Page Content (OCR)
203 NAO “Sy x SN SQVVQ, ee SINE = > Rowe WX Ss WS SY SMV“ RS SSN ‘<8 ~~ SS Sy RSS SI LHS SNS Fig. 65 ness. Clearing the Ascending Passage of debris—pieces oflimestone that had somehow slid down the passage to the granite plugs—they crawled up to the upper end of this passage. Coming out of its squarelike tunnel, they could stand up, for they had reached the junction of the Ascending Passage with a Horizontal Passage and with the Grand Gallery (Fig. 66). They followed the Horizontal Passage, reaching the vaulted chamber at its end (which later ex- plorers named the "Queen's Chamber"); it was bare, and so was its enigmatic niche (see Fig. 49). Returning to the junction of the passages, they clambered up the Grand Gallery (Fig. 45); its pre- cisely cut grooves, now empty holes and nooks, helped the climb up—a task made slippery by a layer of white dust that covered the Gallery's floor and ramps. They climbed over the Great Step, which rose from the upper end of the Gallery to become flush with the floor of the Antechamber; entering it, they found its blocking portcullises gone (Fig. 67). They crawled into the upper vaulted chamber (later named the "King's Chamber"); it was bare, except for a hollowed-out stone block (nicknamed "The Coffer"), but it. too, was empty. Returning to the junction of the three passages (Ascending Pas- sage, Grand Gallery, and Horizontal Passage), Al Mamoon's men The Prisoner in the Pyramid test, everywhere Al Mamoon and his men found nothing but empti-