Nahoot interjected, 'That is not possible, Herr von Schiller. I tell you
that Harper has discovered the tomb of Mamose. You must act swiftly
now.'
'I will not warn you again, you miserable little man,' von Schiller
snarled at him. 'Keep quiet.'
He turned back to Nogo. 'Was there anything else in the cavern? Tell me
everything the woman said.'
'Pictures and statues of the saints.' Nogo spread his hands. 'I am
sorry, Herr von Schiller, that's what she said.
I know this is all nonsense, but that is what the woman told me.'
'I will judge what is and what is not nonsense,' von Schiller told him.
'What did she say happened to these statues of the saints?'
'Harper has packed them in boxes.'
'Has he removed them from the shrine?'
'I do not know, Herr von Schiller. The woman did not say.
Von Schiller stepped down from his block. He began to pace up and down
the length of the hut, muttering to himself distractedly.
'Herr von Schiller-' Nahoot began, but the German waved him to silence.
At last he stopped in front of Nogo and stared up at him.
'Did they find a mummy, a body, in the- shrine?' he demanded.
do not know, Herr von Schiller. The woman did not say.
'Where is she?' Von Schiller was so agitated that he clutched the front
of Nogo's uniform jacket and stood on tiptoe to thrust his face up close
to his. 'Where is this woman? Have you let her go?' Tiny droplets of
spittle flew into Nogo's face and he blinked and tried to duck, but von
Schiller had him in a death grip.
'No, sir. She is still here. I did not want to bring her to you-, 'You
fool. All you are telling me is secondhand.
Bring her in here immediately. I want to question her face to face.' He
shoved Nogo away from him. 'Go and fetch her.'
Nogo returned minutes later dragging the woman into the room by one arm.
She was young, and despite the blue tattoos across her cheeks and chin
she was pretty. She wore the long black robes and head-covering of a
married woman, and carried an infant on her hip.
As soon as Nogo released her arm she sank to the floor and whimpered
with terror. The child she carried whined in sympathy. Its nostrils were
plugged with white crusts of dried snot. The woman opened the top of her
robe with a shaking hand, fished out one of her milk-swollen breasts and
thrust the nipple into the child's mouth. Infant and mother stared at
von Schiller with terrified eyes.
'Ask her if there was a coffin or body of the saint in the shrine,' von
Schiller ordered, eyeing the woman with distaste.
Nogo questioned her for a minute and then shook his head. 'She does not
know anything about a body. She is very stupid. She does not understand
very well.'
'Ask her about the statues of the saints. What has Harper done with
them? Where are they now? Has he removed them from the shrine?'
After another long exchange with the woman, Nogo shook his head. 'No.
She says that the statues are still in the shrine. The white man has
