But this mummy." Braddock peered closely at it and rapped the wood to assure himself it was no phantom.

"Yes! it is my mummy, the mummy of Inca Caxas.

Now I shall learn how the Peruvians embalmed their royal dead.

Mine! mine! mine!" He crooned like a mother over a child, caressing the coffin; then suddenly drew himself upright and fixed Mrs.Jasher with an indignant eye.

"So it was you, madam, who stole my mummy," he declared venomously, "and I thought of making you my wife.