... And here they are wandering in the corridors again without managing to find their way out.

 

— “Darn it, boss! I want to leave this temple, this idiot Tootinkoming, and this headless mummy, which doesn't even realize that it does not frighten me at all!” Suddenly, they found Tutankhamen, which had great difficulty holding himself upright, after the beating Werdiooputyerhed had given him.   — “What appened to you, Lord Tootinkoming?” asked Jack.   — Not Tootinkoming, Tutenkhamen!!” retorted the professor, not to be silenced (hey! it's true that he does not speak much in this story.)

 — “Oh, pardon me, Mr. Tooting... Tootinyerhorn!”
 — “O.K., O.K., you listen to to me, you two bores, I need you, and you will not leave before you have rendered a service to me. As you must suspect, I've been here for several millenia and I am bored. I could not go to the country of the gods like all the other deads, because my heart was heavier than the feather of truth.”
 — “What's all this stuff you're telling us?” asked the assistant.
 — “What!? Where do you live anyhow? Don't you learn anything in school? Or is it your Pharaoh who has stuffed your head with changed beliefs or moral standards or what?”
  < < Bill Clinton, a Pharaoh? No, it must be a mistake > > thought Jack.

 

— “So,” began again the mummy, sighing, “I will explain it to you: When you die, you arrive before the court of the gods, and Anubis puts on a balance your heart, and on the other side a feather. If your heart is lighter, you are entitled to the eternal life. If it is heavier, it is devoured by a monster. But me, as soon as I saw that it was heavier, I quickly ran away. The gross beastie ran after me, but I succeeded in taking refuge here, minus one buttock that it devoured. I believe that it is something similar that happened to Werdiooputyerhed.”  — “O.K., so what do you want of us after all?”

— “That you bring me the crown diamond. Indeed I succeeded in lightening my heart by opening it and by emptying it, but without this diamond, I cannot return before the gods. You will find it in the den of the Black Eagle, on the island of Onyonsoop. Above all, don't try to escape, because we mummies have great powers. I can help you to get out of here, because I know the temple like the back of my bands!”
                                                                  ***

No sooner said than done and here are our two friends outside.
— “Boss, do you want sunglasses?” said Jack who had put his on.
After a good deal of hiking, they arrived at the bank of the Nile  They nevertheless tried to escape, to see what would happen, but a large barrier of flames which appeared suddenly made them change opinion.

— “O.K. Do you still have with you the inflatable boat that I said was essential?” — “Er... Wait a minute... Ah! here it is in perfect state... and here's the air pump!”  After having inflated the small boat in question, which required considerable effort from Jack, they climbed into it and released the mooring ropes.     But in the middle of the river, they heard a large “PANG!”

 

— “Boss, I believe we'd better speed up!”
  Indeed, they went as fast as they could row, while maneuvering to avoid the crocodiles which were already licking  their chops. They arrived however on the island without being bitten, to the great disappointment of the crocodiles. And here on the island:
— “Oh gosh! what vegetation! My! it's a real jungle out here, boss!”
— “Oh, stop calling me boss, you irritate me!”
— “OK, OK, bo... er, chief. O.K. then, chief.”
They went a little further, and finally they arrived to a small cave.
 

— “I think that it is this one,” said the professor at last, indicating an opening in the rocks. They entered the hole and found themselves in a large room made of sharp rocks and far from comfortable. — “Say, chief, is it on purpose that you were looking at the wrong side of the map? Because we are in the cave of the Jaguar...” — “Idiot, couldn't you have said it earlier?!!!”

Suddenly, they heard an monstrous howling, and Jack became suddenly paler than his shirt had been a long time ago when it was still clean and white.
  Trying not to disturb the inhabitant of the place, they went away on tiptoes, and sought another cave.

Back to the writers' corner