I was about to reply when Evelyn fell into a fit of coughing.
'Well, well,' Lucas said. 'How happy I am that my little offering has proved to be so interesting! But don't you think we ought to make plans for tonight? The sun is almost down.'
It was one of the most stunning sunsets I had ever beheld. The fine dust in the atmosphere produces amazing conditions of light, such as our hazy English air does not allow. There was something almost threatening about the sunset that evening; great bands of blood-red and royal purple, translucent blue like the glaze on ancient pottery, gold and amber and copper streaks.
I asked Lucas whether his crew might not help us guard the camp, but he shook his head.
'Evidently they met some of the villagers today. Your crew has also been infected, Miss Amelia. I would not be surprised if all of them fled.'
'They cannot do that,' I exclaimed. 'I am paying them! Nor do I believe that Reis Hassan would abandon his trust.'
'He would have some excellent excuse,' Lucas said cynically. 'Adverse winds, threatening weather- any excuse for mooring elsewhere.'
I was aware, then, of someone beside me. Turning, I beheld Michael, whom I had not seen all day.
'Sitt Hakim'- for so he always addressed me- 'I must speak to you alone.'
'Certainly,' I said, although I was surprised at his request and at his interruption of our conversation.
'After dinner,' Lucas said, giving the poor fellow a sharp look. Michael shrank back, and Lucas added, 'Michael, or whatever your name is, you are not needed. My men will serve the meal. I promised them they might return before dark. Miss Peabody will speak with you later.'
Michael obeyed, with a last pleading glance at me. As soon as he was out of earshot I said, 'Lucas, I really cannot have you reprimanding my servants!'
'My first name!' Lucas exclaimed, with a broad smile. 'You have broken down at last, Miss Amelia; you have done me the honor of addressing me as a friend. We must drink to that.' And he refilled his wine glass.
'We- to use the word loosely- have drunk too much already,' I retorted. 'As for Michael- '
'Good heavens, such a fuss over a servant,' Lucas said contemptuously. 'I think I know what he wants to speak to you about, Miss Amelia, and if I were you I should not be in a hurry to hear it.'
He held up his glass as if admiring the sparkle of the liquid in the fading light.
'What do you mean?' I asked.
Lucas shrugged.
'Why, the fellow means to be off. My men tell me that he is in a complete funk. It is to his babbling, in no small measure, that I attribute their cowardice. No doubt he will have some specious excuse for leaving you, but leave you he will.'
'I cannot believe it,' Evelyn said firmly. 'Michael is a fine man. Loyal, devoted- '
'But a native,' Lucas finished. 'With a native's weaknesses.'
'And you are quite familiar with the weaknesses of the- er- natives,' Emerson put in. He had not spoken much; for once his grating purr, like the throaty emanation of a very large, angry cat, did not offend my ears.
'Human beings are much the same the world over,' Lucas replied negligently. 'The ignorant always have their superstitions and their fondness for money.'
'I bow to your superior knowledge,' Emerson said. 'I had been under the impression that it was not only the ignorant who are corrupted by money.'
'I cannot believe Michael will desert us,' I said, putting an end to the bickering. 'I will speak to him later.'
But later I was forced to admit, little as I liked it, that Lucas had been right. Michael was nowhere to be found. At first, when he did not seek me out, I assumed he had changed his mind about wanting to speak to me. It was not until we began thinking of our plans for the night that we realized he was missing. A search produced no trace of him. Lucas's servants- a shabby-looking group if I had ever seen one- had long since departed, so we could not ask if they had seen him.
'He had not even the courage to make his excuses to you,' Lucas said, 'Depend upon it, he has crept away.'
Michael's defection left us in rather serious condition, I thought, but when I expressed the idea, Lucas pooh-poohed my concern.
'We ought to get to our posts,' he continued. 'With all due respect to your measures, I do not believe you went about the business very sensibly.' 'Let us hear your plans,' said Emerson humbly. I could not imagine what ailed the man. Except for brief outbursts of irony he adopted an attitude of subservient meekness toward Lucas, a man considerably his junior in age and certainly his inferior in experience. Nor could I believe that it was physical weakness that curbed his tongue. Emerson would criticize Old Nick himself when that individual came to bear him away as he lay dying.
'Very well,' said Lucas, expanding visibly. 'I see no reason to watch the village. If your villain means to frighten you away he will come here, and it is here that we must concentrate our forces. But we must not show force. You frightened him away the other night- '
'Oh, do you think that is what happened?' Emerson asked seriously.
'Only look at the sequence. The first time he came he ventured as far as the entrance to the ladies' residence and stood there for some time, if Miss Amelia's evidence is to be believed- '
'It is,' I said, snapping my teeth together.
'Certainty I did not mean… Very well, then; on the next night, when Evelyn saw him, we do not know how far he progressed. He may have come no farther than the spot, down below, where she saw him. But on the third occasion he was definitely wary; he never came onto the ledge at all, and it was as if he knew you were awake and waiting for him.'
Even in the dark I could sense Walter's increasing anger. The tone Lucas adopted was really quite insufferable. I was not surprised when the lad interrupted Lucas's lecture in a voice that shook with his efforts at self-control.
'You mean to imply, Lord Ellesmere, that the miscreant saw Abdullah and myself. I assure you- '
'No, no, my dear fellow,' Lucas exclaimed. 'I mean to imply that your friend Mohammed was warned in advance!'
There was a muffled exclamation from Emerson. It sounded to me as if he were strangling on an oath he did not dare speak aloud. Lucas took it for an expression of chagrin, and he nodded graciously at the older man.
'Yes; Michael. I am convinced that he has been in league with the villagers. No doubt they promised him part of the loot.'
'Loot!' Evelyn exclaimed, with unusual heat. 'What reward could they offer, when they are so poor they cannot clothe their own children?'
'I see you have not reasoned it out,' Lucas said complacently. 'Perhaps I can see more clearly because I am removed from the terror that has haunted you in recent days.'
'Enlighten us,' said Emerson, through his teeth. I saw them gleaming in the dark, like the fangs of a wolf.
Lucas leaned back in his chair. He stretched out his long legs and gazed admiringly at his boots. 'I asked myself,' he began, 'what motive these people could have for driving you away. Malice is not a sufficient explanation; they need the money you were paying them. Does not the answer seem obvious to you? For generations these fellainn have been robbing the tombs of their remote ancestors. Their discoveries fill the antika shops of Cairo and Luxor, and you archaeologists are always complaining that whenever you find a tomb, the natives have been there before you. I suggest that the villagers have recently discovered such a tomb- a rich one,
