More coals and chemicals being added to the fire, it blazed 

 up afresh, illuminating the gruesome scene which was begin- 

 ning to impress the hitherto impassive Emperor as truly 

 infernal. Suddenly the red-robed necromancer seized the Oriental 

 sword and after making several passes, he stepped quickly to 

 the mummy -case and touched with the point of the blade a 

 secret spring near the top of the ancient coffin; immediately 

 the lid flew open and a diabolical personage sprang forth ; 

 his lithe body was covered by a skin-tight suit of mail the 

 scales of which were of a brilliant metallic green, reflecting 

 the red light from the brasier with dazzling effect; his head 

 was encased in a metal helmet of the same greenish lustre; 

 his face emitted luminous rays, like an Aurora, over which 

 played thin white vapors, an effect produced by having 

 anointed his visage with an oil containing phosphorus in 

 solution, a secret preparation quite unknown to the now 

 trembling Emperor. The green demon moved forward with 

 a serpentine, gliding motion, thanks to little wooden rollers 

 fastened to his boots, and slipped both his hands in the bowl 

 of warm, tmclotted blood ; he then drew near to the shrink- 

 ing monarch. At this moment the lights in the sconces 

 suddenly became extinguished, the Chinese gong emitted its 

 strident, horrible din without ceasing, and the demon held 

 in his bloody hands up to Rudolph's gaze an ebony tablet, on 

 which he wrote in letters of fire, by the aid of a bit of phos- 

 phorus concealed in a hollow wand, these words : 



Rudolph at last succombed to diabolical mummery that 

 was well devised to terrify the most stoical ; the noxious va- 



180 



