The weird of the wanderer Being the papyrus records of some incidents in one of the previous lives of Mr. Nicholas Crabbe

penetrated into the occult arcana. Under pretext of studying the surgery of ancient Egypt, I learned to read hieroglyphics; and, in time, my exertions and my energies culminated in a single desire to get to the root of white magic as contained on papyri in tombs of archpriests of temples of Isis. For a whole year I pondered the difficulties and the dangers, delaying to gratify my desire, expecting a sign or a companion from the blessed gods. None came. Arrived at the end of my patience, I acted very suddenly. For, having provided myself with gold money and circular notes,[3] I went my own way to Alexandria, departing from my native land which now is the barbarian Britannia. And, at Alexandria, I hired a boat with boatmen and servants: for it was in my noble mind to sail up River Nile, staying when and where I listed, exploring ruins above Assiut, specially small ruins, in the hope of finding mummy-chests ripe for rifling or hieroglyphics crying to be read on pillars or walls of unknown temples. During eight months, thus I did: but I found no more than three unopened mummy-chests, and (beside them) little of worth. Nevertheless, one of the said chests contained certain superior matters: to wit, a magic staff of silver and ebony, and a silver divination-cup chased with sacred creatures, which things I did not examine closely till I came to Philai. But, there, my labours were rewarded: for a small temple at Philai yielded no less than three-and-forty mummy-chests, carven and painted, containing the remains of persons who (in their time) had been most mighty. And, of these, I will name one, having many matters to narrate concerning him. But he was the priest Amenemhat, sometime hierarch of the temple of Isis at Tanis by the mouth of Nile. Moreover, I found a manual intitled _For the Use of Priests_; and it contained the rules by which mortal men may communicate with the immortals, whom the Egyptians call Osirians. And this was by far the most noble thing which I discovered. But I must not omit to mention also a divination-ball, of rock-crystal of the bigness of a baby’s head, which I found in a mummy-chest: it was banded with silver set with large blue moonstones, and a silver chain was attached to it. Now I took this for a favourable omen, very apt indeed to me: for, having been born under the moon and the sign of the crab, and being therefore crab by nature as well as Crabbe by name, the heart in my dear breast rejoiced greatly to possess so beautiful a jewel, formed (indeed) of the very stones and of the very metal which (as is well known) are proper to a native of that sign and of that planet. But I hanged it by its chain to the magic staff already named. When, at length, I had leisure to study the papyrus manual, I became aware of the vast power which it put into my hands. It contained a very long and useless introduction, including oft-reiterated laments because Okhos (the Persian successor of the deposed Nebk-Neft) had degraded the hierarchy of Khem, striking a blow at the prestige of all hierarchs. But, this being ended, the gist of the work was clearly set down: nor could anything more be added necessary to enable one (possessed of the magic implements, as I was), to commune with long-dead sages, mages who had relinquished the use of their bodies and dwelt no more in the sweet sunlight, obtaining from them the wisdom of the past, and the power which such wisdom gives, both unpossessed by men alive. But it appeared that I still lacked certain spices and sacred combustibles, both essential in magic operations. Wherefore, being always young and headstrong and (therefore) of a spasmodic habit, I turned about instantly to those places where I could purchase myrrh and cassia and gum-olibanon and gum-tragacanth and spikenard and red-sanders and saffron and cinnamon and sulphur and powdered ivory and pepper and pepperwort and mastic and certain other substances the names of which may not be written on account of a religious reason. And four months passed before I had finished this quest in Cairo and Alexandria and Arabia and Byzantion and Massilia, filling a cabinet with potent essences and very virtuose quintessences. In this manner I reascended the sacred river, until I came to Korte. FOOTNOTES: [1] So far the papyrus is written in late-Victorian English, in what I take to be Mr. Crabbe’s own hand. I may say that I am not inclined to discredit any of the statements, abnormal or otherwise, made by the King of Moxoene (that is to say, by Mr. Nicholas Crabbe). The _Oath Compelling Truth_, which he here uses, is a recognized and quite respectable formula; and I am not aware of any instance on record of its ever having been belied in any particular, however minute. Indeed, in so far as Truth is the Agreement of Words with Facts, all history seems to shew that the solemn swearing of this _Oath Compelling Truth_ is perhaps the most irrefragable warranty of Truth, as such, which our present state of information can supply. A. H. [2] I take it that Mr. C. uses these words in a Platonic sense, as signifying mental and physical activities respectively. A. H. [3] These two words are written in English in what I take to be Mr. C.’s own hand. A. H. THE SECOND PAPYRUS But I had determined to do my magic in an inner court of the temple at Korte, unknown to persons liable to disturb my peace. And, with incredible toil, I cleared the said court of sand, having left my servants in charge of my boat a mile away. Furthermore, in the hard red-granite pavement of the court, I cut a circular channel of sufficient depth to contain a certain very holy liquid; and this I did with nineteen days’ incessant labour, using a hammer and a well-tempered chisel. But the trench was three paces and nine in circumference, and half-a-span in width, and a quarter of a span in depth. In the midst of the circle and on the base of a fallen column, I set my silver divination-cup; and, by it, I placed my cabinet of essences and quintessences: but I hanged my divination-orb to my left arm by its silver chain, holding the magic staff in my hand. The fulness of the moon agreed with what was described in my papyrus manual; and, when all was ready, I filled the circular furrow with a bright-green essence, pungent, mysteriously potent, continuing to pour till the trench was lip-deep with the emerald fluid. Next, I filled the divination-cup with water from the sacred river, lowering the orb of divination therein with my left hand, and sprinkling the circle with gum-tragacanth while I intoned the incantation called _Of the Buckle of Red Jasper Dipped in Water of Ankham Flowers and Inlaid in Sycamore Wood and Placed on the Neck of the Shining One_, which is the Power of Isis. The moon grew brighter and more fierce, till she wellnigh rivalled the sun in brightness; and her hot rays made me sweat profusely. Wherefore, at the proper time, I was glad to strip me naked; but I began to stir the water in the cup with the magic staff, saying: “_The Blood of Isis, the Charms of Isis, the Power of Isis, be a protection unto Me, the Master, crushing that which I abhor, making all Ways passable or flyable or swimable unto Me: and I stretch out one Hand to Heaven and the Other to Earth._” In the glare of almost unbearable moonlight, I saw that my crystal orb was becoming red-hot notwithstanding that it was immersed in Nile-water. But I poured the proper unguent of aloes into my cup, with nine tears of gum-olibanon; and the green liquid in the trench blushed with ruddily gleaming access of fury. But I, looking again on my papyrus manual, read these words: “_See that thou grasp thy staff firmly, not letting it fall from thee through any pang, be thy pangs never so keen; likewise, when the clear sphere gleameth redly, hold thy staff as though it were thy life, for so it is, and if thou lose it thou shalt die._” And, hardly had I read this rule (which I had never seen before: although I had collated the whole manual with some care during my four-months’ quest for spices), hardly, I say, had I read these awful words, when I felt the magic staff growing hot in my hands. I gripped it more closely: but its heat increased. I felt it searing my flesh. I saw the smoke rise. I heard the flesh frizzle like the hissing collops of an acceptable sacrifice farced with select fats. And, all the while, lurid lightnings leaped from the liquid in the trench. At last, so poignant was my anguish, that I determined rather to risk death than to see and hear and smell my living hand burned off while I stood. But, at the very moment, piercing through the sputtering of the white-hot lambent rod in my defenceless hand, there came a divine voice from I know not where, saying in the Argive tongue: “_Be of good heart, my child, and endure for all my pain: for many of us who inhabit olympian palaces have suffered._”[4] Whereon I nerved myself, dismissing base thoughts of surrender. And all grew black before my eyes; and my soul was shrouded in obscurity. So I stood, enduring unmentioned and unthought-of anguish with all my might; and I indeed was on the very verge of swooning: when suddenly the admirable voice came again, ringing triumphantly, saying: “_Hail, Conquistator of Self! Hail, Nicholas, the Victor over many Peoples!_” And immediately the staff became cool; and my reeking wounds vanished, and only the memory of my ordeal remained. I turned to inspect the divination-cup. Pale flames leaped silently therein from the crystal orb, of such intense heat as comes from an open furnace to the well-reddened watcher at its door: but the Nile-water lay limpid and cold above and about the raging globe of the seven-times heated fire. But I, mindful of the rules in the papyrus manual, cast in myrrh and powdered ivory; and I intoned the incantation called _Demands on the gods_, which old Menes had composed many centuries before. The verdant flame in the trench gave forth volumes of suffocating green vapour, filling the whole court, and beating me brow to pavement. But I ceased not from my chanting; and, when I came to the famous verse, “_Nor shall ye slay us by choking: thus we adjure you_,” the green steam suddenly arose, till it seemed that I was enclosed in a dome-shaped cell of malachite, so solid did the vapour appear. Whereupon, with the mightiest voice of me I uttered the summons, “_O souls, be seen!_” Instantly there was a crash of thunder and the inmarcesible glow of uranian fires. The earth beneath me quivered like a woman; and the temple rocked as ships are rocked (in his spasms) by the azure-haired earth-shaker, lord of the stormy sea. But, above me, the green dome expanded, stretching to unfathomable abysses of space; and I perceived that its place was becoming filled with fiery faces of base grotesque and adipose dignitaries, archbishops of malevolent allure having pleats about their eyes disdainful of obscure persons. Nor were any of them alike for any moment of time: but they waved and flickered like the myriad leaves of a forest blazing with autumnal glory. But out of this maze of bodiless faces came a tired moaning, demanding why they had been summoned. Now I indeed was serene; and my heart and lordly mind exulted greatly: for I knew that I had the Power. And, holding out the magic staff with my right hand, and placing my left on the cool crystal orb, I cried: “I summon none but Amenemhat, the priest of Tanis.” Eight flame-like shapes flickered downward, individuals glabrous and mouthing, the torsions of whose pulpy lips avowed their invirility; and they stood before me, but on the further edge of the redly-glaring moat; and each one wailed: “I am Amenemhat, the priest of Tanis.”