"Go on!'
"Either he wants to move the water to another area downstream, to use it
for washing out a deposit, gold nuggets or artefacts made of precious
metals, perhaps even site of the to use it for hosing the overburden off
the tomb,$
"Highly unlikely!" von Schiller interjected. "That would be an
inefficient and expensive manner of excavation."
"I agree that it is far-fetched." Nahoot obsequiously followed von
Schiller's lead, but no one even looked at him.
"What is your other supposition?" Von Schiller glared at Helm.
"The only other reason for damming the river, that I can think of, would
be to reach something that has been covered by the water. Something
lying in the bed of the river."
"That is more logical," von Schiller mused, and turned his attention
back to the photograph. "What is there below this dam site?"
"The river enters a deep and narrow ravine here." Helm pointed at the
spot. "Just below his dam. The ravine stretches about eight miles, down
to this point, just above the monastery. I have flown over it in the
helicopter, and it seems to be impassable, and yet-' he broke off, "Yes,
go on! And yet - what?"
"On one flight over the area, we found Harper and the woman on the high
ground above the ravine. They were at this spot here." He touched the
photograph, and von Schiller leaned forward to peer at it.
"What were they doing there?" he demanded, without looking up.
"Nothing. They were merely sitting on the top of the cliff above the
ravine."
"But they were aware of your presence?"
"Of course. We were in the helicopter. They heard our approach. They
were watching us, and Harper even waved."
And so they would have ceased whatever activity they were engaged in
when they became aware of your approach?"
Von Schiller was silent for so long that they began to fidget
uncomfortably and exchange glances. When he spoke it was so unexpected
that Nahoot started.
"Harper obviously has reason to believe that the tomb lies in the gorge
below the dam. When and how do you make contact with your spy that you
have in Harper's camp?"
"Harper is receiving some of his supplies from the villages here on the
escarpment. The women are driving down slaughter cattle to feed his men,
and carrying down pots of tej. Out man sends back his reports with the
women when they return."
"Very well. Very well!" Von Schiller waved him to silence. "I don't need
to know his life history. All I want to know is if Harper is working in
the ravine below his dam.
How soon can you find this out?"
"By the day after tomorrow at the latest," Helm promised him.
Von Schiller turned to Colonel Nogo at the far end Of the conference
table. So far he had not spoken, but had watched and listened quietly to
the others.
"How many men have you deployed in this area?" von Schiller asked.
"Three full companies, over three hundred men. All well trained. Many
are battle-hardened veterans."
"Where are they? Show me on the map."
The colonel came to stand beside him. "One company here, another
billeted at the village of Debra Maryam, and the third company at the
foot of the escarpment, ready to move forward and attack Harper's camp."
"I think you should attack them now. Wipe them out, before they can
uncover the tomb-' Nahoot came in again.
"Shut your mouth," von Schiller snapped' without looking up at Nahoot.
"I will ask for your opinion when I need it."
He considered the map for a while longer, then asked Nogo, "How many men
has this guerrilla commander, what is his name, the one who has allied
himself to Harper?"
"Mek Nimmur is no a guerrilla. He is a bandit, and notorious shufta
terrorist," Nogo corrected him hotly.
"One man's freedom fighter is the next man's terrorist," von Schiller
remarked drily. "How many men has he under his command?"
"Not many. Fewer than a hundred, perhaps no more than fifty. He has them
all guarding Harper's camp, and the dam."
Von Schiller nodded to himself, plucking at the lobe of his ear. "How
did Harper and his gang return to Ethiopia?" he mused. "I know he flew
from Malta, but it is not possible that the aircraft could have landed
down there in the gorge."
He hopped down off his block and strutted to the window of the hut
through which he had a panoramic view spread below him. He stared down
into the depths of the gorge, a vista of cliffs and broken hilltops and
wild tablelands, smoked blue with distance.
"How did they get in without being discovered by the authorities? Did he
parachute in, the same way as he dropped his supplies?"
"No, said Nogo. "My informer tells us that he marched in with Mek
Nimmut, some days before the supplies were dropped to him."
"So from where did he march?" von Schiller pondered.
"Where is the nearest airfield where a heavy aircraft could land?"
"If he came in with Mek Nimmur, then they almost certainly came in from
the Sudan. That is where Nimmur operates from. There are many old
abandoned airfields near the border. The war," Nogo shrugged
expressively, "the armies are always on the move, that war has been
going on for twenty years."
"From the Sudan?" Von Schiller picked out the border on the map. "So
they must have trekked in along the river."
"Almost certainly,'Nogo agreed.
"Then just as certainly Harper plans to escape the same way. I want you
to move the company of men that you have at Debra Maryam and deploy them
here and here. On both banks of the river, below the monastery. They
must be in a position to prevent Harper reaching the Sudanese border,
if he should try to make a run for it."
"Yes. Good! I understand. That is good tactics," Nogo nodded gloatingly,
his eyes bright behind the tenses of his spectacles.
"Then I want your remaining men moved down to the foot of the
escarpment. Tell them to avoid contact with Mek Nimmur's men, but to be
in a position to move forward very quickly and seize the dam area, and
to block off the ravine below the dam as soon as I give you the word."
When will that be?"Nogo asked.
"We will continue to watch him carefully. If he makes a discovery, he
will start moving the artefacts out. Many of them will be too large to
conceal. Your informer will know about it. That is when we will move in
on him."
"You should move in now, Herr von Schiller," Nahoot advised him, "before
he gets a chance to open the tomb."
"Don't be an idiot," von Schiller snarled at him. "If we strike too
soon, we might never discover what he obviously has learned about the
whereabouts of the tomb."
"We could force him-'
"If I have learned anything in my life, it is that you. cannot force a
man like Harper. There is a certain type of Englishman - I remember
during the last war with them' He broke off and frowned. "No. They are
very' difficult people. We must not rush it now. When Harper makes a
discovery in the ravine, that will be the time to pounce."
The frown faded and he smiled a small, cold smile. "The waiting game. In
the meantime, we play the waiting game."
The debris that filled the shaft was not so tightly packed that it