Part 37 (1/2)

”Wait,” I said, catching hold of him to emphasize the order. ”And keep calm. There are only two of them, and they would not approach so openly if they- ”

A cry from Abdullah and a sudden movement, not from either of the men ahead, but from behind me, stopped my speech. Abdullah fought to free his arm from my grasp. ”Let me kill it, Sitt,” he gasped.

”It is a demon, an afreet, as I told you. See- it goes to greet its master.”

The cat had leapt from the wall where it had been sleeping in the sunlight. The man stooped to greet it as it ran up to him. It b.u.t.ted its head against his hand, but when he would have picked it up it avoided his grasp and sat down a few feet away.

I reached for my pistol. ”Stand perfectly still, Abdullah,” I ordered. ”An impetuous advance might bring you into the line of fire.”

”Excellent advice,” said a voice behind me. ”Though the only safe place is flat on the ground behind a large rock. Put the gun away, Peabody, before you shoot someone.”

”I intend to shoot someone, if he gives me the slightest excuse to do so. What the devil does he mean, walking coolly up to us this way? You know who it is, don't you?”

”Certainly,” said Emerson. ”I beg you won't shoot him until we hear what he has to say. I am immensely curious.”

Cyrus and the other men had gathered around. ”Me too,” said Cyrus. His voice was flat and level, his eyes were narrowed, his hand was in his pocket. ”Let him talk, Amelia. I've got the drop on him.”

”So have I,” I replied, aiming at the center of Vincey's chest. He had stopped ten feet away, his empty hands extended.

”I am unarmed,” he said quietly ”You may search me if you like. Only allow me to speak- to clear away the misapprehensions under which you understandably labor. I only learned of them a few days ago, and I have spent every hour since then gathering the evidence which will prove I am not the man you believe me to be.”

”Impossible,” I cried. ”I saw you with my own eyes.”

”You could not have seen me. I was in Damascus, as I told you. I have brought my alibi with me.”

He indicated the second man, who had now caught him up. His face was round and red and adorned with a set of superb mustaches curled like the horns of a water buffalo. Whipping off his helmet, he bent at the waist in a stiff formal bow.

”Guten Morgen, meine Freunde. To greet you at last is my pleasure. I could not in Cairo do so, for To greet you at last is my pleasure. I could not in Cairo do so, for I was in Damascus.”

”Karl von Bork!” I exclaimed. ”But I thought you were in Berlin, working with Professor Sethe.”

”So it was,” Karl said, bowing again. ”Until the summer, when a position with the Damascus expedition to me offered was. Egyptian reliefs had been found- ”

”Yes, now I remember,” I interrupted, for Karl, like my son, would go on talking until someone stopped him. ”Someone- the Reverend Sayce, I believe- mentioned it when we dined with him in Cairo. Are you telling me that Mr. Vincey was with you?”

”Ja, ja, das ist recht. With a fever I was ill, and I feared would not be soon recovered. A subst.i.tute was necessary to carry on my work. The good G.o.d sent me health sooner than I had hoped, and when Herr Vincey telegraphed to me that the police had accused him of terrible crimes I hurried at once to clear his name. I had heard, with what shock and distress my tongue fails me to say, of the Herr Professor's accident, but never would I have supposed- ” With a fever I was ill, and I feared would not be soon recovered. A subst.i.tute was necessary to carry on my work. The good G.o.d sent me health sooner than I had hoped, and when Herr Vincey telegraphed to me that the police had accused him of terrible crimes I hurried at once to clear his name. I had heard, with what shock and distress my tongue fails me to say, of the Herr Professor's accident, but never would I have supposed- ”

”Yes, Karl, thank you,” I said. ”Then the police have accepted your story? I wonder they have not informed me.”

”It was only yesterday they told me I was no longer under suspicion,” Vincey said. ”We set out at once for Amarna, for I was even more anxious to clear myself with you than with the police.” He started to reach for his pocket, and then gave me a quizzical smile. ”You will allow me? I brought other evidence- train tickets, dated and stamped, a receipt from the Sultana Hotel, affidavits from other members of the expedition.”

”Karl's evidence is good enough for me,” I said. ”He is an old friend whom we have known for years- ”

”Hmph,” said Emerson, who of course had no recollection of ever having seen Karl before.

”All the same,” I went on. ”I trust Karl will not take offense if I call another witness, and if I request Cyrus to keep you covered (that is the phrase, I believe?) while I go in search of her.”

”Good idea,” said Cyrus. ”Not that I doubt your word, von Bork, but this is the doggonedest story I ever heard If it wasn't Vincey, then who- ”

”That will all be gone into at the proper time,” I said. ”First- where is Bertha?”

There was no need to search for her, she was there, a few feet behind us. Rene was at her side, his arm encircling her slim shoulders. ”There is nothing to fear,” he a.s.sured her. ”This villain, this sc.u.m, cannot hurt you now.”