Nicholas considered the unlovely spectacle of the rate hunter. There
were scraps of bread and beef stew prost sticking like confetti in his
cropped ginger hair.
'I rather suspect Prince Charming has had enough for one night the
murmured.
stood up, stooped over Boris and gripped one wrist.
He With a sudden jerk he lifted him into a sitting position, nd then
heaved him upright and over his shoulder in a a fireman's lift.
'Good night, all!' he told the assembled monks, very few of whom were in
any condition to respond. Then he carried Boris away, draped over his
shoulders with head and feet dangling. The two women had to hurry to
keep up with Nicholas as he strode down the terrace and then up the
stone stairway without a pause.
'I did not realize Alto Nicholas was so strong,' Tessay panted, for the
stairs were steep and the pace was hard.
didn't either,' Royan admitted. She experienced a ridiculous proprietary
pride in his feat, and smiled at herself in the darkness as they
approached the camp.
'Don't be silly,' she admonished herself. 'He isn't yours to boast
about.' Nicholas threw his burden down on Boris's own bed in thatched
hut and stood back panting heavily, the sweat trickling down his cheeks.
'That's a pretty good recipe for a heart attack,' he gasped.
Boris groaned, rolled over and vomited copiously over his pillows and
bedlinen.
'On that pleasant note I will bid you all goodnight and sweet dreams,'
Nicholas told Tessay, stepping out of the hut into the warm African
night.
He breathed in the smell of the forest and the river with relief, and
then turned to Royan as she gripped his arm.
'Did you see-' she burst out excitedly, but he laid his fingers on her
lips to silence her, and with a cautionary frown in the direction of
Boris's hut led her away to her own hut.
'Did you see it?' she demanded, unable to contain herself longer. 'Could
you read it?'
''I command ten thousand chariots,'' he recited.
''I am Taita, master of the royal horse,'' she completed it for him. 'He
was here. Oh, Nicky! He was here. Taita was here. That's the proof we
wanted. Now we know that we are not wasting our time.'
She flopped down on her camp bed and hugged herself ecstatically. 'Do
you think the abbot will let us examine the sealT
He shook his head, 'My guess is no. The crown is one of the monastery
treasures. Even for you, his favourite lady, I don't think he would do
it. Anyway, it would not be wise to show any great interest in it. Jali
Hora obviously does not have any idea of its significance. Apart from
that, we don't want to alert Boris.'
suppose you are right.' She moved over on the bed to make room for him.
'Sit down.'
He sat down beside her, and she asked, 'Where do you suppose the seal
came from? Who found it? Where, and when?'
