AFFAIR OF THE NINTH MUMMY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3860, 6 March 1928, Page 82

AFFAIR OF THE NINTH MUMMY.

By

C. H. B. F.

It was during my long tenure of the office of curator of the Museum (suppressed at the express desire of the authorities concerned) that the happening which I now chronicle took place. With” out exception it was the most original adventure that fell to my lot in a not uneventful career, and after the necessary lapse of many years I give you the story half sorrowfully, anticipating that it will gain for me, at best, but little more than a smile of polite incredulity. But to those who will, at least, admit of strange phenomena outside the region of their immediate ken, and will allow that there be indeed more things in heaven and eaith than we of the twentieth cerftury, in our even yet limited knowledge, can give credit Tor, there will surely come an element of entertainment.

At the outset, I must frankly tell you, regarding the affair of the Ninth Muinrnv’ that Captain Bentley, of th.? New Yoik police, perhaps the most astute criminal investigator of the century, and Herr Dr Franz Schoeffer, the noted German archaeologist, when placed in possession of the facts, such as they are now detailed, promptly i idiculed the whole occurrence and dismissed it as an enic of self-hypnotic imagination. This disconcerting fact, however, need not detract from my story, for the most eminent biologist of our time, no less a person than Professor Gaston Pizzot, of the Paris 1-acuity, was most fortunately an eye-witness of the whole affair, and'sets his seal upon the authenticity of my every statement. The ingenious explaining away of the facts by Bentlev and Dr Schoeffer is quite credible, as Pizzot certainly might have exercised a hypnotic influence over me, but that he could throw such a spell over two other persons, each chosen at random by myself to perform certain tasks, is beyond the bounds of possibility, without a" remarkable chain of coincidences and the separate connivance of the transparently trustworthy persons concerned. And as I have seen “things” in Buimah and elsewhere, I am therefore fully disposed to credit the evidence of my senses on this remarkable occasion.

The proudest moment of my life was when, after four year’s of patient excavation in Egypt, just outside Tel-el-Amara, I left for home with the detailed plan of a secret temple which we had unearthed. The object of my sweltering sojourn had been to secure, if humanly possible, such an ensemble as I had had the unprecedented good fortune to do, and to reassemble the place irr its absolute entirety irr the museum of which I had been appointed curator. There was but one jarring note, in that, when we unearthed it, buried in the scorching sand, the erection was intact from the outside, the seals perfect and unbroken. But it was soon evident that rude robber hands long before our visit had carried off one of the mummies, though nothing else appeared to have been tampered with. Six months after I left Egypt the project . had been accomplished, and the specially constructed wing of my museum was proud irr its unique possession of the Secret Temple of the Nile God, erected in most faithful detail. The wing, I should explain, was joined. to the main hall by a wide corridor which was lined on either side with glass cases containing an excellent miscellany bf ancient Egyptian relics—not a few of them priceless. At the end of this corridor there opened out the great room in which the Temple of Ammon had been reverently resurrected. The concrete floor had been paved with the identical iles, the windowless walls painted and pillared to pattern, whilst against the wall farthermost from the corridor and immediately facing it, was placed the great altar, towering above which sat the 20ft figure of the Nile God, inscrutable, emotionless. For the sake of effect two spirals of incense (the only item which was unoriginal) constantly ascended from the bronze braziers flanking the altar. Along each wall of the chamber, to right and left of the massive figure, were the eight mummies which we had discovered in the temple, each superbly coffined. From the inscriptions on their mummy cases it was evident that they were the eight arch priests of Ammon, whose leader, the great Amen-Ka-Ra, other vandal hands than mine had carried off.

Facing the Nile God, at the far end of the. long corridor, and occupying the wall all by himself mainly for the want

of a better place to put him, was a mummy whose “ cartouche ” or sign emblem had been destroyed, leaving him ft r ever nameless—a punishment unique and awful in the Egyptian calendar. Again, mainly for want of something better, we had christened him the “ Ninth Mummy.” He stood upon a pedestal staring straight in front of him as he had done for 40 centuries, a curious look on his gilded face, a malignant cast in his almond eyes.- He was not pleasant to look upon; there seemed to the supersensitive among us such an expression on his baleful features as uttered an unspoken warning, as if to say: “ Woe unto you, desecrators of the sanctuarv.”

Professor Pizzot, then popularly regarded as a crank of the first waters on account of his theory of periodic postmortem materialisation, though an amateur Egyptologist of note, had travelled specially to see the exhibit on its inauguration. On the night of the formal opening of the new wing, after the publichad stormed the place in their enthusiasm, I left Holmes, my first assistant, in charge of the empty hall until the night staff arrived, and retired to my room where the professor and I sat discussing the great event over a cigar. At half-past 9 we were interrupted bv Holmes, who walked in unbidden. He was peculiar in manner and colour, and passed a hand wearily across his brow. In reply to my questioning look he managed to say, in a distant voice, that he was far from well, and begged to be. relieved at once. His appearance bore out his statement, and I concurred. Pizzot would have ministered to him oii the spot, but he would have none of it, and backed away to the door, where he remained, eyeing us most peculiarly in uneasy silence. I rang for the head attendant, instructing him to see Holmes safely away and to take over my assistant’s interrupted guard himself/ Pizzot was the first to sneak when we were alone again, remarking on the look of wonder in my assistant's eye which, he av erred, was due to a sudden shock. We had not gone far with out theories when there was a hurried step outside my door, which was unceremoniously burst open, revealing the head attendant on the threshold. I recoiled from the sight that he presented to our view. Terror was in his eyes so unmistakably that he must have been shaken to the very soul. His lips moved spasmodically as if the poor fellow would tell, though no words came. There he stood trenibling, speechless, struck as dumb as though the tongue had withered in his mouth. Pizzot was on his feet in a moment, and caught him as he collapsed. A swift examination brought forth' the y eidiet that the man had fallen asleep - hj pnotised, no doubt, by some unspoken fear and dread.

. looked at Pizzot—he looked at me; thiougn both our minds the same thought flashed. 1-irst, the strange manner of Holmes, then the present drama. No word was spoken; I d at the clock —a quarter to 10. None of the attendants was due for 15 minutes more. Dare we go out into the museum alone? If we did not, what was going ou? I took an automatic from mv drawe*supplied Pizzot with another,' and together we went out to elucidate the mystery. Not a word passed our lips. Our steps were bent, in common accord, towards the Egyptian Gallerv, whence it was now clear that Holmes had fled. On the rubber flooring our tread was silent. At the entrance to the long gallerv we paused. Being human, and withal men of high tension, we were frankly afraid. Reassured by his automatic, 1 izzot took the initiative and stepped into the long corridor, which culminated in the resurrected temple; I then/followed closely. The place was in comparative darkness; Holmes or the head attendant had switched off the ights most probably as they retreated. The moonlight, however, was sufficient for our purpose, as it streamed in through the great glass roof, revealing surely the weirdest sight that ever eves of man looked upon. On the instant my brain said run—my feet refused to function. 1 was rooted to the spot in dumb amazement, for, at the far end of the long corridor, unless my eyes were victims of unique hallucination, were nine figures human shapes, grouped around the statue of the great Nile God, intent on some nocturnal celebration.

I izzot was again the first to recover for I was recalled to tolerable normality by Jus gasped “Bon Dieu!” I looked at him; there was a strange light burning in his eyes; his lips were apart in anticipation. Looking straight in front, he pointed sideways to the emplacement of the Nuith Mummy, whose pedestal was empty. We exchanged glances, then, in the mystic light, full of wonder and incredulity. We looked again at the uueaithly council before the altar, and saw that, even as we had looked awav, the unholy seance had terminated and the grouped figures were about to disperse. It was then that the beings sensed our presence, and the leading figure pointed a bony hand in our direction. With a hoarse cry I realised the honor and danger of our position, and would have fled precipitately had not Pizzot wrenched my 7 pistol from my nerveless fingers, and, with.oue in each of his unwavering hands, he carefully aimed and let fly at the shapes, men or devils, about to advance upon us. Answering the spiteful crack of the automatics, one by one I saw them sink to the floor, and, with the collapse of the last one, there was a thunderous crash as the figure of the god tumbled from his lofty throne, smashing to a thousand pieces on the concrete floor.

The end of that affair is as fresh iq my mind as if it were happening now, which heaven forfend. When help and lights were forthcoming, the. scene of devastation presented to our view wag heartrending. The remains of eight; mummies lay strewn about on the floor of the hall under the great figure of thg god which had crashed upon them, grind, ing them to powder. One alone of thg unholy celebrants escaped destruction, for, by virtue of his position in advance of his acolytes, the Ninth Mummy; now unquestionably the missing Amen-Ka-Ra, High Priest of the Sacred Order, had fallen clear.

When instructions had been issued to the gaping staff, Professor Pizzot had the Ninth Mummy carried below, and, in my presence alone, expounded his contention and intention. To say I was, at least, dumbfounded, would be to utter a, commonplace. No word in the dictionary can adequately express my jumbled feelings. Counselling Pizzot against toying with the supernatural, I flatly refused, t<j be- a party to Ins ghoulish experiment, and, leaving an automatic in his keeping, I left him to his labour—glad to escape to the sanctity and peace, apart from troubling thoughts, of my home, where, however, a fitful and awful slumber claimed me.

What ultimately occurred in Pizzot’s extempore laboratory I do not know ami cannot tell, beyond stating that whoever now seeks the least part of that once remarkable collection is doomed to perpetual disappointment; drastic cases necessitate as drastic treatment! But I will say tins, that though the prolonged investigations following upon the Horrible happenings of that night have caused no little dissension in the learned circles immediately concerned, and the writing of innumerable controversial papers, when now and then I see him, Professor Pizzot has a constant gleam in his big grey eyes—the gleam which heralds victory.' —An exchange.