When they had got Royan safely up out of the ravine, Nicholas ordered
Aly to dismantle the gantry and hide the sections in the thorn scrub.
From the helicopter it would be highly visible and he did not wish to
stir Jake Helm's curiosity.
He was in no shape to give the men a hand, but lay in the shade of one
of the Thorn trees with Royan tending to him. He was dismayed to find
how much his near-drowning had taken out of him. He had a blinding
headache, caused by oxygen starvation. His chest was very painful and
stabbed him every time he breathed: in his struggles he must have torn
or sprained something.
He was impressed with Royan's forbearance. She made no attempt to
question him about his discoveries in the bottom of the gorge, and
seemed genuinely more concerned with his well being than with the
progress of their exploration.
When she helped him to his feet and they started back towards camp, he
moved like an old man, lame and stiff. Every muscle and sinew in his
body ached. He knew that the lactic acid and nitrogen that had built up
in his tissues would take some time to be reabsorbed and dispersed.
Once they reached camp Royan led him to his hut and fussed over him as
she settled him under the mosquito net.
By this time he was feeling a lot better, but he neglected to inform her
of this fact. It was pleasant to have a woman caring for him again. She
brought him a couple of aspirin tablets and a steaming mug of tea, stiff
with sugar. He was putting it on a little when he asked weakly for a
second mugful.
Sitting beside his bed, she solicitously watched him drink it. 'Better?'
she asked, when he had finished.
'The odds are two to one that I Will survive,' he told her, and she
smiled.
'I can see that you are better. Your cheek is showing again. You gave me
an awful scare, you know.'
'Anything to get your attention.'
'Now that we have decided that you will live, tell me what happened.
What sort of trouble did you run into down there in the pool?'
'What you really want to know is what I found down there. Am I correct?'
'That too, she admitted.
Then he told her everything that he had discovered and how he had been
caught in the inflow of the underwater sink-hole. She listened without
interruption, and even when he had finished speaking she said nothing
for a while, but frowned with concentrated thought.
At last she looked up at him. 'You mean that Taita was able to take
those stone niches right down to the very bottom of the pool, fifty feet
below the surface? and when he nodded, she was silent again. Then she
said, 'How on earth did he accomplish that? What are your thoughts on
the subject?' -Tour thousand years ago the water level may have been
lower. There may have been a drought year when the river dried up, and
enabled him to get in there. How am I doing?'
'Not a bad try,' she admitted, 'but then why go to all the trouble of
building a scaffold? Why not just use the dry river bed as an access?
