and grasped Mek's hand..
I want to tell them, she blurted out impulsively.
Mek looked away at the river for a moment before he nodded. "Why not?"
he shrugged at last.
"I want them to know," Tessay insisted. "They knew Boris. They will
understand."
"Do you.,want me to tell them?" Mek asked softly, and he was still
holding her hand.
"Yes," she nodded, "it is best that it comes from you." Mek was silent
for a while, gathering his words, and then he started in that low
rumbling voice, not looking at them, but watching Tessay's face. "The
very first moment I looked upon this woman, I knew that she was the one
that God had sent my way."
Tessay moved closer to him.
"Tessay and I said our vows together on the night of Timkat and asked
for God's forgiveness, and then I took man."
her away as my wo She laid her head upon his great muscular shoulder.
"The Russian followed us. He found us here, on this very spot. He tried
to kill us both."
Tessay looked down at the beach upon which she and Mek had so nearly
died, and she shuddered at the memory.
"We fought," he said simply, "and when he was dead, I sent his body
floating away down the river."
"We knew he was dead," Royan told them. "We heard from the people at the
embassy that the police found his body downstream, near the border. We
didn't know how it had happened."
They were all quiet for a while, and then Nicholas broke the silence, "I
wish I had been there to watch. It must have been one hell of a fight.
He shook his head in awe.
"The Russian was good. I am glad I don't have to fight him again," Mek
admitted, and stood up. "We can reach the monastery before dark, if we
start now."
ai Metemma, the newly elected abbot of St. Frumentius, met them on the
terrace of the monastery overlooking the river. He was only a little
younger than Jah Hora had been, tall and with a dignified silver head,
and today he was wearing the blue crown in honour of such a
distinguished guest as Mek
After the visitors had bathed and rested for an hour in the cells that
had been set aside for them, the monks came to lead them to the welcome
feast that had been prepared.
When the tej flasks had been refilled for the third time, and the mood
of the abbot and of his monks had mellowed, Mek began to whisper into
the old man's ear.
"You recall the history of St. Frumentius - how God cast him up on our
shore from the storm-tossed sea, so that he might bring the true faith
to us?"
The abbot's eyes filled with tears. "His holy body was entombed here, in
our nwqdas. The barbarians came and stole the relic away from us. We are
children without a father. The reason for the building of this church
and monastery has been taken away," he lamented. "No longer will the
pilgrims come from every corner of Ethiopia to i pray at his shrine. We
will be forgotten by the Church. We are undone. Our monastery will
perish and our monks will be blown away like dead leaves on the wind."
"When St. Frumentius came to Ethiopia he was not alone. Another
Christian came with him from the High Church in Byzantium," Mek reminded
him in a soft, soothing rumble.
"St. Antonia." The abbot reached for his tei flask to allay the
intensity of his sorrow.
Mek agreed. "He died before St. Frumen "St. Antonia tius, but he was no
less holy than his brother."
"St. Antonia was also a great and holy man, deserving of our love and
veneration." The abbot took a long swallow from the flask.
"The ways of God are mysterious, are they not?" Mek shook his head at
the wonder of the workings of the universe.
"His ways are deep and not for us to question or understand., "And yet
he is compassionate, and he rewards the devout."
"He is all'compassionate." The abbot's tears overflowed and ran down his
cheeks.
"You and your monastery have suffered a grievous loss.
The sacred relic of St. Frumentius has been taken from you alas, never
to be recovered. But what if God were to send you another? What if he
were to send you the sacred body of St. Antonia?"
The abbot looked up through his tears, his expression suddenly
calculating. That would be a miracle indeed."
Mek Nimmur placed his arm around the old man's shoulders and whispered
quietly in his ear, and Mai Metemma stopped weeping and listened
intently.
have obtained your workers for you," Mek told Nicholas as they began the
march up the valley the next morning. "Mai Metemma has promised to give
us a hundred men within two days and another five hundred to follow them
within the next week. He is handing out indulgences to all those who
volunteer to work on the dam. They will be spared the fires of purgatory
if they take part in such a glorious project as the recovery of the holy
relic of St. Antonia."
Both the women stopped in their tracks and stared at him.
"What did you promise the poor old man?" Tessay demanded.
"A body to replace the one that Nogo plundered from the church. If we do
discover the tomb, then the monastery's share will be the mummy of
Mamose."
"That's a mean thing to do,"
A Royan exploded. "You will cheat him into helping us."
"It is not a cheat." Mek's dark eyes flashed at the accusation. "The
relic that they lost was not the veritable body of St. Frumentius, and
yet for hundreds of years it served the purpose of uniting the community
of monks and drawing Christians from all over this land. Now that it is
gone, the very existence of the monastery is threatened.
They have lost their reason for continuing."
"So you are tempting them with a false promiseP Royan was still angry.
"The body of Mamose is every bit as authentic as the one they lost. What
does it matter if it is the body of an ancient Egyptian rather than that
of an ancient Christian, just as long as it serves as a focus for the
faith and if it is the means by which the monastery might survive for
another five hundred years?"
"I think Mek is making sense." Nicholas gave his opinion.
"Since when have you been an expert in Christianity?
You are an atheist," Royan flashed at him, and he held up his hands as
if to ward off a blow.
"You are right. What do I know about it anyway?
You argue it out with Mek. I am going to discuss the theory of
dam-building with Sapper Webb." He sauntered up to the head of the file
of men and fell in beside his engineer.
From time to time he heard heated voices raised behind him, and he
grinned. He knew Mek, but he was also beginning to understand the lady.
It would be fascinating to see who would win this argument.
They reached the head of the chasm in the middle of the afternoon, and
while Mek 6.. searched out a campsite Nicholas took Sapper immediately
to the narrow neck of the river just above where it plunged over the
waterfall. While Sapper set up the theodolite, Nicholas took the
graduated levelling staff.
Sapper ordered him up and down the face of the cliff with peremptory
hand signals, all the while peering into the lens of the theodolite,
while Nicholas teetered on insecure footing and tried to keep the staff