THIEVES IN THE NIGHT
This time he was very much awake. In fact, his sense of wakefulness
seemed almost superhuman. His faculties were preternaturally alert, and
he had a feeling of what might properly be called mental extension--it
was not exaltation--- which seemed to widen his mental vision
enormously. Problems which had puzzled him to desperation suddenly
became as obvious as the first axioms of geometry. In short, he felt as
though he had become a new man, re-born, or re-incarnated, into another
world which contained the one he had so far lived in, but which was
infinitely vaster in some undefined way which was not yet plain to him.
He lay for some time thinking over the extraordinary happenings of the
evening and his dream, which he remembered with astonishing exactness of
detail. Then a sudden turn of thought carried his mind to the subject of
miracles, apparitions, ghosts, and mathematical impossibilities such as
squaring the circle and doubling the cube--and to his amazement he found
that the impossible of yesterday had become the possible--nay, the
almost absurdly obvious of to-night.
He went on thinking and wondering until he began to half-believe that he
was dreaming again, so he got up and switched on the electric light.
Then he turned involuntarily towards the wardrobe, which, as usual, had
a long mirror running down the middle of it. To his amazement he did not
see himself reflected in it. The mirror seemed to have vanished, and in
its place was a window looking into his study.
He saw the mummy-case leaning up against the wall, but it was empty. In
front of it stood a man and a woman. Both were plainly, almost meanly,
dressed; the man in a tightly-buttoned black frock-coat and baggy grey
trousers; the woman in a plain gown of dark stuff, and a shawl which was
draped round her head and shoulders in somewhat Eastern fashion.
He could see their faces distinctly in profile. They were of the classic
Coptic type which so persistently reproduces the features of the old
Egyptians as we see them outlined in the wall-paintings of the temples
and the half-mutilated carvings and statues. The window of the study was
open, but the door was shut; so was the door of his own room, but for
all that he distinctly heard the man say to the woman in Coptic, which,
curiously enough, sounded as familiar to his ears as the faces seemed to
his eyes:
"Neb-Anat, it is gone! These heathen ravishers have not been content
with stealing the body of our Queen from its sacred resting-place and
bringing it here, whither we have traced it with so much labour. See, it
has been stolen again; hidden, no doubt, so that the servants of the
King could not find it. It may be that even we have been suspected and
watched, in spite of all our care. Yet it must be found, or the doom
that may not be revoked will be ours."
"Even so, Pent-Ah," replied the woman in a soft, musical voice which
well suited the comeliness of her face; "but though the priceless
treasure has been taken from its casket, it cannot have been carried out
of the house, for you know that every approach has been watched closely
since it was brought here. Come, in this house it must be, and to find
it is our task. Every one is asleep; take off thy shoes and let us
search."
She took off her own shoes as she spoke, and he saw the man do the same.
Then, as the man opened the door and they passed out of the study, the
picture vanished from the mirror.
Amazement at what he had seen and heard--the disappearance of the Mummy,
the presence of the man and woman, evidently charged with what they
believed to be the sacred mission of stealing it back again, and their
evident purpose of searching the house for it--instantly gave place to a
quick thrill of fear.
His daughter's bedroom was on the same floor as the study, only a
couple of doors away round the corner of the landing. These people would
search every room. What if she had not locked her door securely, or if
they had some means of opening it? She was the living image of the dead
Nitocris. He did not dare to think of what might happen to her. Would
these new-found, strangely-given powers of his suffice to protect her?
If not, he would have but little use for them, since she was his nearest
and dearest on earth.
He pulled his stockings over the pants of his pyjamas and put on his
velvet working jacket, forgetting for the moment that, if these things
were true, it would be perfectly easy for him to make himself invisible
to beings in the ordinary world of three dimensions. Then he turned out
the light, opened the door very softly, and crept downstairs.
Yes, what he had seen was true. He heard the soft, shuffling patter of
stockinged feet along the landing, though he could see nothing in the
dark. A door opened gently. His sense of location told him that it was
the door of the spare bedroom next but one to the study. He felt his way
silently and softly along the wall, and as he did so his hand touched
the electric switch. Should he turn the light on and alarm the house?
Whoever was there had "broken and entered" after midnight, and was
therefore outside the law. No, he would not do that. If what he had
seen was true, the intruders believed that their mission was a sacred
one. No doubt the man was armed, and perhaps the woman also, and what
would a knife-stab mean to them on such a desperate quest?
As these thoughts ran at lightning speed through his mind, he saw a
faint glow inside the room. He crept forward and looked round the side
of the doorway. The man had a little electric lamp in his hand and was
flashing the slender rays all over the room. He drew his head back
quickly as he heard him say:
"There is nothing here, Anat. Come, let us try the next room. Neither
lock nor bolt nor even human life must stand in the way of our search
now that we have begun it!"
He heard them coming towards the door. Instinctively he shrank back, and
his heart stood still as he thought of what would happen if the man
chanced to turn the little ray of his lamp on him. Almost involuntarily
his thoughts went back to the promise of Queen Nitocris, and something
like a prayer that it might be kept rose to his lips.
They came out, and the man flashed the thin electric ray up and down the
passage. It wavered hither and thither, and at last fell directly on his
face. He was anything but a coward, but he was thinking of Niti--and
what if a knife-stab left her undefended? But to his amazement, although
they were both looking straight at him, the expression of neither face
changed in the slightest. They had not seen him. The Queen had answered
his prayer. He was no longer in the world of three dimensions, and so he
was invisible to all dwellers in it. For him, then, there was evidently
no danger--but Niti----?
They moved along to the next door. That was hers. The woman put her hand
on the knob and turned it. To his horror, the door opened. She had
forgotten to lock it. They both crept in, and he followed them boldly
enough now, knowing what he did. The ray leapt rapidly about the room
till it fell on the bed with its pale blue silken coverlet, and then on
the pillow, on which rested the head of the sleeping, breathing image of
the long-dead Queen.
With a half-stifled gasp the man shrank back and dropped the lamp, and
the Professor heard him say to the woman in a shuddering whisper:
"By the High Gods, Neb-Anat, it is a miracle! Do you not see her? It is
she--the Queen--alive again, as the ancient prophecy said she should be.
What magic have these heathens used?"
"Yes," replied the woman, whispering lower, "truly it is the Queen, and
she is alive and sleeping--no doubt passing from the sleep of death
through the sleep of life to life again. Now, O Pent-Ah, is our task
much harder, yet will its accomplishment be all the more glorious for
you and me, and greatly will our Lord reward us if we can restore to his
keeping, not the ravished mummy of Nitocris, but the Queen herself,
warm and breathing and beautiful, as she was in the ancient days of the
great Rameses."
"I'll be hanged if you do!" said the Professor to himself, "not, at
least, if Her Majesty's legacy to me is worth anything. Abduct my
daughter at the dead of night, would you, you scoundrels? We'll see
about that. If you don't leave this house as thoroughly frightened as
ever you were in your lives, I know nothing about the fourth dimension."
Meanwhile he heard them both groping about the floor after the lamp. The
woman found it, and pressed the button. The ray fell on the man's face,
and he saw that the olive of his skin had turned to a ghastly grey. His
eyes were wide open, and his mouth and nostrils were working with
intense excitement. Then the woman turned the ray on Niti's face again.
"They will wake her if this goes on much longer," said the Professor to
himself again. "I had better stop this little comedy before it becomes a
tragedy. Poor Niti would go half mad if she found these two scoundrels
by her bedside--and yet if I do anything out of the way they will yell.
Ah, I think I have it!"
He walked softly out of the room, and when he got into the passage he
whispered in the tongue that had become so strangely familiar to him:
"Pent-Ah, Neb-Anat, come hither instantly! Who are you that you should
disturb the slumbers of your Lady the Queen!"
He saw them stare at each other with eyes wide with fear and wonder.
"It is the command of the Mighty One," whispered the woman, taking hold
of the man's hand and drawing him towards the door.
"And He must be obeyed," said he in reply, bowing his head and following
her.
They closed the door very softly behind them.
The Professor could not repress a sigh of thankfulness for Niti's escape
from what, at best, would have been a very terrible fright.
"And now, my friends," he went on to himself, "I think I can teach you
not to come into an English gentleman's house again with an idea of
stealing his property, to say nothing of abducting his daughter."
The man and woman were still staring at each other by the light of the
lamp, each holding each other's trembling hand, when the lamp was
suddenly snatched away from the woman and went out. Then, to their
horror, the ray shot out again in front of them as though the lamp were
floating by itself in the air. It flashed from face to face, both
ghastly with fear. Then an invisible hand gripped the man's, and drew
him with irresistible force along the passage. The woman grasped his
coat, and followed with shuffling feet and shaking limbs, dumb with
wonder and fear. The hand led them down the passage, round the corner,
and into the study. Then it released them. They heard the door shut and
the key turn in the lock. Then there was a click, and the electric
cluster above the writing-table shone out, apparently of its own
volition. The woman uttered a low scream, and cowered down in a corner
of a big sofa that stood by the bay-window. The man, after one terrified
glance round the room, began to creep towards the open sash; but the
invisible hand gripped him by the collar and pulled him back. His
trembling knees gave way under him, and he rolled in a heap on the
floor.
Then, to his wondering horror, he saw a stout blackthorn stick which was
standing in a corner of the room, jump up into the air and leap towards
him. He put his head down on to the carpet, covered his eyes with his
hands, and began to moan with terror. The stick came down with what
seemed to him superhuman force again and again on his back and
shoulders. He whimpered and moaned, and at last howled with pain. He
rolled over and looked up, and there was the stick hanging in the air
above him. He put up his hands clasped as though in prayer, and down it
came on his knuckles. He did not howl this time. His hands unclasped and
dropped beside him; his head went back, and he fainted in sheer terror.
"There, my friend," said the Professor aloud, forgetting the presence of
the woman for the moment; "mummy or no mummy, I don't think you will
come into this house again. And as for you, madam," he went on, "of
course, I can't give you a hiding, so the sight of his punishment will
have to be enough for you. Still, I think you have had enough of
attempted mummy-stealing to last you some time."
The woman stared up into the vacancy out of which the voice came, her
eyes dilated, and her lips trembling with the movement of her lower jaw.
She saw a jug of water get up off the table and empty itself over her
companion's face. Then she fainted, too.
When Pent-Ah came to himself and sat up, he saw an elderly gentleman,
tall and erect as a man in the prime of life, standing over him with the
blackthorn in one hand and the water-jug in the other.
"I am not going to ask what you two are doing here," he said sternly,
"because I know already. If I called the police I could send you both to
prison for house-breaking and attempted robbery; but I don't want any
fuss, and perhaps you have been punished enough for the present. Ah, I
see your accomplice is coming round. You came in by the window, I
suppose. Now get out by it as quick as you can, and mind you keep your
mouths shut as to what has happened to-night. If you don't," he went on,
suddenly changing into Coptic, "beware of the anger of your Lord--of Him
who never forgives!"
The man scrambled to his feet, whimpering:
"I go, Lord, I go, and my lips shall be silent as the lips of----"
He cast a frightened glance towards the mummy-case, and then, grasping
the woman roughly by the arm, he dragged her towards the open window,
saying:
"Come, Neb-Anat, come ere the wrath of our Lord consumes us!"
* * * * *
"Why, where's the Mummy, Dad?" said Miss Nitocris, as she came into her
father's study just before breakfast the next morning, and looked in
amazement at the empty case.
"Stolen, my dear, I am sorry to say," replied the Professor gravely.
"Did you hear any noises in the house last night, or were you sleeping
too soundly?"
"I seem to have an idea that I did," she said, "but only a dim one; I
thought I only dreamt it. But did you, Dad? Do tell me all about it.
What a horrible shame to steal that lovely Mummy! And it was so like me,
too. I believe I should have got quite fond of it."
"Yes, dear," continued the Professor, speaking, as she thought, a little
nervously. "There was a noise, and I heard it. I came down here and
turned the light on. I found the window open and the Mummy gone--and
that is all I can tell you about it."