Hejet and the Desher--the White and the Red crowns of Upper and
Lower Egypt--on the Stele of a queen; for it was a rule, without
exception in the records, that in ancient Egypt either crown was worn
only by a king; though they are to be found on goddesses. Later on we
found an explanation, of which I shall say more presently.

"Such an inscription was in itself a matter so startling as to arrest
attention from anyone anywhere at any time; but you can have no
conception of the effect which it had upon us. Though our eyes were
not the first which had seen it, they were the first which could see it
with understanding since first the slab of rock was fixed in the cliff
opening nearly five thousand years before. To us was given to read
this message from the dead. This message of one who had warred against
the Gods of Old, and claimed to have controlled them at a time when the
hierarchy professed to be the only means of exciting their fears or
gaining their good will.

"The walls of the upper chamber of the Pit and the sarcophagus Chamber
were profusely inscribed; all the inscriptions, except that on the
Stele, being coloured with bluish-green pigment. The effect when seen
sideways as the eye caught the green facets, was that of an old,
discoloured Indian turquoise.

"We descended the Pit by the aid of the tackle we had brought with us.
Trelawny went first. It was a deep pit, more than seventy feet; but it
had never been filled up. The passage at the bottom sloped up to the
sarcophagus Chamber, and was longer than is usually found. It had not
been walled up.

"Within, we found a great sarcophagus of yellow stone. But that I need
not describe; you have seen it in Mr. Trelawny's chamber. The cover of
it lay on the ground; it had not been cemented, and was just as Van
Huyn had described it. Needless to say, we were excited as we looked
within. There must, however, be one sense of disappointment. I could
not help feeling how different must have been the sight which met the
Dutch traveller's eyes when he looked within and found that white hand
lying lifelike above the shrouding mummy cloths. It is true that a
part of the arm was there, white and ivory like.

"But there was a thrill to us which came not to Van Huyn!

"The end of the wrist was covered with dried blood! It was as though
the body had bled after death! The jagged ends of the broken wrist
were rough with the clotted blood; through this the white bone