"The uncasing continued. The chin came next, a chin that was purely feminine, purely classical; then the upper part of the head--the hair long, black, luxuriant--the forehead low and white--the brows black, finely pencilled; and, last of all, the eyes!--and as they met my frenzied gaze and smiled, smiled right down into the depths of my livid soul, I recognised them--they were the eyes of my mother, my mother who had died in my boyhood! Seized with a madness that knew no bounds, I sprang to my feet. The figure rose and confronted me. I flung open my arms to embrace her, the woman of all women in the world I loved best, the only woman I had loved. Shrinking from my touch, she cowered against the side of the tent. I fell on my knees before her and kissed--what? Not the feet of my mother, but that of the long unburied dead. Sick with repulsion and fear I looked up, and there, bending over and peering into my eyes was the face, the fleshless, mouldering face of a foul and barely recognisable corpse! With a shriek of horror I rolled backwards, and, springing to my feet, prepared to fly. I glanced at the mummy. It was lying on the ground, stiff and still, every bandage in its place; whilst standing over it, a look of fiendish glee in its light, doglike eyes, was the figure of Anubis, lurid and menacing. "The voices of my servants, assuring me they were coming, broke the silence, and in an instant the apparition vanished. "I had had enough of the tent, however, at least for that night, and, seeking refuge in the town, I whiled away the hours till morning with a fragrant cigar and novel. Directly I had breakfasted, I took the mummy back to Thebes and left it there. No, thank you, Mr O'Donnell, I collect many kinds of curios, but--no more mummies!" CHAPTER IV OCCULT HOOLIGANS