'It's nonsense jargon. It does not make sense,' he pretested.
'Oh, yes, it makes sense all right. Taita always makes sense, once you
follow the way his oblique mind is working.' She turned to face him
squarely. 'Don't look so glum, Nicky. You can't expect to read Taita
like an editorial in The Times. He has set us a riddle that may take
weeks and months of work to unravel.'
'Well, one thing is certain. We can't stay here in the maqdas for weeks
and months while, we puzzle it out. Let's get to work.'
'Photographs first.' She became brisk and businesslike.
'Then we can lift impressions from the stone.'
He set down the camera bag and knelt over it to open the flap. 'I will
shoot two rolls of colour first, and then use the Polaroid. That will
give us something to work on until we can have the colour developed.'
She stood out of his way as he circled the pillar on his knees, keeping
the angle correct so as not to distort the perspective. He took a series
of shots of each of the four sides, using different shutter speeds and
exposures.
'Don't use up all your film,' she warned him. 'We need some shots of the
walls of the tomb itself.'
Obediently he went to the grille gates and studied the locking system.
'This is a bit more complicated than the outer gate. If I try to get in
here, I might do some damage.
I don't think it will be worth the risk of being discovered.'
'All right,' she agreed. 'Work through the openings in the grille.'
He filmed as best he was able, extending the camera through the openings
at the full stretch of his arms, and estimating his focus.
'That's the lot,' he told her at last. 'Now for the Polaroids.'
'He changed cameras and repeated the entire process, but this time Royan
held a small tape measure against the pillar to give the scale.
As he exposed each plate he handed it to her to check the development.
Once or twice when the flash setting on the camera had either
overexposed or rendered the subject too dull, or for some other reason
she was not satisfied, she asked him to repeat the shot.
After almost two hours' work they had a complete set Of Polaroids, and
Nicholas packed his cameras away and brought out the roll of art paper.
Working together, they stretched it over one face of the pillar and
secured it in place with masking tape. Then he started at the top and
she at the bottom. Each with a black art crayon, they rubbed the precise
shape and form of the engravings on to the sheet of blank paper.
'I have learned how important this is when dealing with Taita. If you
are not able to work with the original, then you must have an exact
copy. Sometimes the most minute detail of the engraving may change the
entire sense and meaning of the script. He layers everything with hidden
depths. You have read in River God how he cons' ers himself to be the
riddler and punster par excellence id and the greatest exponent of the
game of bao that ever lived. Well, that much of the book is accurate.
Wherever he is now, he knows the game is on and he is revelling in every
move we make. I can just imagine him giggling and gether with glee.'
rubbing his hands to
