He was tempted to rest a hand on her thigh, and test her reaction, but he thought better of it. Sure, he wanted things to be as they were before they arrived in Delphi, but then again, if she did change her attitude, he wasn't in any condition to do anything about it. At least, not this evening.
"Tomorrow morning, Indy, I'd like you to join the king's entourage when he visits the ruins." "Why?"
"Why not? I was thinking it would be a good time for you to tell him about the tablet. He'll be very busy this evening."
A few minutes later, the king's retreat came into view high above the road. The massive structure was made of stone and seemed almost to grow from the mountain itself. Both mansion and mountain were painted shades of red and orange by the last rays of sunlight. As they turned off the main road, he noticed groups of tiny figures on the veranda, then the mansion vanished from sight.
They stopped at a security post, and a guard consulted a list when Dorian gave their names. Then they were waved through. The carriage brought them to the front door. As they climbed the steps, another guard manning the en trance looked them over. He frowned at Indy's outfit, then reluctantly waved them through. Dorian ignored him, but Indy appraised him with the same stern demeanor. "Straighten your tie, fellow."
Then they were inside. The room was crowded with guests and waiters in white coats carrying drinks and hor d'oeuvres. There were at least a half dozen fireplaces in the room, fires blazing in each of them.
"You ever been here before?" Indy asked.
"Just once. It's a lovely place."
"Big, I bet."
"Thirty-four rooms, including fifteen bedrooms. Just average for a king, I'd say."
"Lots of places to lie down at least. Maybe we could borrow one. It's the 1920s, after all."
She tipped her head towards him, and spoke tersely. "Don't be silly, or flirtatious, and whatever you do, don't say anything foolish to the king."
"I think I can handle myself."
Indy spotted Doumas moving through the crowd to ward them—just the person he didn't care to see. The roly-poly archaeologist either was incompetent or had intentionally allowed him to be lowered on a frayed rope. "Look who's coming," he said to Dorian. "I don't feel so well."
"Jones, on your feet already? Remarkable recovery. I'm amazed at your resilience."
Suddenly, they were good friends. Wonderful. "So am I."
"Now what's this you were saying about a black stone?" He busily munched on a plateful of hors d'oeuvres as he spoke.
Indy frowned. "I don't remember saying anything about it."
"Well, whether you remember or not, you did," Dou mas said. "When we pulled you out of the hole you mumbled that you had found a cone-shaped stone and you wanted to go back and get it."
"Did I say that?"
"You were out of your head," Doumas said. "But what exactly was it you saw?"
Indy glanced at Dorian. She watched him intently. "Just what I said. It had something covering it like rope that had been petrified. And I would like to go back for it."
"Why?" Dorian asked.
Indy didn't know, but he'd been thinking a lot about the stone. In fact, he couldn't get it out of his head.
"I just think it's worth going after, especially since we lost the tablet."
"You're not really in any condition to do it," Doumas said. "Don't you agree, Dr. Belecamus?"
Dorian spoke sharply. "I'm not sure that you are, either, and I don't want anyone going into the crevice without asking me. Is that understood, Stephanos?"
"Of course, but—"
Dorian walked away without another word, and dis appeared into the crowd.
"She's angry with me," Doumas said. "Because of the rope." He picked a slice of sweetbread off his plate and bit away half of it.
A beat passed as Indy considered the man's audacity. "I'm the one who should be angry. What the hell happened, anyhow?"
"The rope was rotten. Then in the confusion, we lost the other one. Sorry. I was going to apologize earlier, but I didn't want to disturb you."
Indy was about to accuse him of going into the hole himself and cleaning the tablet when Doumas leaned close and spoke in his ear. "If I were you, Jones, I'd be careful around Dr. Belecamus tonight. Her boyfriend is here, you know. That's him over there, the man in the colonel's uniform. He's jealous, I understand."
Indy almost gagged from the putrid odor emanating from Doumas. He stepped back. The man Doumas nod ded toward had a ruddy face and a prominent hooked nose. He looked to be in his early fifties, maybe twenty years older than Dorian.
"Thanks. I'll remember that," Indy said. One day Dou mas was trying to kill him, the next he was warning him of danger. It didn't make sense.
And what about the way Dorian had reacted in his room to his comments about the tablet? She'd seemed shaken, not by the fact that someone had cleaned the tablet, but by what it said. Particularly, the last lines which were
about the Oracle returning, and some great secret being revealed.
The number of coincidences connected with the old man's predictions were growing, he thought. The earth quake had happened. A Dorian had shown up. The king had arrived. Now the tablet seemed to confirm what the old man had said. Hell, no wonder she'd blanched. She was probably starting to wonder if she actually was Pythia. But coincidences happened all the time. They were only mysterious if you were looking for mystery.
"Indy, there you are."
He turned at the sound of the squeaky voice. "Madelaine." She looked as if nothing had changed and she was just at another bal musette. "I heard you'd be here, but I hardly believed it."
"Isn't this just splendid. I just love Greece, don't you?"
"It grows on you."
"Your friend, Dorian, said you had an accident. But you look fine to me."
Indy was about to tell her what had happened when she said something that stopped him cold. "Isn't your buddy, Jack Shannon, going to be here?"
"What are you talking about? Shannon's in Paris."
"No, he's here. I saw him earlier today in the little taverna. He was with someone else who said he knew you, too."
"You saw him here?"
"That's what I just said."
"Who was the other man?"
"I don't remember. Jack introduced him, but there was so much going on. Tom, Terry, maybe Larry. He was older."
"How much older?"
"He was maybe thirty-five, forty. You know, old. He had a beard. He was a Canadian, I think. I don't know."
Who did he know who had a beard and would travel to
Greece with Shannon? He couldn't think of anyone, no one who was older, no one he knew.
"Are you sure about this? Did you talk to Shannon?"
"Of course. We had a glass of ouzo together. He said they were looking for you. He seemed worried."
She glanced around. "Now where did Brent go with my drink?"
"How did Jack know I was hurt?"
"Don't think he did. They'd just gotten here, about an hour before us."
"You met Dorian. Did she talk to them?"
"I don't know." She was getting annoyed by the ques tions. She craned her neck, and stood on her toes, looking about the room.
But Indy persisted. "Did you and Brent come to the hotel to see me after you heard I was hurt?"
She smiled awkwardly. "Well, we really didn't get a chance yet." She squeezed his arm. "But now you're here, and everything is okay."
"Yeah. First rate."
Just then the king was announced and a tall graying man entered the room. He shook hands with one person after another as he moved through the crowd, walking with a slight limp. Madelaine slipped away, either for a closer glimpse of the king or in search of Brent and her drink.