the interior of the pyramid foot by foot, inch by
inch--and found nothing. We knew that there was some other apartment
in the pyramid, but in spite of our soundings, measurements and
laborious excavations, we did not come upon the entrance to it. The
tomb of the queen we failed to discover, also, and therefore concluded
that her mummy was buried in the secret chamber of the pyramid. We had
abandoned our quest in despair, when, excavating in one of the
neighbouring mounds, we made a discovery."

He opened a box of cigars, selected one, and pushed the box towards
his son. Robert shook his head, almost impatiently, but Dr. Cairn
lighted the cigar ere resuming:

"Directed, as I now believe, by a malignant will, we blundered upon
the tomb of the high priest--"

"You found his mummy?"

"We found his mummy--yes. But owing to the carelessness--and the
fear--of the native labourers it was exposed to the sun and
crumpled--was lost. I would a similar fate had attended the other one
which we found!"

"What, another mummy?"

"We discovered"--Dr. Cairn spoke very deliberately--"a certain
papyrus. The translation of this is contained"--he rested the point of
his finger upon the writing-table--"in the unpublished book of Sir
Michael Ferrara, which lies here. That book, Rob, will never be
published now! Furthermore, we discovered the mummy of a child--"

"A child."

"A boy. Not daring to trust the natives, we removed it secretly at
night to our own tent. Before we commenced the task of unwrapping it,
Sir Michael--the most brilliant scholar of his age--had proceeded so
fa