The Romance of Golden Star | Page 3

impenetrable mask of that smooth, broad forehead of
his. He looked into his eyes, but saw nothing there save a cold, steady
light that he had often seen before when the doctor was discussing
subjects that interested him deeply. As for his face, it was utterly
impassive--the face of a dispassionate scientist quietly discussing the
possible solution of a problem that had been laid before him. Whether

his friend was really driving at some unheard-of and unearthly solution
of the problem which he himself had raised, or whether he was merely
discussing the possible issue of some abstract question in physiology,
he was utterly unable to discover, and so he thought it best to confine
himself to the matter in hand, without hazarding any risky guesses that
might possibly result in his own confusion. So he answered as quietly
as he could:
'Yes, I must confess that there are two perhaps very important points of
difference between this and any other Peruvian mummy that I have
ever seen or heard of.'
'Ah, I thought so,' said Djama, half closing his eyes and allowing just
the ghost of a smile to flit across his lips. 'I thought I knew enough
about archæology and the science of mummies in general to expect you
to say that. Now, just for the gratification of my own vanity, I should
like to try and anticipate what you are going to say; and if I'm wrong,
well, of course, I shall only be too happy to be contradicted.'
'Very well,' laughed the professor; 'say on!'
'Well, in the first place, I believe I'm right in saying that all Peruvian
mummies that have so far been discovered have been found in a sitting
posture, with the legs drawn close up to the body by means of bindings
and burial-clothes, so that the chin rested between the knees, while the
arms were brought round the legs and folded over them. Then, again,
these mummies have always been found in an upright position, while
you found this one lying down.'
'Quite so, quite so!' said the professor. 'In fact, I may say that no one
save myself has ever discovered such a mummy as this among all the
thousands that have been taken out of Peruvian burying-places. And
now, what is your other point?'
'Simply this,' said Djama, kneeling down beside the case, and laying his
hands over the abdomen of the recumbent figure. 'In the case of all
mummies, whether Egyptian or Peruvian, it was the invariable practice
of the embalmers to take out the intestines and fill the abdominal cavity

with preservative herbs and spices. Now, this has not been done in this
case. Look here.'
And deftly and swiftly he moved the dusty, half-decayed coverings
from the body of the mummy, while the professor looked on
half-wondering and half-frightened for the safety of his treasure.
'That has not been done here. You see the man's body is as perfect as it
was on the day he died--to use a conventional term. Now, am I not
right?'
'Yes, yes; perfectly right,' answered the professor, who felt himself fast
losing his grip of the conversation which had taken so strange a turn.
'But what has all this got to do with the most unique mummy that ever
was brought from South America? Surely, in the name of all that's
sacred, you don't mean--'
'My dear fellow, never mind what I mean for the present,' replied
Djama, with another of his half smiles. 'If I mean anything at all, the
meaning will keep, and if I don't it doesn't matter. Now, do you mind
telling me exactly how and where you came across this extraordinary
specimen of--well, for want of a better term--we will say, Inca
embalming?'
'Yes, willingly,' said the professor, glad to get back again on to the
familiar ground of his own experiences. 'I found it almost by accident
in a little valley about four days' ride to the westward of Cuzco. I was
on my way to Abancay across the Apurimac. My mule had fallen lame,
and so I got belated. Night came on, and somehow we got off the track
crossing one of the Punas--those elevated tablelands, you know, up
among the mountains--and when the mule could go no farther we
camped, and the next morning I found myself in an almost circular
valley, completely walled in by enormous mountains, save for the
narrow, crooked gorge through which we had stumbled by the purest
accident. The bottom of this valley was filled by a little lake, and while
I was exploring the shores of this I saw, hidden underneath an
overhanging ledge of rock, a couple of courses of that wonderful
mortarless masonry which the Incas alone seemed to know how to

build. I had no sooner