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CHAPTER XIX
"The ancient Egyptian word for the personal p.r.o.noun 'I' was _anuk_,"
said the Tracer placidly. "The phonetic for _a_ was the hieroglyph
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
a reed; for _n_ the water symbol
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
for _u_ the symbols
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
for _k_
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
Therefore this hieroglyphic inscription begins with the personal p.r.o.noun
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
or _I_. That is very easy, of course.
"Now, the most ancient of Egyptian inscriptions read vertically in columns; there are only two columns in this papyrus, so we'll try it vertically and pa.s.s downward to the next symbol, which is inclosed in a sort of frame or cartouch. That immediately signifies that royalty is mentioned; therefore, we have already translated as much as 'I, the king (or queen).' Do you see?"
"Yes," said Burke, staring.
"Very well. Now this symbol, number two,
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
spells out the word '_Meris_,' in this way: M (p.r.o.nounced _me_) is phonetically symbolized by the characters
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
_r_ by
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
(a mouth) and the comma
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
and the hieroglyph
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
_i_ by two reeds
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
and two oblique strokes,
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
and _s_ by
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
This gives us Meris, the name of that deposed and fugitive king of Egypt who, after a last raid on the summer palace of Mer-Shen, usurping ruler of Egypt, was followed and tracked to Sas, where, with an arrow through his back, he crawled to El Teb and finally died there of his wound. All this Egyptologists are perfectly familiar with in the translations of the boastful tablets and inscriptions erected near Sas by Mer-Shen, the three hundred and twelfth sovereign after Queen Nitocris."
He looked up at Burke, smiling. "Therefore," he said, "this papyrus scroll was written by Meris, ex-king, a speculative thousands of years before Christ. And it begins: 'I, Meris the King.'"
"How does all this bear upon what concerns me?" demanded Burke.
"Wait!"
Something in the quiet significance of the Tracer's brief command sent a curious thrill through the younger man. He leaned stiffly forward, studying the scroll, every faculty concentrated on the symbol which the Tracer had now touched with the carefully sharpened point of his pencil:
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
"That," said Mr. Keen, "is the ancient Egyptian word for 'little,'
'_Ket_.' The next, below, written in two lines, is 'Samaris,' a proper name--the name of a woman. Under that, again, is the symbol for the number 18; the decimal sign,
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
and eight vertical strokes,
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
Under that, again, is a hieroglyph of another sort, an ideograph representing a girl with a harp; and, beneath that, the symbol which always represented a dancing girl
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
and also the royal symbol inclosed in a cartouch,
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
which means literally 'the Ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt.' Under that is the significant symbol
[Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph]
representing an arm and a hand holding a stick. This always means _force_--to take forcibly or to use violence. Therefore, so far, we have the following literal translation: 'I, Meris the King, little Samaris, eighteen, a harpist, dancing girl, the Ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt, to take by violence--'"
"What does that make?" broke in Burke impatiently.
