“‘Bravo!’ I shouted, for such a piece of reasoning demanded applause.  He seemed pleased as he went on: 

“’When you are in the tomb, examine this spot.  There is probably some spring or mechanical contrivance for opening the receptacle.  What it may be, there is no use guessing.  You will know what best to do, when you are on the spot.’

“I started the next week for Egypt; and never rested till I stood again in the tomb.  I had found some of our old following; and was fairly well provided with help.  The country was now in a condition very different to that in which it had been sixteen years before; there was no need for troops or armed men.

“I climbed the rock face alone.  There was no difficulty, for in that fine climate the woodwork of the ladder was still dependable.  It was easy to see that in the years that had elapsed there had been other visitors to the tomb; and my heart sank within me when I thought that some of them might by chance have come across the secret place.  It would be a bitter discovery indeed to find that they had forestalled me; and that my journey had been in vain.

“The bitterness was realised when I lit my torches, and passed between the seven-sided columns to the Chapel of the tomb.

“There, in the very spot where I had expected to find it, was the opening of a serdab.  And the serdab was empty.

“But the Chapel was not empty; for the dried-up body of a man in Arab dress lay close under the opening, as though he had been stricken down.  I examined all round the walls to see if Trelawny’s surmise was correct; and I found that in all the positions of the stars as given, the Pointers of the Plough indicated a spot to the left hand, or south side, of the opening of the serdab, where was a single star in gold.

“I pressed this, and it gave way.  The stone which had marked the front of the serdab, and which lay back against the wall within, moved slightly.  On further examining the other side of the opening, I found a similar spot, indicated by other representations of the constellation; but this was itself a figure of the seven stars, and each was wrought in burnished gold.  I pressed each star in turn; but without result.  Then it struck me that if the opening spring was on the left, this on the right might have been intended for the simultaneous pressure of all the stars by one hand of seven fingers.  By using both my hands, I managed to effect this.

“With a loud click, a metal figure seemed to dart from close to the opening of the serdab; the stone slowly swung back to its place, and shut with a click.  The glimpse which I had of the descending figure appalled me for the moment.  It was like that grim guardian which, according to the Arabian historian Ibn Abd Alhokin, the builder of the Pyramids, King Saurid Ibn Salhouk placed in the Western Pyramid to defend its treasure:  ’A marble figure, upright, with lance in hand; with on his head a serpent wreathed.  When any approached, the serpent would bite him on one side, and twining about his throat and killing him, would return again to his place.’