Copyright 1921 D TTON COM PANY P. ByE . U All Rights Reserved FOREWORD READ Y ER. Perhaps you have had the M good fortune to visit Egypt ! If such l be the case , you have undoubted y stood among the giant columns of the Temple to the - Sun god Amen in the Northern Apt ! Karnak). You have marveled at the ever changing colors which light up the walls and columns of the of t so Temple the Southern Ap ! Luxor), that at one moment they seem to have been car ved of from blocks amber, at another from coral , or jasper, amethyst , a s the last bright rays of u the sinking s n fall full upon them , from colos sal o bars f red Nubian gold . You have gazed in awe a nd reverence at the f i mummy o King Amenhotep , ly ng in his granite sarcophagus , peacefully asleep he seemed, deep of down in the very heart the Theban Hills . In an alcove nearby you may recall the three uncofiined bodies lying, , upon the bare rock of Yo the tomb chamber . u were informed that the v1 Forew ord bodi es had been removed from their own tombs f to this secret chamber o a dead Pharaoh , that they might be saved from the hands of tomb robbers . “ The mummies of unknown royal person ” a ges , your Arab guide informed you . Perhaps the guide permitted you to touch the long black tresses of one of the three . He pointed out what he called the mark of an arrow, f which caused the death o another . He told you that the boy had undoubtedly met his death at the hands of a strangler. He hinted at foul murder ! ru h e If what he said of the three was t e, might well have attempte d to identify the di Wa zm es bo es . They are, perhaps, those of , ’ H anit son Queen s murdered , the beautiful one- slave girl Bhanar, and her time mistress , S esen a the Princess , whose wavy black hair p pears as soft to- day as when Ramses and Menna f r wooed her, a s when Renny the Syrian died o her . ' All hi . t s, and more, you have doubtless seen Forew ord vii sa ou so Yet, it is safe to y, y have never much as heard of the mystery surrounding the tomb f f ffl o Menna, son o Menna, that most ba ing among the many mysterious tombs in and about the gre at Theban cemeteries . a on n h Undoubtedly, Menn , s of Me na, ad in i life an enemy, a most vind ctive enemy ; one whose malignant hatred followed Menna into his very tomb . o a nd ee Enter that tomb t day, you s a t a glance that thi s enemy sought to nullify and make ineff ectual the entire series of engraved prayers and magic formq which witness to ’ Menna s hopes for an eternity of bliss upon the Y ’ banks of the Celestial Nile . es, Menna s im him placable foe sought to destroy , both body and soul ! ’ Menn a s w a s c body not found when, re ently, his w a s tomb discovered and opened . We may ’ thus infer that Menna s arch-enemy aecom ’ plished the destruction of Menna s body a s suc ce ssf ull as fien dishl y, y we may suppose, as he ’ f Menna did that o s soul. viii Forew ord ‘ E xamine the sculptures upon the walls of his ’ Y Menna tomb . ou will find that s eyes have been cut out ;that the lips of hi s servants and field hands are mi ssing ; that the tips of his hunting arrows have been blunted ; that the “ ” knots in his mea suring-rope ha ve been de f stroyed . Yet, worse than all, the plumb o the ’ Me n r scales , upon which n a s hea t will be h e weighed at the Judgment, as vanish d . ’ Let us suppose that Menna s mummy ha d t been found, found in act,at the opening of i h s tomb . That empty shell would have of been little use to Menna . Since, follow ’ ing hi s enemy s work of desecration upon the ordered prayers, incantations and scenes r f hi painted o engraved upon the walls o s tomb , ’ Menn a s body w a s d oomed to inevitable de hi struction, and with it, that of s k a or “ ” double, that other self which, from the day of his birth , awaited him in the heavens . Without eyes Menna could not find his way among the flint - strewn valleys and precipitous of heights the Underworld. Without arrows Forew ord ix ’ Menna s Menna would be una ble to obtain food . servants had all perished, as without mouths they could neither eat nor drink: An d Menna might never measure off an allotted acreage of among the ever fertile fields Heaven if, in a ll spite of , he somehow managed to win through to the Celestial Nile . Alas ! this success Menna could never hope to f l achieve . The breaking o the p umb of the ’ scales rendered it impossible that Menna s trembling soul could pass Osiris , Judge of the d or Am emet Dea , the fierce hound , which, with open mouth, awaited his victims beside that ’ great god s throne . No ! Menna could never hope to feast at the Table of the Gods . Menna could never enjoy that eternity of bliss among the Blessed Fields of Aaru which a beneficent Sun -god had prom ised to the faithf ul . ’ Men n o But, na s body was t found at the time f of hi s o hi o the discovery tomb, th ugh s body had evidently been placed in the white sarcoph agus prepared for it by royal command . x Forew ord ’ h so W o bitterly hated Menna, the King s Overseer ? Wh o so relentlessly sought not alone the destruction of his mortal body but the very annihilation of hi s soul ? CONTENTS CHA PTE R FOREWORD TELLS or HOW PROFESSOR RANNEY PURCHASED AN ANCIENT MAN USCRIPT AND O F WHAT HE FOUND THEREIN A FALL DOWN THIRTY CENTURI ES E M ICI L P V NANA THE AG AN , WOU D RO E THAT A RES EMB LAN CE B ETWEEN A QUEEN AND A PRIESTESS MAY B E TURNED TO HIS ADV ANTAGE How BBAN AB CAME To THEB ES T PL B O F T I HE EASURE ARGE H , THE QUEEN-MOTHER B F M I E How HANAR OUND A HO E N GYPT . How RENNY THE SYRIAN ESCAPED THE CROCODILES NO FE RT -ARI DANCES B EFORE PHA RAOH THE LUMINOUS BOOK PRARAO H S EEKS T O EXAIJI‘ A FORE IGN G OD THE STATUE O F AMEN DISAPPEARS xi Contents C HA PTE R PA GE ENANA CALLS T o HI S AID THE GODS JUSTICE AND V ENGEANCE RAMSES AND SESEN A RASH PROMISE S O F G O F A TATUE HATHOR , ODDESS LO V E T C O F G I HE URSE HUY , REAT H GH PRIEST O F AM EN ’ M EN A S HA I RB EA RE R K XVII . WHY N C STA ED HI S ALL X M SON VIII . WHAT HAPPENED WHEN ENNA , O F M A- I ENNA , WENT WOO NG THE HITT ITES ADV ANCE How BAR AND RENNY M EET FO R THE LAST TIME O F O F B L THE HIT THE CAPTURE E UR, TITE “ T D B L O R B I XXII . OU E AN T H A N I T THE ENCHANTRE S S HANIT : THE ENGH ANTRESS CHAPTER I TELLS OF How PROFE SSOR RANNEY PURCHASED AN ANCIE N T MANUSCRIPT AN D OF WHAT HE HERE FOUND T I N . “ of D HE shop Tanos the Greek, ealer in ” i A a s n T Genu ne ntiques, the sig above the door advised , might well have been of named a museum ancient art and curiosities . f Entered from the front o the Sharia Kamel, one of of o o the main thoroughfares Cair , the sh p appeared a t first glance to consist of but tw o ne m long narrow rooms , the o im ediately behind the other. Both rooms were filled to the very of ceiling with curios all sorts , from little agate beads to vast and shapeless mummie s of Sacred 2 H anit : the Enchant ress of Bulls . A half dozen bodies Egyptian priests, unwrapped and black with natron, stood propped against the walls of the upper room . n The odor of cin amon, myrrh and other em balming essences filled the rooms and drifted out thr ough the open door to blend with the in de n ble of fi a , but never forgettable , Odor the Cairene streets . A nearer view of the upper room di sclosed “ the approach to what Tanos called the holy of li ” i ho es . Th s third, or innermost chamber, was screened from the eyes of the ordinary souvenir hunter by an ivory-inlaid door of ancient Coptic woodwork . Connoisseurs generally knew that here were x el e n kept the treasures pa r e c l nce. Here Ta os i t t would d splay rare s atuet es , bronzes , ivories and richly glazed potteries f or the archaeol ogist ;inscriptions on stone or papyrus for the philologist ;dia'dems or pendants in the precious of metals , necklaces , bracelets and bangles vari — colored gems , all such rich treasure from the seemingly inexhaustible storehouse of antiquity ’ Prof essor Ranneys Manu script 3 a s would be most likely to tempt the antiqua of k rian, or dazzle the mere man millions see ing t o enrich hi s curio cabinet or the shelves of his pet museum or institution .