George Seeling came face to face with Solon Regh. The relics of Regh the Wise seemed to be in perfect condition. Over all lay a semi-transparent coating of a waxy substance—the preservative, he supposed. The figure was as large as his own. The old race must have been much closer, genetically, to his own than the ghels.
But Seeling was not concerned with any of this. He flopped Solon Regh over on his belly without ceremony and examined the bottom of the coffin. It was no use. No treasure here. He did find something, however. The ring on Solon Regh's finger. He chipped off the preservative, slid the ring off and put it in his pocket. Then he examined the other coffins. Wives, perhaps, and dignitaries of court, these had been. There were both male and female. But no jewelry.
He searched the room carefully, but there was nothing to be found. It had not been their custom, then, to bury their treasures with the dead—or perhaps the ghels had taken it. No matter, he knew the futility of looking further.
When a race chose to hide its treasures, rather than try to take them along to the happy hunting grounds, they usually did a good job. He remembered searching in vain for a solid year in the catacombs of Neptune once.
His face was burning with some inner fire now; he knew that he must have a high fever. He felt much worse. But to go back empty handed!
And suddenly he knew that he would not.
He took the steps back down to the throne room three at a time, for he felt, strangely, that he must hurry. The ghels were still waiting for him there in the gloom. There seemed to be more of them now, but he didn't bother to count.
"I want eight of you," he said. "You are to come with me up to the crypts. I'm taking the coffin of Solon Regh back with me, and you are going to carry it. I don't want any arguments. I'll pay you whatever you want, but it's got to be done right away."
They were not a strong race, the ghels, and the box was without handles, but they finally got it to their shoulders. Twice coming down the spiraling staircases they slipped, and he cursed them furiously, then was amazed that he could be so distraught.