In the
following picture she was in female dress, but still wearing the Crowns
of Upper and Lower Egypt, while the discarded male raiment lay at her
feet. In every picture where hope, or aim, of resurrection was
expressed there was the added symbol of the North; and in many
places—always in representations of important events, past, present,
or future—was a grouping of the stars of the Plough. She evidently
regarded this constellation as in some way peculiarly associated with
herself. “Perhaps the most remarkable statement in the records, both on the
Stele and in the mural writings, was that Queen Tera had power to
compel the Gods. This, by the way, was not an isolated belief in
Egyptian history; but was different in its cause. She had engraved on
a ruby, carved like a scarab, and having seven stars of seven points,
Master Words to compel all the Gods, both of the Upper and the Under
Worlds. “In the statement it was plainly set forth that the hatred of the
priests was, she knew, stored up for her, and that they would after her
death try to suppress her name. This was a terrible revenge, I may
tell you, in Egyptian mythology; for without a name no one can after
death be introduced to the Gods, or have prayers said for him. Therefore, she had intended her resurrection to be after a long time
and in a more northern land, under the constellation whose seven stars
had ruled her birth. To this end, her hand was to be in the
air—‘unwrapped’—and in it the Jewel of Seven Stars, so that wherever
there was air she might move even as her Ka could move! This, after
thinking it over, Mr. Trelawny and I agreed meant that her body could
become astral at command, and so move, particle by particle, and become
whole again when and where required. Then there was a piece of writing
in which allusion was made to a chest or casket in which were contained
all the Gods, and Will, and Sleep, the two latter being personified by
symbols. The box was mentioned as with seven sides. It was not much of
a surprise to us when, underneath the feet of the mummy, we found the
seven-sided casket, which you have also seen in Mr. Trelawny’s room. On the underneath part of the wrapping—linen of the left foot was
painted, in the same vermilion colour as that used in the Stele, the
hieroglyphic symbol for much water, and underneath the right foot the
symbol of the earth. We made out the symbolism to be that her body,
immortal and transferable at will, ruled both the land and water, air
and fire—the latter being exemplified by the light of the Jewel Stone,
and further by the flint and iron which lay outside the mummy wrappings. “As we lifted the casket from the sarcophagus, we noticed on its sides
the strange protuberances which you have already seen; but we were
unable at the time to account for them. There were a few amulets in
the sarcophagus, but none of any special worth or significance. We
took it that if there were such, they were within the wrappings; or
more probably in the strange casket underneath the mummy’s feet. This,
however, we could not open. There were signs of there being a cover;
certainly the upper portion and the lower were each in one piece. The
fine line, a little way from the top, appeared to be where the cover
was fixed; but it was made with such exquisite fineness and finish that
the joining could hardly be seen. Certainly the top could not be moved. We took it, that it was in some way fastened from within. I tell you
all this in order that you may understand things with which you may be
in contact later. You must suspend your judgment entirely. Such
strange things have happened regarding this mummy and all around it,
that there is a necessity for new belief somewhere. It is absolutely
impossible to reconcile certain things which have happened with the
ordinary currents of life or knowledge. “We stayed around the Valley of the Sorcerer, till we had copied
roughly all the drawings and writings on the walls, ceiling and floor. We took with us the Stele of lapis lazuli, whose graven record was
coloured with vermilion pigment. We took the sarcophagus and the
mummy; the stone chest with the alabaster jars; the tables of
bloodstone and alabaster and onyx and carnelian; and the ivory pillow
whose arch rested on ‘buckles’, round each of which was twisted an
uraeus wrought in gold. We took all the articles which lay in the
Chapel, and the Mummy Pit; the wooden boats with crews and the ushaptiu
figures, and the symbolic amulets. “When coming away we took down the ladders, and at a distance buried
them in the sand under a cliff, which we noted so that if necessary we
might find them again. Then with our heavy baggage, we set out on our
laborious journey back to the Nile. It was no easy task, I tell you, to
bring the case with that great sarcophagus over the desert. We had a
rough cart and sufficient men to draw it; but the progress seemed
terribly slow, for we were anxious to get our treasures into a place of
safety. The night was an anxious time with us, for we feared attack
from some marauding band. But more still we feared some of those with
us. They were, after all, but predatory, unscrupulous men; and we had
with us a considerable bulk of precious things. They, or at least the
dangerous ones amongst them, did not know why it was so precious; they
took it for granted that it was material treasure of some kind that we
carried. We had taken the mummy from the sarcophagus, and packed it
for safety of travel in a separate case. During the first night two
attempts were made to steal things from the cart; and two men were
found dead in the morning. “On the second night there came on a violent storm, one of those
terrible simooms of the desert which makes one feel his helplessness. We were overwhelmed with drifting sand. Some of our Bedouins had fled
before the storm, hoping to find shelter; the rest of us, wrapped in
our bournous, endured with what patience we could. In the morning,
when the storm had passed, we recovered from under the piles of sand
what we could of our impedimenta. We found the case in which the mummy
had been packed all broken, but the mummy itself could nowhere be
found. We searched everywhere around, and dug up the sand which had
piled around us; but in vain. We did not know what to do, for Trelawny
had his heart set on taking home that mummy. We waited a whole day in
hopes that the Bedouins, who had fled, would return; we had a blind
hope that they might have in some way removed the mummy from the cart,
and would restore it. That night, just before dawn, Mr. Trelawny woke
me up and whispered in my ear:

“‘We must go back to the tomb in the Valley of the Sorcerer. Show no
hesitation in the morning when I give the orders! If you ask any
questions as to where we are going it will create suspicion, and will
defeat our purpose.’

“‘All right!” I answered.