'I promise not to send you down there,' he smiled, 'but I think we can
safely say that we have found enough evidence both in Tanus's tomb and
Taita's pool to make it imperative that we mount the second phase of
this operation.'
She nodded agreement. 'We will have to return with a much more extensive
range of equipment, and some expert help. But you are not going to be
able to pose as a- tourist Sportsman next time around. What possible
excuse are we going to find for returning that will not set off all the
alarm bells in the minds of Ethiopian bureaucracy?'
'You are speaking to the man who has paid unofficial and uninvited
visits to both those charming lads Gadaffi and Saddam. Ethiopia should
be a Sunday-school picnic in comparison.'
'When do the big rains start up in the mountains?' she asked suddenly.
'Yes!' His expression became serious. That is the jackpot question. You
only have to look at the high-water mark on the walls of Taita's pool to
have some idea what it must be like in there when the river is in full
flood.' He flipped over the pages of his pocket diary. 'Luckily, we
still have a bit of time - not a great deal, but'enough. We will need to
move pretty smartly. We have to get back home before I can start work on
planning phase two.'
'We should pack up right away, then.'
'Yes, we should. But it seems a damned shame not to take full advantage
of every moment we are here, having come all this way. I think we can
spare just a few more days to sound out some ideas that I have about
Taita's pool and the sink-hole, to try to arrive at some sort of
informed guess about what we will need when we return.'
'You are the boss.'
'My word, how pleasant to hear a lady say that.' She smiled sweetly.
'Enjoy the moment,' she counselled him, 'it may never happen again.' And
then she became serious again. 'What are these ideas that you have?
'What goes up must come down, what goes in must come out,' he said
mysteriously. 'The water going into the sink'hole under such pressure
must be going somewhere.
Unless it joins a subterranean water system and makes its way into the
Nile that way, then it should come to the surface where we can find it.'
'Go on,' she invited.
40the thing is certain. Nobody is going to get into the sink-hole from
the pool. The pressure is lethal. But if we can find the outlet, we may
be able to explore it from the other end.'
'That's a fascinating possibility.' She looked impressed, and turned to
the satellite photograph. Nicholas had identified the monastery and
ringed it on the photograph.
He had marked in the approximate course of the river through the chasm,
although the gorge itself was too narrow and covered with bush to show
up on the smallscale picture, even under the high-powered magnifying
lens.
'Here is the point where the river enters the chasm.' She pointed it out
to him. 'And here is the side valley down which the trail detours.
Okay?'
'Okay,' he nodded. 'What are you driving at?'
