‘You appear to have gone deeply into the matter of the man, the hound and the bulls. ’
‘I managed to get a lot of other information, too. Another of the Pharaoh breed is depicted on the tomb of Antefa the Second, a Pharaoh of the eleventh dynasty. I also came upon a tribute to a hound which was guard dog to a king of the fifth dynasty. He thought so highly of the dog that when it died he commissioned a special coffin from the royal treasury, together with much fine linen, incense and perfumed ointment, and the burial was carried out with all the ceremony due to one of noble birth and high rank.’
‘Did the king expect to find the hound waiting to guard him again when he, too, reached the hereafter? One hardly imagines the need for a guard dog after one has gone to join the immortals.’
‘It seems that the Pharaoh’s main idea was to make the hound acceptable to the jackal-headed god Anubis. Perhaps he thought a hound and a jackal might have something in common. I wrote down the dog’s name, but I can’t pronounce it and I don’t know what it means in English, if it has a meaning. Anyway, the hound guarded in its lifetime the king of Upper and Lower Egypt and I hope it was admitted to Sekhtet Hetes, the land of the happy dead and passed the test of being weighed against the Feather of Righteousness. As for the present-day hounds,’ went on Laura, ‘if I hadn’t got my couple of Dobermanns, I’m dashed if I wouldn’t go in for Pharaohs. They come up as being lively, affectionate, intelligent creatures with perfect temperaments, good with children — although that would hardly matter in my case, now that Hamish and Eiladh are grown up and have left home.’
‘They might be welcomed by Eiladh’s two boys though,’ said Dame Beatrice. ‘You were wondering what to give them for Christmas.’
‘Today’s great thought. I’ll see what Eiladh and Tom have to say. You can’t just wish a couple of lively young pups on to people, and kids are apt to get bored when the puppy stage is over and responsibility has to be taken to feed and exercise grown dogs.’
‘A couple, did you say?’
‘Certainly. One for each boy. Besides, it’s kinder to the hounds. They will have been used to company.’
‘Are these Pharaoh hounds very large dogs?’
Laura answered the question in detail. They were what she would call medium-sized. The males would be from twenty-two to twenty-five inches tall, the bitches a little smaller at twenty-one to twenty-four inches.
‘Unless you prefer it in centimetres,’ said Laura, looking up from her notes.
‘No, no. I much prefer our country’s ancient measurements. I can see the virtues of the metric system where money and what one may call general arithmetic are concerned, but give me an honest yard of cloth and seventeen hundred and sixty yards to the mile. However, I am interrupting you. What colour are these hounds?’
‘Tan, with white markings. A white tip to the tail seems to be an asset, also a white “star”, so-called, on the chest is OK. White on the toes is all right and the judges at dog shows will permit a narrow white blaze down the centre of the face. What you mustn’t have are white flecks on the coat. Pharaohs are smooth-coated dogs. I must say I much prefer that, when it comes to grooming them. These hounds have rather deep-set, amber-coloured eyes. I’ve copied down the full standard as laid down by the Kennel Club, so if I do give a couple to young Nigel and Barry, I know what to look out for. Oh, and characteristic of the breed are their fine large ears. You can see them pricked and erect in all the ancient Egyptian representations. There is a hunting scene in the tomb chapel of Sembi at Meir in Upper Egypt, and there is a statue in black basalt of an Egyptian hound in the Louvre. Unfortunately its ears have been broken off, but they must have been erect, or that couldn’t have happened.
‘Another tomb picture I was shown was a hunting scene. It was lively and detailed. There were hounds, deer and a chap with bow and arrows. On the papyrus of Anhai, showing scenes from the land of the happy dead, there are two of the hounds, one on either side of a stream and each is followed by a man. The caption in the book I read says the animals are cattle and that the man is ploughing, but neither looked likely to me. It’s true that one of the animals is spotted, but so is the bitch in a copy I saw of a mural in the tomb of’ — Laura referred to her notes again — ‘in the tomb of Khnumhotep, near Beni Hasan. Fascinating, isn’t it?’
‘Date?’ asked Dame Beatrice, amused by Laura’s absorption in her subject matter.
‘Don’t mock! The date was around 1900 BC, and the artist lived at some time during the twelfth dynasty. What’s more, there’s a picture in our exhibition catalogue of the Treasures of Tutankhamun. It looks like hounds attacking deer.’
‘I must look at the catalogue again. But what has caused you to take so much interest in these hounds that you spent so much time finding out about them while you were in London?’
‘The Rant sisters, Bryony and Morpeth, are interesting people, and I’m still wondering what made them take such an interest in these hounds, so I thought a bit of research and an application to the hon. sec. of the Pharaoh Hound Club would help me to fathom Bryony and Morpeth. Anyway, I’ve always been interested in Ancient Egypt and, like a lot of people, superstitious about it. I’ve got a hunch that something very strange is going to happen in connection with the Rant sisters and these hounds.’
‘Your hunches make me superstitious, not to say extremely nervous. At any rate, you appear to have immersed yourself in your subject.’
‘Meaning you’ve had enough of it. But it’s the same with everything, isn’t it? Once you get involved, you go from strength to strength. Once you get yourself really interested, it’s like being in a maze. You pursue this avenue and that, make a number of false assumptions and go back and make a fresh start. Sometimes it must seem to researchers that the maze has neither centre nor exit. You just follow your nose and hope for the best.’
‘I am beginning to wonder whether a suggestion I made a short time ago was a wise one.’
‘What suggestion would that be? Oh, I know. Christmas presents for the two kids. What is wrong with it? I think it’s a red-hot idea if Eiladh and Tom agree. I would much rather give them pedigree animals than cross-breeds or mongrels. Not that I’ve got anything against either, but, after all, the best is the best and, fortunately for me, the price doesn’t matter. I’ve rather set my heart on these puppies.’
‘That is obvious. However, I do have certain misgivings. Do you not think that Nigel and Barry are over-young to be in charge of such valuable and beautiful animals as your Pharaoh hounds?’
‘My bet is that in no time the hounds will be looked after by the whole household, although still the nominal property of the boys. Eiladh loves dogs and I’m sure these Pharaohs will interest Tom. Children ought always to have pets, although there must be adequate supervision, of course, and the kids geared to face up to their responsibilities. It’s very good training, actually, if it’s done properly.’
‘Does it not spoil a hound to make too much of a pet of it?’
‘Yes, I suppose so, if you intend it to follow its nature and its calling. The Maltese, who have preserved the breed, train them for rabbiting, but it’s hardly likely the boys will be allowed to use them for that sort of thing. I see the hounds as pets because of their temperament, and as show dogs because of their beauty and comparative rarity. They have been known in this country only since the early 1930s and then they seem to have disappeared in England until another pair was brought here in 1963 and then eight more came in 1968. Crufts have recognised the breed and America is also taking an interest.’