“I found it to consist of two parts. The first, fortunately, almost complete, the second, as you see, with a great part missing. How much is missing I can’t even surmise, but I should say that from this point”--he bent forward and laid a long finger upon the papyrus--“to the end where it is torn covers a period of some two hundred and eighty years. It bears the names, or as we should say, the signatures, of six generations of priests. “The first and shorter part, written toward the end of Seti’s reign, if I’m not mistaken, states that in accordance with the wishes of a certain learned high priest of the Temple of Amen Ra at Thebes and with the consent of Pharaoh, an attempt was made to prove that not only the physical frame but human life itself could be preserved indefinitely under peculiar conditions.” “What!” Barry exclaimed incredulously--“that a living person could be mummified and remain alive?” “This priest,” Danbazzar replied, “referred to in the papyrus--his name would mean nothing to you--believed that he had perfected a process for accomplishing this! It was all an outcome of that peculiar egotism which belonged to the Ancient Egyptians. And in this way, no doubt, he interested Pharaoh in his experiments. “You get what I mean? The statues and records which had preserved for posterity the principal events of earlier reigns weren’t good enough to tell coming ages of the greatness of Seti the First! To _his_ glory a _living witness_ should be left behind to testify to the ancient grandeur of Egypt. This is stated at the beginning of the papyrus, which then goes on to relate that a beautiful captive, attached to the person of the Queen, was selected for this high honour.” “High honour!” cried Barry. “You mean she was selected to be put to death!” Danbazzar smiled slightly. “As it is stated that she was of great beauty and bodily perfection,” he admitted, “it is just possible that an element of jealousy entered into this selection. At any rate, for whatever reason, this girl was chosen, and she is referred to in the writing as Zalithea, a Princess of Unu, taken captive in the wars of Seti. As Egyptologists have never succeeded in identifying this island of Unu, we can’t even guess at the nationality of Zalithea. But she possibly came from the neighbourhood of Cyprus. “Now--” he paused, raising his finger--“the nature of the process by which this suspension of life was induced, and that by which it was to be ended, or the subject awakened, is not mentioned. This papyrus”--he lowered his finger and pointed again--“is no more than a brief statement of the fact that, in accordance with the wishes of Pharaoh, Princess Zalithea was selected for this high honour and laid in a certain tomb under the guardianship of a group of priests appointed as custodians. “Certain funds were set aside for the upkeep of the small temple attached to the tomb, and one of the most extraordinary experiments ever attempted by man had begun.”