Nicholas looked startled; he had never considered that it fact. Without
replying he left her and went back down the long gallery, ostensibly to
supervise the packing of the sacred statues, but in reality to give
himself more time to consider what she had said.
Before leaving England Nicholas had seen to it that all of the more
vulnerable and breakable equipment that they had air-freighted into the
gorge had been packed in sturdy metal ammunition crates. All these
crates had waterproof rubber seals and strong lever fastenings. The
original contents had been padded and protected with olystyrene packing.
When they left Ethiopia the equipP
ment would be abandoned, but the crates, together with the packing
material, had been carefully preserved for iA transporting the treasures
that they might find in the tomb.
While six of the sacred statues fitted neatly into the crates, the
images of Hathor the cow and satanic Seth were too large. However,
Nicholas discovered that these had been carved in separate parts. The
heads were detachable, and the hoofed legs of Hathor were held into the
body by wooden pins that were rotted to dust. Broken down into their
separate parts, even these two larger statues could also be packed into
the metal cases.
Nicholas watched Hansith packing Seth's ferocious head of ebony and
black resin into one of the crates. Then after a while he went back to
where Royan was working on the inscriptions on the wall above the empty
sarcophagus.
'Very well. I agree. You are right about the lack of inscriptions from
the Book of the Dead. It does seem strange.
But what can we do about it, other than accepting it as a mystery which
we can never unravel?'
'Nicky, there is something more here. This is not everything. I feel it
in every fibre of my being. We are missing something.'
'Who am I, a mere male, to question the veracity of a woman's
instincts.'
'Stop being superior,' she snapped. 'How long do I have to work over the
inscriptions from the stele?'
'A week or two at the most. I have to set up an RV with Jannie. We have
to be there at Roseires airstrip when he comes in to pick us up. That's
one date we dare not reak., 'Good Lord. I thought you would have
arranged that long ago. How will you contact Jannie from here?'
'Quite simple really.' Nicholas smiled. 'There is a public telephone at
the post office in Debra Maryam, Tessay can move freely anywhere in the
Goiam. She will go up the escarpment with an escort of monks and
telephone Geoffrey Tennant at the British Embassy in Addis. I have
already arranged it with Geoffrey. He will relay a message on to
Jannie.'
'Will Tessay do it for you?'
He nodded. 'She has agreed to go up to Debra Maryam tomorrow. Jannie
must have as much notice as possible to get himself prepared for the
flight out from Malta. It's going to need some firte timing for all of
us to arrive at the airstrip simultaneously. It will be asking for
