"But I was thinking of my Silvio, and how I should feel if he had been the mummy that was to be unswathed!" Mr.Trelawny got knives and scissors ready, and placed the cat on the table.

It was a grim beginning to our work; and it made my heart sink when I thought of what might happen in that lonely house in the mid-gloom of the night.

The sense of loneliness and isolation from the world was increased by the moaning of the wind which had now risen ominously, and by the beating of waves on the rocks below.

But we had too grave a task before us to be swayed by external manifestations: the unrolling of the mummy began.
There was an incredible number of bandages; and the tearing sound--they being stuck fast to each other by bitumen and gums and spices--and the little cloud of red pungent dust that arose, pressed on the senses of all of us.

As the last wrappings came away, we saw the animal seated before us.