Part 23 (2/2)

272.

She nodded. 'I have indeed.'

'No luck?'

She shook her head. 'It would be an irony if he had taken it with him after all, wouldn't it?'

'It certainly would.' He ducked through the door, to reappear a moment later with two beers, one for himself, the other for her. As he sat down he was frowning. 'We'll have to be systematic, of course. Each possible place to be searched in turn and we'll tick them off as we do it. He won't have taken it with him. That would be too risky. He'll have left it somewhere safe on the boat.'

She realised after a moment's thought that she liked the way he a.s.sumed he would be helping her.

He glanced at her over his gla.s.s. 'Of course, the safe! What about the safe? Have you thought of that? It's the obvious place.'

They found Ibrahim laying three covers at one of the tables in the dining room. From the open door into the kitchen came a wonderful smell of garlic and onions. 'Is it possible to look in the safe?' Anna sat down at the table and looked up at him pleadingly. 'I lent my grandmother's diary to Andrew Watson and I think he may have put it there for safety, not realising I wasn't going with them all this morning. I need it urgently.'

'Your book with the little pictures?' Ibrahim straightened with a frown.

'You remember? You saw it in my cabin?'

He nodded. 'I have the key. I will come and look for you.

They followed him down to the reception desk and waited whilst he fiddled with the lock, muttered quietly to himself, fiddled again and at last swung the small safe door open. It was full of envelopes and packets.

'Pa.s.sports. Money. Jewels.' He shrugged. 'So much. I shall find it. Inshallah!' He rummaged through the packages, glancing at the larger envelopes, apparently reading the scribbled names on them with ease. 'Andrew Watson!' He pulled one out.

'It's too small.' Anna looked at it in dismay and shook her head. 'The diary wouldn't fit in there.'

Ibrahim felt the envelope carefully. 'Pa.s.sport and traveller's cheques.' He grinned. 'I look again.'

273.

A few minutes later he triumphantly produced a second envelope. This one was much more bulky.

'That's it! That's the right size and shape,' Anna cried in delight.

Ibrahim pa.s.sed it to her. 'You look.'

She ran her thumb under the sealed flap of the envelope and pulled out the diary. 'Good! Good!' Ibrahim beamed in delight. 'Now we go to eat lunch.'

'Wait.' Anna stretched out her hand. 'My scent bottle. He was looking after that as well. If it's here it can stay, but I'd like to check.'

'Bottle?' Ibrahim frowned.

'The little bottle.' She met his gaze. 'The bottle which was guarded by the cobra.' Ibrahim shook his head. 'That is not here,' he said firmly.

'But you haven't looked?'

'No. Not here. Ibrahim is sure.' He slammed the door of the safe shut and turned the key.

She glanced at Toby, who raised an eyebrow. 'At least you have the diary. And the envelope with Andrew Watson written on it presumably in his own hand.' He grinned. 'Proof enough for you? Am I totally exonerated for ever?'

She nodded, hugging the diary to her chest. 'Proof enough. If you wish I shall grovel to you for the rest of my days.'

His smile deepened. 'A day or two will be sufficient.'

They waited until after lunch to look at the diary again. The third guest had not appeared, and eventually they left the dining room without seeing who it was, having decided with alacrity to follow Ibrahim's suggestion that they take a felucca to Kitchener's Island with a picnic tea and it was there, amongst the trees and the hibiscus and the bougainvillaea that they sat down with the diary and Anna began at last to read out loud.

274.

In the afternoon Ha.s.san had taken the tiller himself as they sailed away from the Ibis towards the south. They beached the boat on the sand just out of sight of the shouting, laughing villagers, far enough away to avoid the crowd of Nubians who had waved at them as they pa.s.sed and they stumbled up the bank onto the dunes. It was intensely hot. Louisa stared round, holding her parasol over her head. In one direction she could see an arid mountain range, in another on the far horizon a vast magical lake of water s.h.i.+mmered complete with palm trees. She gazed at it longingly and shook her head. 'It's too hot to paint. The paint would dry on my brush.'

'And is it too hot to make love?' Ha.s.san smiled.

She reached out to touch his hand. 'It's too hot to breathe.'

They slid down the burning sand and Louisa climbed once more into the small boat. In the distance on a sandbank two crocodiles were basking, their mouths open. A heron stood near them, completely unafraid.

'We could stop near those palms.' Louisa pointed to a distant group of trees. Ha.s.san nodded and put the tiller over, edging the boat towards the opposite sh.o.r.e. There were no crocodiles here. The sand was deserted as Ha.s.san leapt over the side and pulled the boat up. He helped Louisa ash.o.r.e and they made their way over to the palms. She painted for an hour or so before the heat drove them back to the water and to a new plan. Now they would return to the Ibis, but in the evening, when it grew cooler they would go ash.o.r.e again and ride into the desert to camp under the vast open sky.

Ha.s.san had sent away the donkey boy. He would return just after sunrise so they could ride back to the Ibis before the sun had gained its full strength. Now, as the sun was setting they could feel the first cold breaths of the desert wind.

'You are sure he will find us again?' Louisa gazed around her.

275.

The vast distances were unbroken in any direction as far as she could see. There was a line of golden hills on the far horizon, still touched by the sunlight, and on the other side of the river the soft black haze which was the coming night. In front of them there was a raised hill, surmounted by a rocky plateau, scattered with soft sand-filled ravines and creva.s.ses.

Ha.s.san smiled. 'He will come. There is nothing to fear. We are within sight of the river. It is here all the time. We have only come a few miles upstream from where the Ibis is moored. Come,' he held out his hand and began to pull her up the narrow valley between the dunes. 'We follow this wadi, then I will show you my surprise.'

They began to scramble upwards at last, their feet slipping in the sand as it constantly s.h.i.+fted and rearranged itself into curves and swathes and undulating parabolas of light and shade until they had gained the rocky heights of the small hill.

'There! The top!' At last he triumphantly hauled her up the last couple of yards and he stood back so that she could see what it was they had come to visit.

On the summit of the plateau stood a small, exquisite temple, similar to the kiosk they had seen at Philae. Louisa stared in delight at the delicate leafy carvings on the capitals, and the heads of the G.o.ddess. The temple was badly ruined, but it was a beautiful red- gold in the light of the dying sun with behind it the deep, nearly dark waters of the river, already in the shadow of the night.

Louisa stared at it, speechless with delight. 'Where is this?' She asked at last.

'It is the temple of Kerta.s.si.' He gestured around with his hand. 'This temple too is sacred to Isis. It is very beautiful, is it not? I knew you would like it.' He smiled. Louisa stared up at the pillars with their long black shadows running down to the water, where the gleaming reflections were already deep in darkness as the great sleeping river wound steadily back towards its distant source in the heart of Africa, then she turned to look beyond them across the desert where she could see the huge crimson sun rapidly sinking out of sight. She turned again, breathless at the beauty of the view, stepped back, slipped in the soft, constantly moving sand which encroached on every side and nearly fell, grabbed Ha.s.san's arm and laughed with delight. She could see the donkey boy now in the distance, the animals' shadows 276.

thrown, elongated in front of them as he retraced his steps towards his village. The figures were no bigger than tiny toys in the distance and as she watched they vanished out of sight into the darkness of the river valley.

'Soon the sun will go down.' Ha.s.san put his arm around her shoulders. 'Look, it slips into the world of the G.o.ds as we watch.' The segment above the skyline was growing steadily smaller, its crimson darkening imperceptibly.

Louisa watched. She found she was holding her breath as the inverted crescent grew smaller and smaller until there was barely a sliver left. Then it was gone.

There were tears in her eyes as they watched the afterglow disappear, then at last it was fully dark and the stars appeared. Louisa had pulled off her sun hat. She shook out her hair, staring up in delight. 'I can see every star in the firmament! If I stood on tiptoe I could touch them! The sky is like a black velvet cloak, sewn with diamonds!'

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