"Well," explained Billy Jones, "Sarcophagus occupied the same relation to the Egyptians that Augustus did to the Romans--in fact, the irreverent used to call him Sarcophagustus, instead of Sarcophagus, which was his real name. This poem of Haarley's is manifestly addressed to him." [Illustration: "SARCOPHAGUSTUS"] "Did he have nickel-plated eyebrows?" asked Bedfork Parke, satirically. "No," said Billy Jones. "As I remember the story of Sarcophagus as I read of him in college, he was a very pallid sort of a potentate--his forehead was white as marble. So they called him the Argent-browed Sarcophagus." "It's a good thing for us we have Billy Jones with us to tell us all these things," whispered Tom Snobbe to his brother Dick. "You bet your life," said Dick. "There's nothing, after all, like a classical education. I wish I'd known it while I was getting mine." "What's 'fell misogyny'?" asked Tenafly Paterson, who seemed to be somewhat enamoured of the phrase. "Didn't old Sarcophagus care for chemistry?" "Chemistry?" demanded the chairman. "That's what I said," said Tenny. "Isn't misogyny a chemical compound of metal and gas?" Tenny had been to the School of Mines for two weeks, and had retired because he didn't care for mathematics and the table at the college restaurant wasn't good. "I fancy you are thinking of heterophemy, which is an infusion of unorthodox gases into a solution of vocabulary particles," suggested Billy Jones, grasping his sides madly to keep them from shaking. "Oh yes," said Tenny, "of course. I remember now." Then he laughed somewhat, and added, "I always get misogyny and heterophemy mixed." "Who wouldn't?" cried Harry Snobbe. "I do myself! There's no chance to talk about either where I live," he added. "Half the people don't know what they mean. They're not very anthropological up my way." "What's a Samarcand?" asked Tenafly, again. "Haarley's poem speaks of Cossack and of Samarcand. Of course we all know that a Cossack is a garment worn by the Russian peasants, but I never heard of a Samarcand." "It's a thing to put about your neck," said Dick Snobbe. "They wear 'em in winter out in Siberia. I looked it up some years ago." "Let's take up 'cerulean fire,'" said Bedford Parke, Tenafly appearing to be satisfied with Snobbe's explanation. "What's 'cerulean fire'?" "Blue ruin," said Huddy. "And 'damask earth'?" said Bedford. "Easy," cried Huddy. "Even I can understand that. Did you never hear, Beddy, of painting a town red? That's damask earth in a small way. If you can paint a town red with your limited resources, what couldn't a god do with a godlike credit? As I understand the poem, old Sarcophagus comes down out of the cerulean fire, and goes in for a little damask earth. That's why the poet later says: "'Canst listen to a prayer, Sarcophagus? Indeed O art thou there, Sarcophagus?' He wanted to pray to him, but didn't know if he'd got back from damask earth yet."