am not even certain that it wasn't'a natural flaw in the rock.'
Her disappointment was palpable, but after a pause she asked,
'Was there anything else?'
'Yes,' he grinned. 'Lots and lots of water moving very very fast.'
'What are we going to do about this putative has-relief of yours?' she
asked.
'I don't like the idea in the least, but I will have to go back in there
and have another look.'
'When?'
'tomorrow. Our one chance to get into the maqdas of the cathedral. After
that we will make a plan to explore the gorge.'
'We are running out of time, Nicky, just when things are getting really
interesting.'
'You can say that again!'. he murmured. She felt his breath on her lips,
for their faces were as close together as those of conspirators or of
lovers, and she realized the double meaning of her own words. She jumped
to her feet and slapped the dust and loose straw from her jodhpurs.
'You only'have one fish to feed the multitude. Either you have a very
high opinion of yourself, or you had better get fishing.'
wo debteras who had been detailed by the bishop to escort them tried to
force a way for them through the crowds. However, they had not reached
the foot of the staircase before the escort itself was swallowed up and
lost. Nicholas and Royan became separated from the other couple.
'Keep close,' Nicholas told Royan, and maintained a firm grip on her
upper arm as he used his shoulder to open a path for them. He drew her
along with him. Naturally, he had deliberately contrived to lose Boris
and Tessay in the crush, and it had worked out nicely the way he had
planned it.
At last they reached a position where Nicholas could set his back firmly
against one of the stone columns of the terrace, to prevent the crowd
jostling him. He also had a good view of the entrance to the cavern
cathedral. Royan was not tall enough to see over the heads of the men in
front of her, so Nicholas lifted her up on to the balustrade of the
staircase and anchored her firmly against the column.
She clung to his shoulder for support, for the drop into the Nile opened
behind her, The worshippers kept up a low monotonous chant, while a
dozen separate bands of musicians tapped their drums and rattled their
sistrums. Each band surrounded its own patron, a chieftain in splendid
robes, sheltering under a huge gaudy umbrella.
There was an air of excitement and expectation almost as fierce as the
heat and the stink. It built up steadily and, as the reased in pitch and
volume, the crowd singing inc began to sway and undulate like a single
organism, some grotesque amoeba, pulsing with life.
Suddenly from within the precincts of the cathedral there came the
chiming of brass bells, and immediately a hundred horns and trumpets
answered. From the head of the stairway there was a fusillade of gunfire
as the bodyguards of the chieftains fired their weapons in the air.
Some of them were armed with automatic rifles, and the clatter of AK-47
fire blended with the thunder of ancient black powder muzzle-loaders.
