He came to the coffins of the priest-kings of the twentieth
dynasty, formidable painted coffins with human faces. There seemed to be
a vast number of these priest-kings, but perhaps they were better
than the gold masks of the great Ptolemaic ladies which glinted at him
through the gathering gloom.
Really, he had seen enough of the upper floors. The statues downstairs
were better than all these dead, although it was true that, according to
the Egyptian faith, every one of those statues was haunted eternally by
the _Ka_, or Double, of the person whom it represented. He descended
the great stairway. Was it fancy, or did something run across the bottom
step in front of him--an animal of some kind, followed by a swift-moving
and indefinite shadow? If so, it must have been the Museum cat hunting
a Museum mouse. Only then what on earth was that very peculiar and
unpleasant shadow?
He called, "Puss! puss! puss!" for he would have been quite glad of its
company; but there came no friendly "miau" in response. Perhaps it was
only the _Ka_ of a cat and the shadow was--oh! never mind what. The
Egyptians worshipped cats, and there were plenty of their mummies about
on the shelves. But the shadow!
Once he shouted in the hope of attracting attention, for there were no
windows to which he could climb.
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