"May all perish thus who divulge temple secrets!"
Next he poured pitch into the opening in the pavement, and from below came a roar,
"Ye are killing me. Oh, if ye have in your hearts even a trace of compassion," groaned a voice,
"May the worms gnaw thy body," said Mentezufis, as he poured melted pitch into the opening.
"Dogs jackals!" groaned the voice.
"May thy heart be consumed by fire and its ashes be hurled into the desert," said the next priest, repeating the ceremony.
"O gods! is it possible to suffer as I do?" was the answer from beneath the pavement.
"May thy soul, with the image of its shame and its crime, wander onward through places where live happy people," said a second priest; and he poured another ladle of burning pitch into the aperture.
"Oh, may the earth devour you! mercy! let me breathe!"
Before the turn came to Ramses the voice underground was silent.