pieces of stone for the purpose, he placed one of them so as to hold the
vantage gained. Slowly, then, by working at the ends alternately, the
immense slab was turned upon its centre; slowly the hollow of the coffin
was flooded with light; slowly, and with seeming reluctance, it gave up
its secrets.

In strong contrast to the plainness of the exterior, the interior of the
sarcophagus was lined with plates and panels of gold, on which there
were cartoons chased and beaten in, representing ships, and tall trees,
doubtless cedars of Lebanon, and masons at work, and two men armed and
in royal robes greeting each other with clasped hands; and so beautiful
were the cartoons that the eccentric medalleur, Cellini, would have
studied them long, if not enviously. Yet he who now peered into the
receptacle scarcely glanced at them.

On a stone chair seated was the mummy of a man with a crown upon its
head, and over its body, for the most part covering--the linen wrappings,
was a robe of threads of gold in ample arrangement. The hands rested on
the lap; in one was a sceptre; the other held an inscribed silver tablet.
There were rings plain, and rings with jewels in setting, circling the
fingers and thumbs; the ears, ankles, even the great toes, were
ornamented in like manner. At the feet a sword of the fashion of a
cimeter had been laid. The blade was in its scabbard, but the scabbard
was a mass of jewels, and the handle a flaming ruby. The belt was webbed
with pearls and glistening brilliants. Under the sword were the
instruments sacred then and ever since to Master Masons--a square, a
gavel, a plummet, and an inscribing compass.

The man had been a king--so much the first glance proclaimed. With him,
as with his royal brethren from the tombs along the Nile, death had