"Wherefore I say that it is not proper to be alarmed at a mere sound when the cause of that sound is unknown. "And wherefore, I repeat that, for fear of great disaster to thyself, let not thine hand touch this brazen cylinder which containeth the Thing which shall remain imprisoned therein in the realms of Tuat (the underworld) until released by Osiris on the Day of Awakening... this 25th of the month Tybi. "Be ye therefore warned, for by disobedience assuredly the anger of the Sun-God and of Osiris the Eternal will fall heavily upon thee. And Harnekht shall smite them. "May disaster happen but in the house of thine enemies. May traitors, day by day, be led by Time to their destruction, and may they remain for ever in Amentet, the place of gloom..." "Curious," I said, looking up to the Professor's grave bearded face as he peered over to me through his glasses. "Yes. The fable is very interesting. I have not yet decided the actual date of the papyri. But it is certainly much later than King Merenptah," he said. "We have many cartouches of his time here in the Museum, and there are many others about Europe, as St Petersburg and Darmstadt. But in certain ways the hieroglyphics are different. Hence I am of opinion that the bronze cylinder referred to--if it has been found and still exists--was placed with these papyri in the tomb at a much later date." "You have no knowledge of the person who brought this to you?" I asked. "Only that his name was Arnold--I see that I made a note at the time-- and that he was staying at the Savoy Hotel." "Strange that he did not return to claim his find." "Very. My own idea is that he may have been called abroad suddenly, and will return one day. He seemed extremely intelligent." "And the cylinder. What do you think it could have contained--what is the Thing to which the papyri refers!" The old professor shrugged his shoulders. "How can we tell if the cylinder is non-existent? Probably it was rifled from the royal tomb a thousand years ago and broken open by sacrilegious persons who were unable to decipher these writings, and who cared nothing for the curse of the ten plagues placed upon them," he laughed. Then Mr Arnold had evidently not revealed to the Professor the existence of the cylinder. Why? Because he had already again hidden it in fear. "We have many records of objects concealed, but most of the things referred to in the papyri have disappeared ages ago," added the great Egyptologist, who, taking me along the gallery, showed me the mummy of the great Pharaoh Merenptah himself, in whose tomb the fragments of papyri were found. The Professor was extremely kind, and lent me his decipher to copy them. After finding that I could obtain nothing further concerning the man Arnold, and that he was not known as an Egyptologist, I thanked him and left without telling him of the existence of the cylinder.