(a very unusual thing), was the body.

"Ali looked at it with open eyes--and no wonder. For this mummy was not
as other mummies are. Mummies in general lie upon their backs, as stiff
and calm as though they were cut from wood; but this mummy lay upon its
side, and, the wrappings notwithstanding, its knees were slightly bent.
More than that, indeed, the gold mask, which, after the fashion of the
Ptolemaic period, had been set upon the face, had worked down, and was
literally pounded up beneath the hooded head.

"It was impossible, seeing these things, to avoid the conclusion that
the mummy before us had moved with violence _since it was put in the
coffin_.

"'Him very funny mummy. Him not "mafish" when him go in there,' said
Ali.

"'Nonsense!' I said. 'Who ever heard of a live mummy?'

"We lifted the body out of the coffin, nearly choking ourselves with
mummy dust in the process, and there beneath it half hidden among the
spices, we made our first find. It was a roll of papyrus, carelessly
fastened and wrapped in a piece of mummy cloth, having to all appearance
been thrown into the coffin at the moment of closing.[*]

[*] This roll contained the third unfinished book of the
history. The other two rolls were neatly fastened in the
usual fashion. All three are written by one hand in the
Demotic character.--Editor.