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upon. We finally settled the bargain and started to return. As but one at a time could use the rope-ladder, I sent the Arab on first, thinking while he was ascending I might look around, for I felt certain that all those excavations were never made for a single mummy. In the hasty glance I took of the chamber nothing new could be seen, but remembering that the ladder was a very long one, when it came my turn I went down instead of up. Passing a ledge similar to the one just left, I continued down and discovered a narrow landing on the opposite side of the pit. By swinging the rope I reached it and got off. Stepping through a small doorway I stood in a large, spacious chamber; pieces of broken mummy cases and fragments of linen bandages strewed the floor; boxes filled with porcelain statuettes, precious vases of alabaster, jars of bronze and terracotta were piled against the walls. Standing upright and laid at length upon the floor were huge sarcophagi of painted wood. Mummy cases fashioned after the human form crowded the room. Evidently I was amidst the kings and rulers of Pharaonic Egypt. Examining one of the richest sarcophagi I discovered that it had been lately opened, and upon trial lifted the cover off easily; the mummy case inside was broken and half open. There was no doubt, from the fineness of the linen, that the occupant had been royal. It would be hard to say what my emotions were when I opened this mummy case; surprise and astonishment certainly predominated, for there, with bandages and wrappings half torn and cut off, was the most wonderfully preserved specimen ever seen or heard of. It was, or had been a thousand years ago, a princess of great beauty, and so perfectly was the form preserved that but for the color I should have said she slept!

"It was evident at a glance that the grave-robbing ghouls had here found a prize which they meant to keep a secret until they discovered the most advantageous way of disposing of it.