'Well, why are we still sitting here? Let's start fishing.' In the
middle of the morning Nicholas found the tracks of a dik-dik along the
river bank. They took up a position against the hole of one of the big
trees and sat quietly for a while in the shadows of the forest, until at
last they were rewarded by a glimpse of one of the tiny creatures. It
passed close to where they sat, wriggling its trunklike proboscis,
stepping daintily on its fill hooves, nipping a leaf from a low-hanging
branch, and munching it busily. However, its coat was a uniform drab
grey, unrelieved by stripes of any kind.
When it disappeared into the undergrowth, Nicholas stood up. 'No luck.
Common variety,' he whispered. 'Let's get on.'
A little after noon they reached the spot where the river issued from
between the pink flesh-coloured cliffs of the chasm. They explored these
as far as they were able before their way was blocked by the cliffs. The
rock fell straight into the flood, and there was no foothold at the
water's edge that would allow them to penetrate further.
They retreated downstream, and crossed to the far bank over a primitive
suspension bridge of lianas and hairy flax rope that Nicholas guessed
had been built by the monks from the monastery. Once again they tried to
push on into the chasm. Nicholas even attempted to wade around of pink
rock that barred the way, around the first bus but the current was too
strong and threatened to sweep him off his feet. He was forced to
abandon the attempt.
'If we can't get through there, then it's highly unlikely that Taita and
his workmen would have done so.'
They went back as far as the hanging bridge and found a shady place
close to the water to eat the lunch that Tessay had packed for them. The
heat in the middle of the day was stupefying. Royan wet her cotton
neckerchief in the river and dabbed at her face as she lay beside him.
Nicholas lay on his back and studied every inch of the pink cliffs
through his binoculars. He was looking for any cleft or opening in their
smooth polished surfaces.
He spoke without lowering the binoculars. 'Reading River God, it looks
as if Taita actually enlisted help to switch the bodies of Tanus, Great
Lion of Egypt, and the Pharaoh himself.' He lowered the glasses and
looked at Royan. 'I find that puzzling, for it would have been an
outrageous thing to do in terms of his period and belief Is that a fair
translation of the scrolls? Did Taita truly switch the bodies?'
She laughed and rolled over to face him. 'Your old chum Wilbur has an
overheated imagination. The only basis for that whole bit of
story-telling is a single line in the scrolls. 'To me he was more a king
than ever Pharaoh been.'' She rolled on to her back again. 'That is a
good example of my objection to the book. He mixes fact and fantasy into
an inextricable stew. As far as I know and believe, Tanus rests in his
own tomb and the Pharaoh in his., 'Pity!' Nicholas sighed and stuffed
the book back in his pack. 'It was a romantic little touch that I
enjoyed.' He glanced at his wrist-watch and stood up. 'Come on, I want
to do a recon down the other spur of the valley. I spotted some
interesting ground up there whilst we were on the approach march
