Part 40 (2/2)
She tried to twist away from him. ”It's in her room. She loves dynamite. You can waste time trying to break the door down, if you like, but let me go! G.o.d knows how much time we have, if she has shortened the fuse.”
”She is right,” I cried. ”This is no time for bravado, or chivalry. Hurry!”
Bertie and Sethos were holding the disgruntled thugs at gunpoint. Several bodies lay sprawled on the deck. Sethos's eyes moved from Emerson to Maryam, but before he could speak, Emerson bellowed, ”Abandon s.h.i.+p! Everyone! She's about to blow!”
Thugs rained into the river like beetles shaken from a branch. Sethos limped toward us. He had taken a bullet in the leg and a trail of blood spots followed him. ”The boat,” he said. ”Get the women into it.”
The little craft was tied to the side. Matilda was the first to reach it; she scrambled into it and started to untie the rope. ”Hands off, Matilda, or I will shoot you where you sit,” Sethos said. She backed off, cursing him. Emerson shoved me in and handed Maryam down to me. ”Now you,” said Emerson, turning to his brother. ”And Bertie. Get in and row like h.e.l.l. Ramses, David, over the side with you.”
I will say this for the members of my family that they know when argument is inexpedient. Everyone moved as quickly as if they had rehea.r.s.ed the procedure. Bertie was grinning, oblivious of the spreading bloodstain on his side; he had always wanted to take part in one of our little adventures. I sincerely hoped that he would survive this one.
I pushed Matilda out of my way and sat down, holding Maryam, who appeared to be in a state of shock; her eyes were blank and unfocused, her body limp. Bertie and Sethos s.n.a.t.c.hed up the oars, and Emerson untied the rope. As we moved away from the doomed vessel, aided by the current, I saw Ramses and David treading water and looking back at Emerson, who was leaning over the rail.
”Who the devil do you think you are, the captain?” I shrieked. ”Get off there this minute.”
Emerson climbed up on the rail and dived. The boys converged on him, but he was not in need of their a.s.sistance, as his vigorous strokes made evident.
Ten feet . . . twenty . . . My eyes were glued on the Isis. She looked so peaceful riding there at anchor, her decks deserted. Thirty feet. Swimming strongly, the men had almost caught us. Bertie held out an oar and was royally cursed by both Sethos and Emerson. ”Keep rowing,” the latter bellowed. Forty feet.
The Isis blew. The roar of the explosion deafened me. Bits of wood and rail, metal fittings and miscellaneous debris were hurled into the air. The boat rocked wildly as the shock waves reached us. When they finally subsided I realized we were still afloat and that the dahabeeyah was ablaze. She burned quietly and beautifully, the bright flames swaying above her like a curtain.
We sat transfixed and, in my case at least, filled with profound and humbling thoughts. I believe I was the only one to have seen, among the floating debris, a mutilated but recognizable shape. If she had meant to escape the boat before the dynamite exploded, she had waited too long.
I bowed my head and murmured a little prayer-for our faith offers hope of redemption for even the worst of sinners. I added a brief prayer of thanks for our survival, and then looked up to make sure I had not been premature. Yes, they were all there, safe and more or less sound. And beyond them, coming toward us at full speed, was the Amelia.
They took us on board and even Reis Ha.s.san abandoned his post to join in the congratulations and questions. Cyrus clasped his son in an impetuous embrace, to Bertie's great embarra.s.sment; Nefret ran to Ramses, and Selim embraced everyone in turn.
I was about to suggest that we defer further celebration until the wounded had been attended to when I saw something that caused me to call out and point. Bruised and battered, dripping with water and blood, the survivors of that incredible adventure stood gazing in silence as the government steamer sailed sublimely past, on its way to Cairo and safety.
OUR UNEXPECTED AND, NEED I say, welcome arrival in Luxor several hours later evoked considerable excitement. No one had known precisely where we were, and everyone was in a fever of anxiety about us. A triumphal procession gathered as we made our way from the dock to the house, where we underwent another round of embraces. Having allowed Evelyn and Lia-and Gargery-to vent their emotions, I put an end to the flood of questions.
”We will tell you all about it at teatime. We are all in need of a bath and change of clothing, and some of us are in need of medical attention. Cyrus, go home and bring Katherine back with you for tea. Daoud, take that woman to the storage shed and lock her in-with the necessary comforts, of course. Selim, Bertie, off to the clinic with Nefret.”
”Sethos, too,” said Nefret. ”I want to get that bullet out of him.”
He had not let go his hold on his daughter since Emerson told him that he owed his survival to her-and, in fact, the success of the entire enterprise, since we could not have prevailed while he was in danger. What she had told her father after they went off together for a long private conversation I did not know, but of course I expected to find out in due course. It had been sufficient to bring about the long-delayed and total reconciliation.
Now he said, with almost his old irony, ”I would rather leave it there. I have been the subject of Nefret's medical attentions before.”
Naturally I overruled him. He and Maryam followed Nefret. Her arm supported him and his was round her shoulders.
”As for you, Emerson,” I began.
Nefret had cleaned him up as best she could, but he was still a horrible sight. The only one whose clothing would fit him was Daoud, who had no extra, so he was still attired-more or less-in the garments he had worn when he rushed in pursuit of Nefret. There were bits of bandage all over him, and quite a number of bruises. His breezy dismissal of Francois's attempt to murder him deprecated the magnitude of that struggle, against an opponent without scruple or mercy.
”And as for you, Peabody,” said Emerson, folding his arms, ”I have not finished telling you what I think of your reckless, inconsiderate behavior. Come along with me.”
”Yes, my dear,” I said.
WE WERE, IN MY OPINION, ent.i.tled to a celebration. Fatima, whose sentiments were usually expressed with food, piled the tea tables high. Daoud was there, and Kadija, and even Selim, who had refused to go back to bed. The family, including the Vandergelts, Sennia and Gargery, both cats (who were completely indifferent to our misadventures, but who knew Fatima had prepared fish sandwiches), and the dear children-all of them. They were making enough racket to wake the dead, but I felt that they were ent.i.tled to be with their parents. The only ones not present were Sethos and Maryam.
Some of us had preferred whiskey and soda to tea.
”Let us drink to another resounding success,” I remarked, raising my gla.s.s.
”I'm not sure how many more of these resounding successes we can afford, Peabody,” said Emerson, s.h.i.+fting uncomfortably in his chair. ”I don't mind admitting that I feel a trifle fatigued, and Sethos and Bertie were-”
”Deuced lucky,” said Bertie, with a broad smile. The brave lad was so pleased with himself that he had actually ventured to interrupt Emerson. ”My injury was only a scratch, nothing to speak of, and Nefret said Sethos would be back to normal in a few days. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.”
”It did have its moments, didn't it?” I said, returning his smile. ”I have always wanted to hear someone say 'She has lit the fuse.' Or, as the case may be, 'He has lit the fuse.' ”
”You couldn't resist the eye patch, either, I suppose,” said Emerson, grinning.
”Another of my great ambitions in life is to have boarded a pirate vessel,” I confessed.
”Too bad about the cutla.s.s in your teeth, Mother,” said my son.
”Ah well, one cannot have everything. Davy, have you quite finished kissing everyone's wounds? Thank you, dear boy. Now go and draw pictures with Evvie and Charla. They are about to have words over that purple crayon, I believe.”
”Now, for pity's sake, Amelia, tell us,” Katherine begged. ”Cyrus and Bertie refused to talk about it, they said they would leave it to you.”
”We are only waiting for Sethos and Maryam,” I said.
When Sethos joined us, he was alone. ”I persuaded her to rest,” he said. He looked us over and smiled slightly. ”She hasn't yet acquired the family resilience.”
”Perhaps that is just as well,” I said. ”Sit down and put that leg up. Emerson, will you-oh, thank you, Walter.”
He had already pressed a gla.s.s into his half-brother's hand.
”We are waiting, Amelia,” Evelyn said.
”Where to begin?” I took another sip. ”It is a complicated story.”
”Like most of them,” Cyrus said.
”I suppose that is true. Perhaps I should begin by going over my list of Extraordinary Incidents-which I happen to have with me-and explain how each event fits inexorably into the pattern our adversaries attempted to establish in order to deceive us as to their true motive.”
”I think we've all worked that out, Mother,” Nefret said. Confirmation came in the form of nods from the others.
”Oh,” I said. ”Including Justin's masquerade as Hathor? The second incident was designed to clear Maryam of suspicion, and it was rather cleverly arranged. Justin was wearing her boy's clothing under that clumsy robe; all she had to do was slip out of it while Maryam and the others distracted you four. The sc.r.a.p of fabric Emerson found-”
”Was planted,” Ramses interrupted. ”Excuse me, Mother, but we've worked that out too.”
”Oh. Hmmm. The plot began to take shape when Matilda learned of the princesses' treasure. She was at that time running a house of-er-in Cairo, and engaging in various other illicit activities. It was Matilda who had, several years earlier, told Maryam a pack of lies about her mother and induced her to run away. Maryam was young and rebellious-the two are practically synonymous-and she was thrilled to discover that she had a sister and a motherly protector. Matilda arranged Maryam's marriage to a wealthy man-and, I suspect, disposed of poor Mr. Throgmorton once he had made a will leaving everything to Maryam. I am sure Maryam had no hand in his demise.”
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