Frank Gruber

“ Hanley said. "But it is today the greatest country in the world. The richest and the most powerful—"
"And it is at war?"
"No. But we are aiding the Britons in their war against the Teutons and the Romans. We are sending them ships and airplanes—"
"The Romans, bah!" snapped Ramahadin. "They have always been at war. One tribe always fought the other and when neither had anything to fight about they went to sea in their galleys and became pirates. There is no civilization but Egypt's. Greece is too young—ah, but I forget! What kind of civilization do you have in this America?" ”

“ I can mold men's very souls. He has shown me the secrets of the power of the stars over the movements of vessels upon the sea.
"From here in America I shall rule the world; I, Emory Shepard, shall be more powerful than Hitler, wiser than—"
"It is true," broke in Ramahadin, "I have told you much—too much, I realize—but from it all you have not learned the greatest lesson of all, that it is not wise to shout aloud your knowledge. We realize the danger of your power my friend, and that in itself reduces much of its value. ”

“ Men seemed intent on destroying civilization, not on studying the secrets of its origins.
There remained to them Ramahadin himself, and the Egyptian presented a phenomenon extraordinary past all telling. He went about the modern world with a sort of calm superciliousness which pleased Shepard, but annoyed Blythe, and they all were startled when some three days after his resuscitation—or reincarnation—he appeared able to speak perfect English. ”

“ For I, and I alone, can invoke the spirits of the dead to save the living. Against the forces of evil rampant in the world I shall conjure up the spirits of the oppressed from all ages and generations. ”

“ The black eyes left Hanley's face and fixed themselves upon Professor Blythe's taut, white face.
"Dolmachin—sidi!" he said.
Professor Blythe whirled upon Eric Hanley and exclaimed. "He understands our debased Egyptian." He turned back to the ancient Egyptian. "Ramahadin, sidi?"
"Ramahadin, yes! Who are you? Where am I?" The Egyptian sat up suddenly and his eyes shot wildly about the laboratory. Then a groan escaped his lips. "I do not understand," he said in his harsh, ancient Egyptian tongue. "My servants—where are they?"
"Dead!" said Professor Shepard. ”

“ Lead the way."
"You can't," protested Hanley.
Ramahadin gave him a cold look. "Who is this stripling?" he demanded. "Who is this youngster who dares to question Ramahadin?"
"He is a very able scientist," Professor Blythe said. "He is—"
"I am Ramahadin!" declared the Egyptian. "All scientists bow to me—"
Professor Shepard snickered. "You're a mummy, Ramahadin, a mummy we brought to life. The world doesn't even know you exist."
"You dog!" cried Ramahadin. "Down on your knees." He scooped up an empty plate and suddenly hurled it at Shepard. ”

“ Their altercation was interrupted by the entrance of Susan, Eric and Ramahadin who had been on a visit to one of the great new industries manufacturing war implements.
"I cannot but grieve," said the Egyptian, "that the vast knowledge that man has achieved since I last was on earth is still turned to the art of waging war. It should not be."
"Conquest is power, and power is what we all crave," said Professor Shepard. "I want Professor Blythe to use the power given him by the knowledge contained in the Book of the Dead, but he refuses." ”

“ Let me tell you that since I have gone about this country of yours, I have become convinced that in it is the spirit which will save the world of the future—and nothing as puny as you will stand between it and its purpose. ”

“ Even as his voice faded out, Ramahadin seemed to take on the stature of the priest of old and his listeners were as awed and incapable of speech or action as were his satellites of untold centuries before. ”

“ Susan it was who persuaded Ramahadin to spend long hours with the Blythes. Here he held many discussions with her father about social progress through the ages, analyzed the history of many peoples who had risen and fallen during the long years since Ramahadin had lived upon the earth.
"History has followed a pattern," the Egyptian expounded to them. "Peoples have succeeded or failed, as the gods willed, but also according to the might of their minds. This is a good world here in Atlantis." ”

“ And I give you my word that the text of it is entirely different from the later Book of the Dead, which deals mainly with instructions for the soul of the dead in its journeys. This papyrus, my papyrus tells—"
"Don't!" cried Professor Shepard. "Don't tell him, Blythe. He's a scoffing upstart, who wouldn't believe even if he saw it."
Eric Hanley's eyes glinted. "Let me see it; I'll believe my own eyes—"
Professor Blythe led him to a desk on which was spread out, held down at strategic points with weights, an ancient, brittle strip of papyrus. ”

“ He's—an Egyptian scientist. Professor Shepard and I are consulting with him."
"Whose woman is this?" Ramahadin said suddenly, in Egyptian.
"She is my daughter," Professor Blythe said.
"What strange clothes she wears." Ramahadin grunted. "She is too thin, but I will accept her."
Cold wind seemed to blow upon the back of Eric Hanley's neck. He saw the glitter in the ancient Egyptian's eyes and he said, softly, "This is a different civilization, Ramahadin. Women are no longer sold—or given away—by their fathers."
"Pah!" snorted Ramahadin. "Women are cheap." ”

“ No mummy was ever found in such a state of preservation, after twenty-four centuries. But—the papyrus tells the secret. The embalming of the dead was a closely-guarded secret even in the 18th Dynasty. The art died out completely just a few centuries later and even in the 18th Dynasty it was not what it was a thousand years prior—fifteen hundred. The instructions of the original Book were not carried out. The only explanation is that the Book of the Dead was lost even then, for centuries. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1969, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 54 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
It is imperative that contributors search the renewal databases and ascertain that there is no evidence of a copyright renewal before using this license. Failure to do so will result in the deletion of the work as a copyright violation. ”