A clock ticked on the landing; other clocks in the house
ticked; the life of the city without manifested itself in the distant
hum, now and again swelling into a roar as a breeze floating westward
took the concourse of sounds with it. But still the dominant idea was
of silence. The light on my book, and the soothing fringe of green
silk round the shade intensified, whenever I looked up, the gloom of
the sick-room. With every line I read, this seemed to grow deeper and
deeper; so that when my eyes came back to the page the light seemed to
dazzle me. I stuck to my work, however, and presently began to get
sufficiently into the subject to become interested in it. The book was by one Nicholas van Huyn of Hoorn. In the preface he told
how, attracted by the work of John Greaves of Merton College,
Pyramidographia, he himself visited Egypt, where he became so
interested in its wonders that he devoted some years of his life to
visiting strange places, and exploring the ruins of many temples and
tombs. He had come across many variants of the story of the building
of the Pyramids as told by the Arabian historian, Ibn Abd Alhokin, some
of which he set down. These I did not stop to read, but went on to the
marked pages. As soon as I began to read these, however, there grew on me some sense
of a disturbing influence. Once or twice I looked to see if the Nurse
had moved, for there was a feeling as though some one were near me. Nurse Kennedy sat in her place, as steady and alert as ever; and I came
back to my book again. The narrative went on to tell how, after passing for several days
through the mountains to the east of Aswan, the explorer came to a
certain place. Here I give his own words, simply putting the
translation into modern English:

“Toward evening we came to the entrance of a narrow, deep valley,
running east and west. I wished to proceed through this; for the sun,
now nearly down on the horizon, showed a wide opening beyond the
narrowing of the cliffs. But the fellaheen absolutely refused to enter
the valley at such a time, alleging that they might be caught by the
night before they could emerge from the other end. At first they would
give no reason for their fear. They had hitherto gone anywhere I
wished, and at any time, without demur. On being pressed, however,
they said that the place was the Valley of the Sorcerer, where none
might come in the night. On being asked to tell of the Sorcerer, they
refused, saying that there was no name, and that they knew nothing. On
the next morning, however, when the sun was up and shining down the
valley, their fears had somewhat passed away. Then they told me that a
great Sorcerer in ancient days—‘millions of millions of years’ was the
term they used—a King or a Queen, they could not say which, was buried
there. They could not give the name, persisting to the last that there
was no name; and that anyone who should name it would waste away in
life so that at death nothing of him would remain to be raised again in
the Other World. In passing through the valley they kept together in a
cluster, hurrying on in front of me. None dared to remain behind. They
gave, as their reason for so proceeding, that the arms of the Sorcerer
were long, and that it was dangerous to be the last. The which was of
little comfort to me who of this necessity took that honourable post. In the narrowest part of the valley, on the south side, was a great
cliff of rock, rising sheer, of smooth and even surface. Hereon were
graven certain cabalistic signs, and many figures of men and animals,
fishes, reptiles and birds; suns and stars; and many quaint symbols. Some of these latter were disjointed limbs and features, such as arms
and legs, fingers, eyes, noses, ears, and lips. Mysterious symbols
which will puzzle the Recording Angel to interpret at the Judgment Day. The cliff faced exactly north. There was something about it so
strange, and so different from the other carved rocks which I had
visited, that I called a halt and spent the day in examining the rock
front as well as I could with my telescope. The Egyptians of my
company were terribly afraid, and used every kind of persuasion to
induce me to pass on. I stayed till late in the afternoon, by which
time I had failed to make out aright the entry of any tomb, for I
suspected that such was the purpose of the sculpture of the rock. By
this time the men were rebellious; and I had to leave the valley if I
did not wish my whole retinue to desert. But I secretly made up my
mind to discover the tomb, and explore it. To this end I went further
into the mountains, where I met with an Arab Sheik who was willing to
take service with me. The Arabs were not bound by the same
superstitious fears as the Egyptians; Sheik Abu Some and his following
were willing to take a part in the explorations. “When I returned to the valley with these Bedouins, I made effort to
climb the face of the rock, but failed, it being of one impenetrable
smoothness. The stone, generally flat and smooth by nature, had been
chiselled to completeness. That there had been projecting steps was
manifest, for there remained, untouched by the wondrous climate of that
strange land, the marks of saw and chisel and mallet where the steps
had been cut or broken away. “Being thus baffled of winning the tomb from below, and being
unprovided with ladders to scale, I found a way by much circuitous
journeying to the top of the cliff. Thence I caused myself to be
lowered by ropes, till I had investigated that portion of the rock face
wherein I expected to find the opening. I found that there was an
entrance, closed however by a great stone slab. This was cut in the
rock more than a hundred feet up, being two-thirds the height of the
cliff. The hieroglyphic and cabalistic symbols cut in the rock were so
managed as to disguise it. The cutting was deep, and was continued
through the rock and the portals of the doorway, and through the great
slab which formed the door itself. This was fixed in place with such
incredible exactness that no stone chisel or cutting implement which I
had with me could find a lodgment in the interstices. I used much
force, however; and by many heavy strokes won a way into the tomb, for
such I found it to be. The stone door having fallen into the entrance
I passed over it into the tomb, noting as I went a long iron chain
which hung coiled on a bracket close to the doorway. “The tomb I found to be complete, after the manner of the finest
Egyptian tombs, with chamber and shaft leading down to the corridor,
ending in the Mummy Pit. It had the table of pictures, which seems
some kind of record—whose meaning is now for ever lost—graven in a
wondrous colour on a wondrous stone. “All the walls of the chamber and the passage were carved with strange
writings in the uncanny form mentioned. The huge stone coffin or
sarcophagus in the deep pit was marvellously graven throughout with
signs.