Chapter XI. A Queen's Tomb

by Bram Stoker

　　'Mr. Trelawny's hope was at least as great as my own. He is not sovolatile a man as I am, prone to ups and downs of hope and despair; buthe has a fixed purpose which crystallizes hope into belief. At times Ihad feared that there might have been two such stones, or that theadventures of Van Huyn were traveller's fictions, based on someordinary acquisition' of the curio in Alexandria or Cairo, or London orAmsterdam. But Mr. Trelawny never faltered in his belief. We had manythings to distract our minds from belief or disbelief. This was soonafter Arabia, Pasha, and Egypt was no safe place for travellers,.especially if they were English. But Mr. Trelawny is a fearless man;and I almost come to think at times that I am not a coward myself. Wegot together a band of Arabs whom one or other of us had known informer trips to the desert, and whom we could trust; that is, we didnot distrust them as much as others. We were numerous enough to protectourselves from chance marauding bands, and we took with us largeimpedimenta. We had secured the consent and passive co-operation of theofficials still friendly to Britain; in the acquiring of which consentI need hardly say that Mr. Trelawny's riches were of chief importance.We found our way in Dhahabiyehs to Aswan; whence, having got some Arabsfrom the Sheik and having given our usual baksheesh, we set out on ourjourney through the desert.'Well, after much wandering and trying every winding in theinterminable jumble of hills, we came at last at nightfall on just sucha valley as Van Huyn had described. A valley with high, steep cliffs;narrowing in the centre, and widening out to the eastern and westernends. At daylight we were opposite the cliff and could easily note theopening high up in the rock, and the hieroglyphic figures which wereevidently intended originally to conceal it.'But the signs which had baffled Van Huyn and those of his time--andlater, were no secrets to us. The host of scholars who have given theirbrains and their lives to this work, had wrested open the mysteriousprison-house of Egyptian language. On the hewn face of the rocky cliffwe, who had learned the secrets, could read what the Theban priesthoodhad had there inscribed nearly fifty centuries before.'For dial the external inscription was the work of thepriesthood--and a hostile priesthood at that--there could be no livingdoubt. The inscription on the rock, written in hieroglyphic, ran thus:' "Hither the Gods come not at any summons. The 'Nameless One' hasinsulted them and is for ever alone. Go not nigh, lest their vengeancewither you away!""The warning must have been a terribly potent one at the time it waswritten and for thousands of years afterwards; even when the languagein which it was given had become a dead mystery to the people of theland. The tradition of such a terror lasts longer than its cause. Evenin the symbols used there was an added significance of alliteration."For ever" is given in the hieroglyphics as "millions of years". Thissymbol was repeated nine times, in three groups of three; and aftereach group a symbol of the Upper World, the Under World, and the Sky.So that for this Lonely One there could be, through the vengeance ofall the Gods, resurrection in neither the World of Sunlight, in theWorld of the Dead, or for the soul in the region of the Gods.'Neither Mr. Trelawny nor I dared to tell any of our people what thewriting meant. For though they did not believe in the religion whencethe curse came, or in the Gods whose vengeance was threatened; yet theywere so superstitious that they would probably, had they known of it,have thrown up the whole task and run away.'Their ignorance, however, and our discretion preserved us. We madean encampment close at hand; but behind a jutting rock a little furtheralong the valley, so that they might not have the inscription alwaysbefore them. For even that traditional name of the place: "The Valleyof the Sorcerer", had a fear for them: and for us through them. Withthe timber which we had brought, we made a ladder up the face of therock. We hung a pulley on a beam fixed to project from the top of thecuff. We found the great slab of rock, which formed the door, placedclumsily in its place and secured by a few stones. Its own weight keptit in safe position. In order to enter, we had to push it in; and wepassed over it. We found the great coil of chain which Van Huyn haddescribed fastened into the rock. There were, however, abundantevidences amid the wreckage of the great stone door, which had revolvedon iron hinges at top and bottom, that ample provision had beenoriginally made for closing and fastening it from within. 'Mr. Trelawny and I went alone into the tomb. We had brought plentyof lights with us: and we fixed them as we went along. We wished to geta complete survey at first, and then make examination of all in detail.As we went on, we were filled with ever-increasing wonder and delight.The tomb was one of the most magnificent and beautiful which either ofus had ever seen. From the elaborate nature of the sculpture andpaintings, and the perfection of the workmanship, it was evident thatthe tomb was prepared during the lifetime of her for whoseresting-place it was intended. The drawing of the hieroglyphic pictureswas fine, and the colouring superb; and in that high cavern, far awayfrom even the damp of the Nile-flood, all was as fresh as when theartists had laid down their palettes. There was one thing which wecould not avoid seeing. That although the cutting on the outside rockwas the work of the priesthood, the smoothing of the cliff face wasprobably a part of the tomb-builder's original design. The symbolism ofthe painting and cutting within all gave the same idea. The outercavern, partly natural and partly hewn, was regarded architecturally asonly an ante-chamber. At the end of it, so that it would face the east,was a pillared portico, hewn out of the solid rock. The pillars weremassive and were seven-sided, a thing which we had not come across inany other tomb. Sculptured on the architrave was the Boat of the Moon,containing Hathor, cow-headed and bearing the disc and plumes, and thedog-headed Hapi, the God of the North. It was steered by Harpocrotestowards the north, represented by the Pole Star surrounded by Draco andUrsa Major. In the latter the stars that form what we call the "Plough"were cut larger than any of the other stars; and were filled with goldso mat, in the light of torches, they seemed to flame with a specialsignificance. Passing within the portico, we found two of thearchitectural features of a rock tomb, the Chamber, or Chapel, and thePit, all complete as Van Huyn had noticed, though in his day the namesgiven to these parts by the Egyptians of old were unknown.'The Stele, or record, which had its place low down on the westernwall, was so remarkable that we examined it minutely, even before goingon our way to find the mummy which was the object of our search. ThisStele was a great slab of lapis lazuli, cut all over with hieroglyphicfigures of small size and of much beauty. The cutting was filled inwith some cement of exceeding fineness, and of the colour of purevermilion. The inscription began:' "Tera, Queen of the Egypts, daughter of Antef. Monarch of theNorth and the South." "Daughter of the Sun", "Queen of the Diadems."'It then set out, in full record, the history of her life and reign.'The signs of sovereignty were given with a truly feminine profusionof adornment. The united Crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt were, inespecial, cut with exquisite precision. It was new to us both to findthe Hejet and the Desher-- the White and the Red crowns of Upper andLower Egypt--on the Stele of a queen; for it was a rule, withoutexception in the records, that in ancient Egypt their crown was wornonly by a king; though they are to be found on goddesses-' Later on wefound an explanation, of which I shall say more presently.'Such an inscription was in itself a matter so startling as toarrest attention from anyone anywhere at any time; but you can have noconception of the effect which it had upon us. Though oureyes were not the first which had seen it, they were the first whichcould see it with understanding since first die' slab of rock was fixedin the cliff opening nearly five thousand years before. To us was givento read this message from the dead. This message of one who had warredagainst the Gods of Old, and claimed to have controlled them at a timewhen the hierarchy professed to be the only means of exciting theirfears or gaining their good will.'The walls of the upper chamber of the Pit and the sarcophagusChamber were profusely inscribed; all the inscriptions, except that onthe Stele, being coloured with bluish-green pigment. The effect whenseen sideways as the eye caught the green facets, was that of an old,discoloured Indian turquoise.'We descended the Pit by the aid of the tackle we had broughtwith us. Trelawny went first. It was -a deep pit, more than seventyfeet; but it had never been filled up. The passage at the bottom slopedup to the sarcophagus Chamber, and was longer than is usually found. Ithad not been walled up.'Within, we found a great sarcophagus of yellow stone. But that Ineed not describe; you have seen it in Mr. Trelawny's chamber. Thecover of it lay on the ground; it had not been cemented, and was justas Van Huyn had described it. Needless to say, we were excited as welooked within. There must, however, be one sense of disappointment. Icould not help feeling how different must have been the sight which metthe Dutch traveller's eyes when he looked within and found that whitehand lying lifelike above the shrouding mummy cloths. It is true that apart of the arm was there, white and ivory like.But there was a thrill to us which came not to Van Huyn!.'The end of the wrist was covered with dried blood! It was as thoughthe body had bled after death! The jagged ends of the broken wrist wererough with the clotted blood; through this the white bone, stickingout, looked like the matrix of opal. The blood had streamed down andstained the brown wrappings as with rust. Here, then, was fullconfirmation of the narrative. With such evidence of the narrator'struth before us, we could not doubt the other matters which he hadtold, such as the blood on the mummy hand, or marks of the sevenringers on the throat of the strangled Sheik.'I shall not trouble you with details of all we saw, or how welearned all we knew. Part of it was from knowledge common to scholars;part we read on the Stele in the tomb, and in the sculptures and.hieroglyphic paintings on the walls.'Queen Tera was of the Eleventh, or Theban, Dynasty of EgyptianKings which held sway between twenty-ninth and twenty-fifth centuriesbefore Christ. She succeeded as the only child of her father, Antef.She must have been a girl of extraordinary character as well asability, for she was but a young girl when her father died. Her youthand sex encouraged the ambitious priesthood, which had then achievedimmense power. By their wealth and numbers and learning they dominatedall Egypt, more especially the Upper portion. They were then secretlyready to make an effort for the achievement of their bold andlong-considered design, that of transferring the governing power from aKingship to a Hierarchy. But King Antef had suspected some suchmovement, and had taken the precaution of securing to his daughter theallegiance of the army. He had also had her taught statecraft, and hadeven made her learned in the lore, of the very priests themselves. Hehad used those of one cult against the other; each being hopeful ofsome present gain on its own part by the influence of the King, or ofsome ultimate gain from its own influence over his daughter. Thus, thePrincess had been brought up amongst scribes, and was herself no meanartist. Many of these things were told on the walls in picture or inhieroglyphic writing of great beauty; and we came to the conclusionthat not a few of them had been done by the Princess herself. It wasnot without cause that she was inscribed on the Stele as "Protector ofthe Arts".'But the King had gone to further lengths, and had had his daughtertaught magic, by which she had power over Sleep and Will. This was realmagic--"black" magic; not the magic of the temples, which, I mayexplain, was of the harmless or "white" order, and was intended toimpress rather than to effect. She had been an apt pupil; and had gonefurther than her teachers. Her power and her resources had given hergreat opportunities, of which she had availed herself to the full. Shehad won secrets from nature in strange ways; and had even gone to thelength of going down into the tomb herself, having been swathed andcoffined and left as dead for a whole month. The priests had tried tomake out that the real Princess Tera had died in the experiment, andthat another girl had been substituted; but she had conclusively provedtheir error. All this was told in pictures of great merit. It wasprobably in her time that the impulse was given in the restoring theartistic greatness of the Fourth Dynasty which had found its perfectionin the days of Chufu.'In the Chamber of the sarcophagus were pictures and writings toshow that she had achieved victory over Sleep. Indeed, there waseverywhere a symbolism, wonderful even in a land and an age ofsymbolism. Prominence was given to the fact that she, though a Queen,claimed all the privileges of kingship and masculinity. In one placeshe was pictured in man's dress, and wearing the White and Red Crowns.In the following picture she was in female dress, but still wearing theCrowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, while the discarded male raiment layat her feet. In every picture where hope, or aim, or resurrection wasexpressed there was the added symbol of the North; and in manyplaces--always in representations of important events, past, present,or future--was a grouping of the stars of the Plough. She evidentlyregarded this constellation as in some way peculiarly associated withherself.'Perhaps the most remarkable statement in the records, both on theStele and in the mural writings, was that Queen Tera had power tocompel the Gods. This, by the way, was not an isolated belief inEgyptian history; but was different in its cause. She had engraved on aruby, carven like a scarab, and having seven stars of seven points,Master Words to compel all the Gods, both of the Upper and the UnderWorlds.'In the statement it was plainly set forth that the hatred of thepriests Was, she knew, stored up for her, and that they would after herdeath try to suppress her name. This was a terrible revenge, I may tellyou, in Egyptian mythology, for without a name no one can after deathbe introduced to the Gods, or have prayers said for him. Therefore, shehad intended her resurrection to be after long time and in a morenorthern land, under the constellation whose seven stars had ruled herbirth. To this end, her hand was to be in the air--"unwrapped"--and init the Jewel of Seven Stars, so that wherever was air she might moveeven as her Ka could move! This, after thinking it over, Mr. Trelawnyand I agreed meant that her body could become astral at command, and somove, particle by particle, and become whole again when and whererequired. Then there was apiece of writing in which allusion was madeto a chest or casket in which were contained all the Gods, and Will,and Sleep, the two latter being personified by symbols. The box wasmentioned as with seven sides. It was not much of a surprise to uswhen, underneath the feet of the mummy, we found the seven-sidedcasket, which you have also seen in Mr. Trelawny's room. On theunderneath part of the wrapping linen of the left foot was painted, inthe same vermilion colour as that used in the Stele, the hieroglyphicsymbol for much water: Z---- and underneath the right foot the symbolof the earth: L. We made out the symbolism to be that her body,immortal and transferable at will, ruled both the land and water, airand 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 itssides the strange protuberances which you have al* ready seen; but wewere unable at the time to account for them. There were a few amuletsin the sarcophagus, but none of any special worth or significance. Wetook it that if there were such, they were within the wrappings; ormore 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. Thefine line, a little way from the top, appeared to be where the coverwas fixed; but it was made with such exquisite fineness and finish thatthe 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 youall this in order that you may understand things with which you may bein contact later. You must suspend your judgement entirely. Suchstrange things have happened regarding this mummy and all around it,that there is a necessity for new belief somewhere. It is absolutelyimpossible to reconcile certain things which have happened with theordinary currents of life or knowledge.'We stayed around the Valley of the Sorcerer, till we had copiedroughly all the drawings and writings on the walls, ceiling, and floor.We took with us the Stele of lapis lazuli, whose graven record wascoloured with vermilion pigment. We took the sarcophagus and the mummy;the stone chest with the alabaster jars; the tables of bloodstone andalabaster and onyx and carnelian; and the ivory pillow whose archrested on "buckles", round each of which was twisted a uraeus wroughtin gold. -We took all the articles which lay in the Chapel, and theMummy Pit; the wooden boats with crews and the ushaptiu figures, andthe symbolic amulets.'When corning away we took down the ladders, and at a distanceburied them in the sand under a cliff, which we noted so that ifnecessary we might find them again. Then with our heavy baggage, we setout on our laborious journey back to the Nile. It was no easy task, Itell you, to bring the case with that great sarcophagus over thedesert. We had a rough cart and sufficient men to draw it; but theprogress seemed terribly slow, for we were anxious to get our treasuresinto a place of safety. The night was an anxious time with us, for wefeared attack from marauding band. But more still we feared some ofthose with us. They were, after all, but predatory, unscrupulous men;and we had with us a considerable bulk of precious things. They, or atleast the dangerous ones amongst them, did not know why it was soprecious; they took it for granted that it was material treasure ofsome 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 firstnight two attempts were made to steal things from the cart; and two menwere found dead in the morning.'On the second night there came on a violent storm, one of thoseterrible storms of the desert which makes one feel his helplessness. Wewere overwhelmed with the drifting sand. Some of our Bedouins had fledbefore the storm, hoping to find shelter; the rest of us, wrapped inour bournous, endured with what patience we could. In the morning, whenthe storm had passed, we recovered from under the piles of sand what wecould of our impediments. We found the case in which the mummy had beenpacked all broken, but the mummy itself could nowhere be found. Wesearched everywhere around, and dug up the sand which had piled aroundus; but in vain. We did not know what to do, for Trelawny had his heartset on taking home that mummy. We waited a whole day in hopes that theBedouins,*who had fled, would return; we had a blind hope that theymight have in some way removed the mummy from the cart, and wouldrestore it. That night, just before dawn, Mr. Trelawny woke me up andwhispered in my ear.' "We must go back to the tomb in the Valley of the Sorcerer. Showno hesitation in the morning when I give the orders! If you ask anyquestions as to where we are going it will create suspicion, and willdefeat our purpose."' "All right!" I answered. "But why shall we go there?" His answerseemed to thrill through me as though it had struck some chord readytuned within:' "We shall find the mummy there! I am*sure of it!" Thenanticipating doubt or argument he added:' "Wait, and you shall see!" and he sank back into his blanket again."The Arabs *were surprised when we retraced our steps; and some ofthem were not satisfied. There was a good deal of friction, and therewere several desertions; so that it was with a diminished followingthat we took our way eastward again. At first the Sheik did notmanifest any curiosity as to our definite destination; but when itbecame apparent that we were again making for the Valley of theSorcerer, he too showed concern. This grew as we drew near; tillfinally at the entrance of the valley he halted and refused to gofurther. He said he would await our return if we chose to go on alone.That he would wait three days; but if by that time we had not returnedhe would leave. No offer of money would tempt him to depart from thisresolution. The only concession he would make was that he would findthe ladders and bring them near the cliff. This he did; and then withthe rest of the troop, he went back to wait at the entrance of thevalley.'Mr. Trelawny and I took ropes and torches, and again ascended tothe tomb. It was evident that someone had been there in our absence,for the stone slab which protected the entrance to the tomb was lyingflat inside, and a rope was dangling from the cliff summit. Within,there was another rope hanging into the shaft of the Mummy Pit. Welooked at each other; but neither said a word. We fixed our own rope,and as arranged Trelawny descended first, I following at once. It wasnot till we stood together at the foot of the shaft that the thoughtflashed across me that we might be in some sort of a trap; that someonemight descend the rope from the cliff, and by cutting the rope by whichwe had lowered ourselves into the Pit, bury us there alive. The thoughtwas horrifying; but it was too late to do anything. I remained silent.We both had torches, so that there was ample light as we passed throughthe passage and entered the Chamber where the sarcophagus had stood.The first thing noticeable was the emptiness of the place. Despite allits magnificent adornment, the tomb was made a desolation by theabsence of the great sarcophagus, to hold which it was hewn in therock; of the chest with the alabaster jars; of the tables which hadheld the implements and food for the use of the dead, and the ushaptiufigures.'It was made more infinitely desolate still by the shrouded figureof the mummy of Queen Tera which lay on the floor where the greatsarcophagus had stood! Beside it lay, in the strange contortedattitudes of violent death, three of the Arabs who had deserted fromour party. Their faces were black and their hands and necks weresmeared with blood which had burst from mouth and nose and eyes.'On the throat of each were the marks, now blackening, of a hand ofseven fingers. Trelawny and I drew close, and clutched each other inawe and fear as we looked.For, most wonderful of all, across the breast of the mummied Queenlay an Ivory white wrist only showing a scar like a jaggedred line, from which seemed to descend drops of blood.'