Egypt -- History -- To 332 B.C. -- Fiction; Historical fiction
Enana would have him find some clue to the present whereabouts of the
Book of Thoth. As he loved life and feared death he was told to keep for
his master’s ears alone any news to this effect.
Unis soon became an initiate of the Sorcerers of Amen, then minor prophet
of Amen. With such a powerful master as Enana, first Magician of the
Temple, Unis felt that he should go far. He gave himself up wholly to the
work in hand. Certain hints gleaned from the documents led him to believe
that the Book had, as of old, been secreted in a tomb, in this case an
unnamed tomb on the western shore.
Unis took up his residence in one of the abandoned tombs. With
unremitting assiduity and stoical fortitude he spent day after day among
the excoriated boulders, the dusty mounds, the bat-infested shafts and
tumbled-in shrines which constituted the older corner of the Theban
necropolis.
In this fruitless search the Gods Hunger and Thirst were his only
companions.
Unis turned once more to the library. With indomitable patience he
continued his researches among its unending shelves of musty documents.
Soon he noticed that the name of Amenhotep, the son of Hap, was very
frequently coupled with that of the lost Book. In fact, Unis finally
convinced himself that the Book lay buried with the body of that old
sage, in the subterranean vault of the little temple at which he had
formerly served.
Armed with permission to spend a night in the temple, Unis waited until
Ahmes, the present _ka_-priest, had retired into the outer forecourt,
in an alcove of which he slept. When the aged priest had snuffed
out his lamp, Unis descended into the vault immediately beneath the
offering-tablet and altar.
With determined perseverance, Unis tapped walls and floor, slowly,
systematically. In the western corner of the floor his work met with
success. The pavement thereabouts emitted a hollow sound. In a few
moments Unis had lifted a square slab which fitted so nicely to the
floor that the joints had been invisible. Lamp in hand, Unis descended a
short flight of steps, picked his way along an uneven rocky passage, and
presently stood in the vaulted tomb-chamber of the son of Hap.
For an instant unreasoning fear clutched at the heart of the reckless
priest. There stood the alabaster sarcophagus which held the body of the
sage. Unis read the inscription engraved upon the side: “Amenhotep, born
of Yatu; his father Hap, son of Hap, Justified of Osiris.” There lay
Amenhotep and, with him, the Book.
The Book! Unis’ fears vanished. Trembling with excitement and high
hopes the young priest set himself to his self-imposed task. It was an
auspicious night in the calendar of the prophets of Amen! The Star of
Thoth was in the ascendent!
Unis set to work with a short, stout bronze bar. Hour after hour went by
unnoted by the feverishly excited youth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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