again that
he put out the torch a second time, and trembling, his teeth
chattering, he pushed up to one of the columns.

"How was it possible how could I decide to come in here?" thought
Samentu. "Had I not food to eat, a place on which to lay my head? It is
a simple thing, I am discovered! The labyrinth has a multitude of
overseers as watchful as dogs, and only a child, or an idiot, would
think of deceiving them. Property power! Where is the treasure for
which it would be worth while for a man to give one day of his life?
And here, I, a man in the bloom of existence, have exposed myself."

It seemed to him that he heard heavy knocking. He sprang up and in the
depth of the chamber he saw a gleam of light.

Yes! a real gleam of light, not an illusion. At a distant wall,
somewhere at the end, stood an open door through which at that moment
armed men were coming in carefully with torches.

At sight of this the priest felt a chill in his feet, in his heart, in
his head. He doubted no longer that he was not merely discovered, but
hunted and surrounded.

Who could have betrayed him? Of course only one man: the young priest
of Set, whom he had acquainted minutely enough with his purposes. The
traitor, if alone, would have had to look almost a month for the way to
the treasure, but if he had agreed with the overseers they might in one
day track out Samentu.

At that moment the high priest felt the impressions known only to men
who are looking at death face to face. He ceased to fear since his
imagined alarms had now vanished before real torches. Not only did he
regain self-command, but he felt immensely above everything living. In
a short time he would be threatened no longer by danger of any sort.

The thoughts flew through his head with lightning clearness and speed.
He took in the whole of his existence: his toils, his perils, his
hopes, his ambitions, and all of those seemed to him a trifle. For what
would it serve him to be at that moment the pharaoh, or to own every
treasure in all kingdoms? They were vanity, dust, and even worse an
illusion. Death alone was all-mighty and genuine.

Meanwhile the torch-bearers were examining columns most carefully, and
also every corner; they had passed through half the immense hall.
Samentu saw even the points of their lances, and noted that the men
hesitated and advanced with alarm and repulsion. A few steps behind
them was another group of persons to whom one torch gave light.