asserted itself triumphantly over the embalmer. The cheeks were
shrivelled and mouldy; across the forehead the skin was drawn tight; the
temples were hollows rimmed abruptly with the frontal bones; the eyes,
pits partially filled with dried ointments of a bituminous color. The
monarch had yielded his life in its full ripeness, for the white hair
and beard still adhered in stiffened plaits to the skull, cheeks, and
chin. The nose alone was natural; it stood up thin and hooked, like the
beak of an eagle.

At sight of the figure thus caparisoned and maintaining its seat in an
attitude of calm composure the slaves drew back startled. The negro
dropped his iron bar, making the chamber ring with a dissonant clangor.

Around the mummy in careful arrangement were vessels heaped with coins
and pearls and precious stones, cut and ready for the goldsmith. Indeed,
the whole inner space of the sarcophagus was set with basins and urns,
each in itself a work of high art; and if their contents were to be
judged by what appeared overflowing them, they all held precious stones
of every variety. The corners had been draped with cloths of gold and
cloths embroidered with pearls, some of which were now falling to pieces
of their own weight.

We know that kings and queens are but men and women subject to the same
passions of common people; that they are generous or sordid according to
their natures; that there have been misers amongst them; but this
one--did he imagine he could carry his amassments with him out of the
world? Had he so loved the gems in his life as to dream he could
illumine his tomb with them? If so, O royal idiot!

The master, when an opening had been made sufficiently wide by turning