But then, what could there be that could produce such an effect?
The room is, I know, full of mummy smell; and no wonder, with so many relics from the tomb, let alone the actual mummy of that animal which Silvio attacked.
By the way, I am going to test him tomorrow; I have been on the trace of a mummy cat, and am to get possession of it in the morning.

When I bring it here we shall find out if it be a fact that racial instinct can survive a few thousand years in the grave.

However, to get back to the subject in hand.

These very mummy smells arise from the presence of substances, and combinations of substances, which the Egyptian priests, who were the learned men and scientists of their time, found by the experience of centuries to be strong enough to arrest the natural forces of decay.

There must be powerful agencies at work to effect such a purpose; and it is possible that we may have here some rare substance or combination whose qualities and powers are not understood in this later and more prosaic age.