Part 48 (1/2)

”You can't take anything for granted where that bullheaded billy goat is concerned,” Cyrus said picturesquely.

I promised to see what I could do to convince Emerson. I hope no one will suppose that it was a lack of Spartan fort.i.tude that made me favor a reprieve from our labors. A lady likes to be fresh and dainty at all times, and a lady who is attempting to win the heart of a gentleman cannot feel much confidence in her success when she looks like a dusty mummy and smells like a donkey. However, those were not my reasons (at least I think they were not) for wis.h.i.+ng to leave the royal wadi. The place was beginning to oppress me. The rocky walls seemed to have edged in closer, the shadows were deeper. I had crawled on hands and knees through dusty tunnels and squirmed through holes scarcely large enough to admit my body without ever feeling the sense of claustrophobia that afflicted me now.

The others had returned from their work, so I went off to look for Abdullah. He and our other men had their own little camp, they were frightful sn.o.bs (as they had some reason to be, since they were the most sought-after trained workers in the country) and always refused to hobn.o.b with lesser men. I had brought along my medical kit and when I saw the delighted smiles that greeted me I felt ashamed that I had not taken the time to fahddle with them, or even ask whether they needed attention.

I felt even more ashamed when they displayed a variety of minor injuries, ranging from a mashed finger to a bad case of ophthalmia. After I had washed out Daoud's eyes with a solution of boracic acid, and tended the other injuries, I scolded them for not coming to me at once.

”Tomorrow we will return to the river,” I said. ”My medical supplies are low, and we all need rest.”

”Emerson will not go,” said Abdullah gloomily.

”He will go willingly, willingly, or rolled in a rug and carried on our backs,” I said. or rolled in a rug and carried on our backs,” I said.

The men grinned and nudged one another, and Abdullah's dour face brightened a trifle. But he shook his head. ”You know why he came here, Sitt.”

”Certainly I know. He hoped to entice our enemy into attacking him again, so that he could catch the fellow. So far only half that brilliant plan has succeeded. We have been attacked twice- ”

”Not we, Sitt Hakim. You.”

”And Mohammed. That is three attempts, and we are no nearer a solution than before.”

”It has made Emerson very angry,” said Abdullah. ”He did very foolish things today, even more foolish than is his custom. Once he almost escaped me. Fortunately Ali saw him slip away and followed him.

He was almost at the end of the wadi before Ali came up to him.”

”What was he doing?” I demanded.

Abdullah spread his hands out and shrugged. ”Who can follow the thoughts of the Father of Curses? Perhaps he hoped they were waiting to find him alone.”

”All the more reason why we must persuade him to leave this place,” I said firmly. ”It is too dangerous.

I will go now and find him.”

”I will have the rug ready, Sitt,” said Abdullah.

Emerson was not in his tent. It was getting dark, night gathered in the narrow cleft like black water filling a bowl. Stumbling over stones and swearing under my breath (an indication, if any were needed, that my state of mind was far from the calm that ordinarily marks it), I finally smelled tobacco and made out the red glow of his pipe. He was sitting on a boulder some distance from the fire. At first I took the dark shape at his feet for another rock. Then its outlines s.h.i.+fted, like shadows moving.

”Get up at once, Bertha,” I said sharply. ”A lady does not squat on the ground.”

”I did offer her a rock,” said Emerson mildly. ”So spare me the lecture I feel sure you were about to deliver. She was in need of comfort and rea.s.surance, as any normal female would be under these circ.u.mstances. You would not expect an English gentleman like myself to turn away a lady in distress.”

”She might have come to me.” I fear my tone was still a trifle critical. ”What is the matter, Bertha?”

”How can you ask?” She continued to crouch at his feet, and I thought she pressed closer to him, if that were possible. ”He is out there, watching and waiting. I can feel his eyes upon me. He is toying with me, like a cat with a mouse. Your guards are useless, he can come and go as he likes, and when he wishes to strike at me, he will.” She rose to her feet and stood swaying. Even in the dark I could see the agitated trembling of her draperies. ”This is a horrible place! It closes in around us like a giant tomb, and every rock, every crevice hides an enemy. Are you made of ice or stone, that you cannot feel it?”

I would have slapped her soundly across the cheek if I had been able to locate that part of her body precisely. Reaching out blindly, I took hold of some part- an arm, I believe- and shook it vigorously. ”Enough of that, Bertha. None of us is pleased to be here, but an exhibition of unwomanly hysteria won't help matters.”

A voice from the dark repeated, ”Unwomanly?”

Ignoring it, I went on, ”You will only have to endure one more night here. We are leaving tomorrow.”

”Do you mean it? Is it true?”