as Sapper to his friends."
Danny stood up with a cup of coffee in his big competent-looking fist.
"Pleased to meet you, Miss Al Simma. May I pour you a cup of coffee?"
The top of his head was'freckled, and she noticed how blue his eyes
were.
"Dr Al Simma,'Nicholas corrected him.
"But please call me Royan," she cut in quickly, "and yes, I' love a
cup."
There was no mention of Ethiopia or Taita's game during breakfast, and
Royan ate her omelette and listened respectfully to a passionate
dissertation on how to catch sail fish on a fly rod from Sapper, while
Nicholas heckled him mercilessly, calling into question almost every
statement he made. Very obviously they had a good relationship, and she
supposed she would become accustomed to all the angling jargon.
As soon as breakfast was over, Nicholas stood up with the coffee pot in
one hand. "Bring your mugs, and follow me., He led Royan to the front
sitting room. "I have a surprise for you. My people up at the museum
worked round the clock to get it ready for you."
He threw open the door of the sitting room, with an imitation of a
trumpet flourish, "Tarantara!'
On the centre table stood a fully mounted model of the striped dik-dik,
crowned with the pricked horns and clad in the skin that Nicholas had
smuggled back from Africa. It was so realistic that for a moment she
expected it to leap off the table and dash away as she walked towards
it.
"Oh, Nicky. It's beautifully done!" She circled it appraisingly. "The
artist has captured it exactly."
The model brought back to her vividly the heat and smell of the bush in
the gorge, and she felt a twinge of nostalgia and sadness for the
delicate, beautiful creature.
Its glass eyes were deceptively lifelike and bright, and the end of its
proboscis looked wet and gleaming as though it was about to wiggle it
and sniff the air.
"I think it's splendid. Glad you agree with me." He stroked the soft,
smooth hide. She felt this was not the moment to spoil his boyish
pleasure. "As soon as we have Ir sorted out Taita's puzzle, I intend
writing a paper on it for the Natural History Museum, the same lads that
called Great-grandpapa a liar. Restore the family honour." He laughed
and spread a dust-sheet over the model. Carefully he lifted it down from
the table and placed it safely in a corner of the room where it was out
of harm's way.
"That was the first surprise I had saved up for you. But now for the big
one." He pointed to a sofa against one wall.
"Take a seat. I don't want you to be bowled over by this." She smiled at
his nonsense, but went obediently to the furthest end of the sofa afid
curled her legs under her as she settled there. Sapper Webb came to sit
awkwardly at the other end, obviously uncomfortable at being so close to
her.
"Let's talk about how we are going to get into the chasm on the Dandera
river," Nicholas suggested. "Sapper and I have talked about nothing else
the whole time that you have been away."
"That and catching fish, I'll warrant." She grinned at him, and he
looked guilty.
"Well, both subjects involve water. That is my justification." His
expression became serious. "You recall that we discussed the idea of
exploring the depths of Taita's pool with scuba gear, and I explained
the difficulties."
"I remember," she agreed. "You said the pressure into the underwater
opening was too great, and that we would have to find another method of
getting in there."
"Correct." Nicholas smiled mysteriously. "Well, Sapper here has already
earned the exorbitant fee that I have promised him - promised, I
emphasize, not yet paid. He has come up with the alternative method."
Now she too became serious and unfolded her legs.
She placed both feet on the floor and leaned forward attentively, with
her elbows on her knees and her chin cupped in her hands.
"It must have been all those brains of his that pushed out his hair. I
mean, it's very neat thinking. Although it was staring us both in the
face, neither you nor I thought of it."
Stop it, Nicky," she told him ominously, "you are doing it again."
"I am going to give you a clue." He ignored the warning and went on
teasing her blithely. "Sometimes the old ways are the best. That's the
'if you are so clever, how come you aren't famous?" she began, and then
broke off as the solution occurred to her.
"The old ways? You mean, the same way as Taita did it?
The same way he reached the bottom of the pool without the benefit of
diving equipment?"
"By George! I think she's got itV Nicholas put on a convincing Rex
Harrison imitation.
"A dam." Royan clapped her hands. "You propose to redam. the river at
the same place where Taita built his dam four thousand years ago."
"She's got it Nicholas laughed. "No flies on our girl!
Show her your drawings, Sapper."
Sapper Webb made no attempt to disguise his selfsatisfaction as he went
to the board that stood against the facing wall. Royan had noticed it,
but had paid no attention to it, until now he pulled away the cover and
proudly displayed the illustrations that were pegged to it.
She recognized immediately the enlargements of the photographs that
Nicholas had taken at the putative site of Taita's.dam on the Dandera
river, and others that he had taken in the ancient quarry that Tamre had
shown them. These had been liberally adorned with calculations and lines
in thick black marker pen.
"The major has provided me with estimates of the dimensions of the river
bed at this point, and he has also calculated the height that we will
have to raise the wall to induce a flow down the former course. I have,
of course, allowed for errors in these calculations. Even if these
errors are in the region of thirty percent, I believe that the project
is still feasible with the very limited equipment we will have available
to us."
"If the ancient Egyptians could do it, it will be a breeze for you,
Sapper."
"Kind of you to say so, major, but "breeze" is not the word I would have
chosen."
He turned to the drawings pegged beside the photographs on the board,
and Royan saw that they were plans and elevations of the project based
upon the photographs and Nicholas's estimates.
"There are a number of different methods of dam construction, but these
days most of them presuppose the availability of reinforced concrete and
heavy earth-moving Al.
equipment. I understand that we will not have the benefit of these
modern aids."
"Remember Taita," Nicholas exhorted him. "He did it without bulldozers."
"On the other hand, the Egyptians probably had unlimited numbers of
slaves at their disposal."
"Slaves I can promise you. Or the modern equivalent thereof. Unlimited
numbers? Well, perhaps not."
"The more tabour you can provide, the sooner I can divert the flow of
the river for you. We are agreed that this has to be done before the
onset of the rainy season."
"We have two months at the most." Nicholas dropped his flippant
attitude. "As regards the provision of tabour, I will be relying on
enlisting the aid of the monastic community at St. Frumentius. I am
still working out a sound theological reason that might convince them to
take part in the building of the dam. I don't think they will fall for
the idea that we have discovered the site of the Holy Sepulchre in
Ethiopia and not in Jerusalem."
"You find me the tabour, and I will build your dam," Sapper grunted. "As