'The river is forty'one yards wide at the critical point above the
falls, where I want to site the structure.'
'All I want to know is if you will be able to throw a dam across it.'
Sapper grinned and laid his finger down the side of his nose, 'You get
me my ruddy front-ender, and I'll dam the bleeding Nile itself.'
had eaten their dinner - another of the packs - Royan glanced across
the fire at cholas. -When she caught his eye she inclined her head in
invitation. Then she stood up and casually drifted out of camp, looking
back once to make sure he was following her. Nicholas lighted the path
with his torch as they picked their way back to the dam site and found a
boulder overlooking the water on which to sit.
He switched off the torch and they were silent for a while as their eyes
adjusted to the starlight, and then Royan whispered, 'There were times
that I thought we would never return here - that it was all a dream, and
that Taita's pool never existed.'
'For us perhaps it never will, without the help of the monks from the
monastery.' There was a note of enquiry in his voice.
'You and Mek Nimmur win,' she chuckled softly. 'Of course we have to
accept their help. Mek's arguments were very convincing.'
'So you agree that their reward should be the mummy of Mamose?'
'I agree that they may take whatever mummy we discover, if we discover
one at all,' she qualified. 'For all we know, the true mummy of Mamose
may be the one that Nogo stole.'
Quite naturally he slipped his arm around her shoulders, and after a
moment she relaxed against him. -oh, Nicky, I am afraid and excited.
Afraid that all our hopes are vain, and excited that we might have found
the key to Taita's game.' She turned her face to his, and he felt her
breath on his lips.
He kissed her, tenderly. Then he drew back with the warmth of her
lingering on his lips and studied her face in the starlight. She made no
movement to pull away from stead she swayed towards him, and kissed him
back., him. In At first it was a staid sisterly kiss, with her mouth
tightly losed. He brought his right hand up behind her head and weaved
his fingers into her hair, holding her face to his.
He opened his mouth over hers, and she made a little sound of dissent
through her closed lips.
Slowly, voluptuously, he worked her lips apart, and her protests died
away as he probed her mouth deely with his tongue. She was making a
contented little mewling sound now, like a kitten nursing on the teat,
and her arms went around him. She kneaded his back with strong supple
fingers, her mouth wide open to his kiss, her tongue sinuous and
slippery as it twined around his.
He slid his other hand up between their bodies and unhooked the buttons
of her shirt down as low as her belt.
She leaned back slightly in his embrace to make it easier for him. With
a delicious shock he discovered that her breasts were naked under the
thin cotton shirt. He cupped one of them in his hand: it was small and
firm, only just filling his hand. When he pinched the nipple gently , it
stiffened between his fingers like a tiny ripe strawberry.
He broke off the kiss and bowed his head to her bosom.
