"But I think that we are here for the second time."
The priests were silent, but he who carried the torch held his light to the walls in one and another place, and Ramses, while looking, confessed in spirit that they had not been there before.
In a small chamber without doors they lowered the light, and the pharaoh saw on the pavement dried, black remains, covered with decayed clothing.
"That," said the overseer of the building, "is the body of a Phoenician who, during the sixteenth dynasty, tried to break into the labyrinth; he got thus far."
"Did they kill him?" inquired Ramses.
"He died of hunger."
The party had advanced again about half an hour, when the priest who bore the torch lighted a niche in the corridor where also dried remains were lying.
"This," said the overseer, "is the body of a Nubian priest, who in the time of thy grandfather, holiness, tried to enter the labyrinth."
The pharaoh made no inquiry as to what happened to this man. He had the impression of being in some depth and the feeling that the edifice would crush him. Of taking bearings amid those hundreds of corridors, halls, and chambers, he had no thought any longer. He did not even wish to explain to himself by what miracle those stone walls opened, or why pavements sank before him.
"Samentu will do nothing," said he in spirit. "He will perish like these two, whom I must even mention to him."