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this speech under the circumstances, we all either made for
the door, or fell into violent hysterics, or went off in a general
swoon. One of these three things was, I say, to be expected.
Indeed each and all of these lines of conduct might have been
very plausibly pursued. And, upon my word, I am at a loss to
know how or why it was that we pursued neither the one nor
the other. But, perhaps, the true reason is to be sought in the
spirit of the age, which proceeds by the rule of contraries
altogether, and is now usually admitted as the solution of
every thing in the way of paradox and impossibility. Or,
perhaps, after all, it was only the Mummy's exceedingly
natural and matter-of-course air that divested his words of
the terrible. However this may be, the facts are clear, and no
member of our party betrayed any very particular trepidation,
or seemed to consider that any thing had gone very especially
wrong.
For my part I was convinced it was all right, and merely
stepped aside, out of the range of the Egyptian's fist. Doctor
Ponnonner thrust his hands into his breeches pockets, looked
hard at the Mummy, and grew excessively red in the face. Mr.
Glidden stroked his whiskers and drew up the collar of his
shirt. Mr. Buckingham hung down his head, and put his right
thumb into the left corner of his mouth.
The Egyptian regarded him with a severe countenance for
some minutes and at length, with a sneer, said:
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Why don't you speak, Mr. Buckingham? Did you hear
what I asked you, or not? Do take your thumb out of your
mouth!
Mr. Buckingham, hereupon, gave a slight start, took his
right thumb out of the left corner of his mouth, and, by way
of indemnification inserted his left thumb in the right corner
of the aperture above-mentioned.
Not being able to get an answer from Mr. B., the figure
turned peevishly to Mr. Gliddon, and, in a peremptory tone,
demanded in general terms what we all meant.
Mr. Gliddon replied at great length, in phonetics; and but
for the deficiency of American printing-offices in
hieroglyphical type, it would afford me much pleasure to
record here, in the original, the whole of his very excellent
speech.
I may as well take this occasion to remark, that all the
subsequent conversation in which the Mummy took a part,
was carried on in primitive Egyptian, through the medium (so
far as concerned myself and other untravelled members of
the company) through the medium, I say, of Messieurs
Gliddon and Buckingham, as interpreters. These gentlemen
spoke the mother tongue of the Mummy with inimitable
fluency and grace; but I could not help observing that (owing,
no doubt, to the introduction of images entirely modern, and,
of course, entirely novel to the stranger) the two travellers
were reduced, occasionally, to the employment of sensible
forms for the purpose of conveying a particular meaning. Mr.
Gliddon, at one period, for example, could not make the
Egyptian comprehend the term politics, until he sketched
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upon the wall, with a bit of charcoal a little carbuncle-nosed
gentleman, out at elbows, standing upon a stump, with his
left leg drawn back, right arm thrown forward, with his fist
shut, the eyes rolled up toward Heaven, and the mouth open
at an angle of ninety degrees. Just in the same way Mr.
Buckingham failed to convey the absolutely modern idea
wig, until (at Doctor Ponnonner's suggestion) he grew very
pale in the face, and consented to take off his own.
It will be readily understood that Mr. Gliddon's discourse
turned chiefly upon the vast benefits accruing to science from
the unrolling and disembowelling of mummies; apologizing,
upon this score, for any disturbance that might have been
occasioned him, in particular, the individual Mummy called
Allamistakeo; and concluding with a mere hint (for it could
scarcely be considered more) that, as these little matters
were now explained, it might be as well to proceed with the
investigation intended. Here Doctor Ponnonner made ready
his instruments.
In regard to the latter suggestions of the orator, it appears
that Allamistakeo had certain scruples of conscience, the
nature of which I did not distinctly learn; but he expressed
himself satisfied with the apologies tendered, and, getting
down from the table, shook hands with the company all
round.
When this ceremony was at an end, we immediately
busied ourselves in repairing the damages which our subject
had sustained from the scalpel. We sewed up the wound in
his temple, bandaged his foot, and applied a square inch of
black plaster to the tip of his nose.
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It was now observed that the Count (this was the title, it
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