"In the bag--at the bottom--you will find a sealed cylinder of metal."
I searched as he directed, and drew forth a heavy ancient cylinder of
bronze, about a foot and a half long and three inches in diameter. The
top had, I saw, been welded down, but a long time ago, because of the
green corrosion about it.
When I had carried it across to him, he looked me straight in the face
with those deep-set glassy eyes, which haunted me for long afterwards,
and said--
"I trust you with that, Mr Kemball, because--because--I feel assured
that you will act as I direct. Do not attempt to seek--to discover what
is within. That secret must be withheld--from you. In this I hope--
that you will respect my desire--I hope so, for--for your own sake."
I held the mysterious cylinder in my hand in wonder. Evidently he
treasured it even far greater than his riches, and had brought it to
London with some distinct purpose which he was now--owing to his
heart-trouble--unable to accomplish.
"There are other things--other things in the bag. Bring them to me," he
said, in a low, weak voice, speaking with the greatest difficulty.
I brought the bag over to him and turned its contents pell-mell upon the
floor. Among the several articles of clothing were a few old letters
which, at his direction, I burned amid the tinder of the banknotes.
Then, on searching further, I found a small, and evidently very antique,
statuette of a figure standing, holding a kind of spear. It was about
seven inches high, much worn, with a square base, and of solid gold.
Around it I noticed an inscription in hieroglyphics.
"That," my dying friend managed to gasp, "is an ancient image--of the
Egyptian God Osiris, son of Seb, and Nut, or Heaven and Earth, and
married to Isis. He was held to have gone through sufferings--to have
died--to have risen again, and finally to have become the Judge of the
Dead, His mysteries and rites were--were the most important part of
Egyptian wisdom. The inscription upon it shows that it was made by one
Mersekha, in the reign of King Radadef, in the Fourth Dynasty--or about
three thousand five hundred years before the Christian era. Take it for
yourself, Mr Kemball," added the old man, his voice distinctly weaker.
"It will serve as your mascot and will perhaps remind you of the
friendless man whom you have to-day befriended."