misted. It is bably some native Ethiopian workings." pro
"You are making a premature judgement," von Schiller admonished him.
"Wait until we have seen the rest of what this man has to show us."
Von Schiller steadied himself with a hand on Hansith's shoulder as they
crossed the bobbing pontoons of baobab wood, and he scrambled ashore on
the far side with relief.
They started up the rising section of the tunnel and passed the
high-water mark.
As soon as the construction of the walls changed to packed and dressed
stone, Nahoot remarked on it. "Ah! I was disappointed at first. I
thought we had been duped, but now one can see the Egyptian influence."
They reached the landing outside the ruined gallery on which stood the
Honda generator. By -now both von Schiller and Nahoot were sweating with
exertion and trembling with excitement.
4Th is looks more and more promising. It may very well be a royal tomb,"
Nahoot exulted. Von Schiller pointed to the plaster seats stacked
against the -side wall where Nicholas and Royan had abandoned them.
Nahoot fell to his, knees beside them and examined them eagerly, his
voice trembling as he cried out.
The cartouche of Mamose, and the seal of the scribe Taita!" He looked up
at von Schiller with shining eyes, "There can be no doubts now. I have
led you to the tomb as I promised you I would."
For a moment von Schiller stared at him, speechless in the face of such
hare-faced arrogance. Then he snorted with disgust and stooped to peer
through the open doorway into the long gallery.
"This has been destroyed!" he cried in horror. "The tomb has been
annihilated."
"No, no!" Hansith assured him. "Come this way. There is another tunnel
beyond."
As they picked their way through the rubble and wreckage, Hansith told
them in halting, broken English AL
how the roof of the gallery had collapsed, and how he, Hansith, had
found the true entrance under the ruins.
Nahoot stopped every few paces to examine and exclaim over the scraps of
painted plaster that had survived the fall of the roof. "These must have
been magnificent.
Classical work of the highest order-'
"There is more to show you. Much more," Hansith promised them, and von
Schiller snarled at Nahoot.
"Leave these damaged sections now. Time is running out on us. We must
hurry on directly to the burial hamber."
Hansith led them up the hidden staircase into the maze of the bao, and
then through the twists and turns to the lowest level.
"How did Harper and the woman ever find their way through this?" von
Schiller marvelled. "It's a rabbit warren."
"Another concealed staircase!" Nahoot was amazed, and stuttered with
excitement as they descended into the gas trap where the ranks of
amphorae had stood undisturbed for thousands of years, and thn climbed
the last flight of stairs to the beginning of the funeral arcade.
Now both of them were stunned by the splendour of the murals and the
majesty of the great god images that guarded the length of the arcade.
They stood side by side unable to move, frozen with awe as they gazed
about them." $ "I never expected anything like this," von Schiller
whispered. "This exceeds anything that I ever hoped for."
"The rooms on each side are filled with treasures." Hansith pointed down
the arcade. "There are such things as you have never dreamed. Harper was
able to take very little with him - a few small boxes. He has left piles
of goods, stacks of chests."
"Where is the coffin? Where is the body that was in the tomb?" von
Schiller demanded.
"Harper has given the body, in its golden coffin, to the abbot. They
have taken it away to the monastery.
"Nogo will soon fetch it back for us, You need not worry about that,
Herr von Schiller," Nahoot assured him.
s though the spell that held them was shattered by this promise, they
started forward together, slowly at first, and then both of them began
to run. Von Schiller tottered into the nearest store room on his old,
stiff legs, and giggled like a child on Christmas morning as he gazed
upon the piled treasures. "Incredible!'
He dragged down one of the cedarwood chests from the nearest stack, and
ripped off the lid with trembling fingers. When he saw the contents he
was struck speechless.
He knelt over the chest and began to weep softly with emotion too
overwhelming to express in words.
/4, Nicholas was banking on the fact that Nogo's men would be driving
along the Cliff tops to reach Taita's pool, and that he would have a
free run up the course of the diverted stream to the dam site. He took
no precautions against running into them, other than to pause every few
minutes to listen and peer ahead. He knew that he had little time left
to him. He could not expect the rest of the party to wait for him at the
boats and endanger themselves for this whimsy of his.
Twice he heard automatic gunfire in the distance, coming from the
direction of the chasm, down towards the Po. However, the chance he
took paid off, and he reached the dam site without running into a I ny
of Nogo's forces. He did not, however, push his luck too far. Before
approaching the dam openly, he climbed the hillside above it and
surveyed the area. It gave him time to recover from the hard run up the
valley, and to check that Nogo had not left men to guard the dam,
although he considered this unlikely.
He could see that the yellow front-loader tractor was still parked on
the bank high above the wall where Sapper MET &
had left it. He could also see no sign of any human presence, no armed
Ethiopian army guards. He grunted with relief and wiped the sweat out of
his eyes with his shirtsleeve.
Even with his naked eye he could see that the water was lapping the top
of the wall and squirting through the gaps and chinks between the
gabions. Yet from where he stood the wall still seemed to be holding
well, and it would need another foot rise in the level of the backed-up
river to overturn it.
"Well done, Sapper," he thought, grinning. "You did a hell of a job."
Nicholas studied the level of the river and the condition of the waters
that were being held back by the wall.
The flow down from the mountains was much stronger than when he had last
been here. The river bed was brimming from bank to bank, and some of the
trees and bushes at the edge were already partially submerged, bowing
and nodding as the swift current tugged at them. The flood was a sullen
grey colour, fast and hostile, swirling into the pond of the dam before
finding the outlet into the side channel and tearing down it, growling
like a wild animal released from its cage, brimming into spume and white
water as it felt the sharp fall into the valley.
Next he looked towards the escarpment of the gorge.
It was blotted out by banks of dark, menacing cloud that obscured the
northern horizon. At that moment a squall of wind swept over him, cold
with the threat of rain. He needed no further urging and started down
the slope towards the dam, slipping and sliding in his haste. Before he
reached the bottom, the squall of wind had turned to cold rain. It flung
needles into his face and plastered his shirt to his body.
He reached the tractor and scrambled up into the t. There was a moment
of panic when he driver's sea AL
Wor thought that Sapper might have removed the key from its
hiding-place under the seat. He srabbled for it for a few seconds until
his fingers closed over it, and then let out a sigh of relief.