dimming the floodlamps to a faint glimmer.
"Not safe." He pulled her away from the opening. "The whole thing might
cave in." His voice was rough, his throat closing with the dust.
He dragged her to the head of the steps and they staggered down
together, stumbling against each other, their feet sliding under them as
they came on to the algae.
slippery footing. Through the dust mist ahead of them loomed the broad
square figure of Sapper.
"What the ruddy hell is going on?" he bellowed with relief as he saw
them.
"Give me a hand here," Nicholas yelled back at him.
Sapper lifted Royan in his arms and together they ran back -down the
tunnel, only stopping to draw breath when they reached the causeway over
the sink-hole.
unburrit and glared like a mirror in the high mountain sunlight. The
public telephone should have been in its booth outside the front door.
However, the instrument had long since vanished - stolen, vandalized or,
more likely, removed by the military to prevent it being used by
Political dissidents and rebels.
Tessay had expected this, and hardly glanced into the booth before she
strode into the small room which was the main post office. It was filled
with a motley crowd of peasants and villagers, queuing to conduct their
leisurely business with the elderly postmaster, the only person behind
the barred counter. Some of the customers had spread their cloaks on the
floor and settled in for a long he post office in the village of Debra
Maryarri a small building in the dusty street behind was the church. Its
walls were of unplastered unpainted brick, and its galvanized iron roof
T
wait, chatting and smoking while their children romped and crawled
around them.
Most of the patient crowd recognized Tessay as soon as she entered the
room."Even those who had waited most of the morning in the lines at the
counter greeted her respectfully and stood aside to allow her to go to
the, head of the queue. Despite two decades of African socialism, the
feudal instincts of the rural population were still strong.
Tessay was a noblewoman and she was entitled to this preference.
"Thank you, my friends." She smiled at them and shook her head. "You are
kind, but I will wait my turn."
They were embarrassed by her refusal, and when the old postmaster leaned
over his counter top and added his insistence to the others, one of the
older women seized Tessay's arm and forcefully propelled her forward.
"Jesus and all the saints bless you, Woizero Tessay." The postmaster
clapped his hands in respectful greeting.
"Welcome back to Debra Maryam. What is it that your ladyship desires?"
The entire clientele of the post office crowded around Tessay so as not
to miss a detail of her transaction.
"I want to make a telephone call to Addis," she told the postmaster and
there was a hum of comment and discussion. This was unusual and
important business indeed.
"I will take you to the telephone exchange," the postmaster told her
importantly, and donned his official blue cap for the occasion. He came
around the counter shouting and hectoring the other customers, pushing
them aside to make way for Lady Sun. Then "he ushered her through to the
back room of the building, where the telephone exchange occupied a
cubicle the size of a small lavatory.
Tessay, the postmaster and as many of the other customers who could find
standing room pushed their way into the tiny room. The exchange operator
was almost overcome by the honour being accorded him by the beautiful
Tessay, and he shouted into his headset like a sergeant major commanding
a flag party.
"Soon now!" he-beamed at Tessay. "Only small delay.
Then you speak to British Embassy in Addis."
Tessay, who knew well what a small delay constituted, retired to the
front veranda of the post office and sent for food and flasks to be
brought from the village tej shop. She treated her escort of monks,
together with half the population of Debra Maryam, to a happy picnic
while she waited for her call to be patched through half a dozen
antiquated village exchanges to the capital. Thanks to the tei, spirits
were high amongst her entourage when finally, an hour later, the
postmaster rushed out tell her proudly that they had succeeded and that
her party was awaiting her on the line in the back room.
Tessay, the monks and fifty villagers followed the postmaster back into
the exchange and crowded, jabbering, into the cubicle. The overflow
backed up into the main post hall.
"Geoffrey Tennant speaking." The upper'class English accent was tinny
with distance and static.
"Mr Tennant, this is Woizero Tessay."
"I was expecting your call." Geoffrey's voice lightened as he realized
that he was talking to a pretty girl. "How are you, my dear?"
Tessay passed Nicholas's message to him.
"Tell Nicky it's as good as done," Geoffrey acknowledged, and hung up.
"Now," Tessay addressed the postmaster, want to place another call to
Addis - to the Egyptian Embassy." There was a buzz of delight from her
audience when they realized that the entertainment was not yet over for
the day. Everybody repaired to the veranda for more tej and
conversation.
The second call took even longer to connect, and it was after five
'clock when Tessay was at last put in contact with the Egyptian cultural
attach. Had she not once met him at one of those ubiquitous cocktail
parties on the diplomatic circuit in Addis, and made a profound
impression on him then, he would probably not have accepted her call
now.
"You are very lucky to have reached me so late," he told her. "We
usually close at four-thirty, but there is a meeting of the Organization
of African Unity on at the moment and I am working late. Anyway, how may
I help you, Woizero Tessay?"
As soon as she told him the name and rank of the person in Cairo to whom
Royan's message was addressed, his superior and condescending attitude
altered dramatically and he became effusive and eager to please. He
wrote down everything she said in detail, asking her to repeat and spell
the names of people and places. Finally he read his notes back to her
for confirmation.
At the end of the long conversation, he dropped his voice to an intimate
level and told her. "I was greatly saddened to hear of your recent
bereavement, Lady Sun.
Colonel Brusilov was a man I held in high regard. Perhaps when you
return to Addis you would do me the honour of dining with me one
evening."
"How kind and thoughtful of you." Tessay's tones were honeyed. "I would
so much enjoy meeting your charming wife again." She hung up while he
was still making confused noises of assent and denial.
By this time the sun was already setting behind the sky castles of
cumulonimbus, and there was the smell of rain in the air. It was too
late to start the journey back down the escarpment that evening, so
Tessay was relieved when the headman of Debra Maryam village sent one of
his teenage daughters to invite her to spend the night as a guest in his
home.
The headman's house was the finest in the village, not one of the