“Yes.” Professor Blackwell looked up slowly. “Curiously enough, I was thinking about him. He, of course, dates from somewhere about the same period as Princess Zalithea, and the preservation in this case is remarkable. But the system of mummifying employed on Seti could not be employed on a living person. It is very interesting, though--very interesting. A German physiologist whom I met in Berlin recently--I forget his name, but he was a knowledgeable man--was anxious to attempt some experiment of the kind, in a small way, upon a hypnotized subject. The difficulty, of course, was to find the subject.” “Naturally!” said Barry, laughing. The Professor glanced aside at him over his spectacles. And then: “I pointed out to my German acquaintance,” he went on, “that normal processes of decay would proceed under these conditions quite inevitably. And if there is anything in the extraordinary claims made in this papyrus, I can only assume that some formula must have been invented to check these processes. Of course, it is frightfully empirical. One dare not raise such a thing seriously before modern science. It would spell ruin.” “Nevertheless,” said Danbazzar, “you are right--there _was_ such a formula.” “Ah!” exclaimed John Cumberland, “if only we could recover it.” “I _have_ recovered it,” Danbazzar replied calmly. “What!” “I acquired it at the same time that I acquired this other papyrus. It is locked in that safe over there.” “That settles it,” said Cumberland, standing up. “My other plans are made. What do you estimate it would cost, Danbazzar, to finance the expedition?” “Two hundred thousand dollars,” was the prompt reply. “Be ready in a fortnight,” said Cumberland. “I must start then or postpone the journey till next season.” CHAPTER IX. EGYPT BOUND “Some people are so indecently lucky,” Jim Sakers protested. “It has been my ambition from childhood to visit the interior of the Sphinx.” “You poor nut!” said Barry. “The Sphinx is solid. You mean the interior of the Pyramid!” “Not so hasty,” Jim rebuked him, “not so hasty, my friend. My ambitions are not the ambitions of an ordinary man. Any fool can visit the interior of the Pyramid if he’s lucky enough to get to Egypt. Nothing so commonplace as that appeals to me. I said, and I repeat, that it has always been my ambition to visit the interior of the Sphinx. I hope I make myself clear.” “You expose fresh views of your ghastly ignorance at every turn,” Barry said. “If you can think clearly for two minutes, concentrate on what I’m going to say. Everybody seems to think that I need a vacation, and Dad has decided to pay a visit to Egypt and to spend the beginning of winter there.” “Lucky, lucky man,” Jim murmured. “He is keen for me to go with him,” Barry went on; “and as I have never been out of America yet, the idea rather appeals----”