it just be lists of numbers and extraneous symbols to him? You really
are being extremely dense, aren't you? This is like pulling teeth."
"Oh, Lordy, Lordy!" His face cleared. "You clever lady!
Taita is playing the game of bao with us."
"And this is the first pylon, where it starts." She gestured to the
shrine. "This is where the great god Osiris makes the opening coup. This
is where we must start at the beginning of the sacred bao board. This is
where we counter his opening move."
They both looked around the shrine for a while, studying the curved
walls and the high domed roof, and then Nicholas broke the silence. "At
the risk of being called extremely dense and having my teeth pulled, may
I ask a question? How the hell do we play a game when we don't even know
the rules?"
olonel Nogo exuded confidence and self, importance as he swaggered into
the conference room to answer von Schiller's summons.
Nahoot Guddabi bustled along behind him, determined not to be excluded
from any of the proceedings. He too tried to look confident and
important, but in truth he felt his position was very insecure and that
he needed to justify himself to his master, Von Schiller was dictating
correspondence to Utte Kemper, but as soon as they entered the room he
stood quickly and stepped on to the carpeted block.
"You promised that you would have a report for me yesterday," he snapped
at Nogo, ignoring Nahoot. "Have you not heard anything from this
informer of yours in the gorge?"
"I apologize for keeping you waiting like this, Herr von Schiller." Nogo
was immediately deflated by this sharp attack, and he became restless
and uneasy. The German frightened him. "The women were a day late
returning from Harper's camp. They are very unreliable, these country
people. Time means very little to them."
"Yes, yes." Von Schiller was impatient. "I know the failings of your
black brethren, and I might add you are not completely innocent of these
yourself, Nogo. But tell me what news you have for me."
"Harper finished work on the dam seven days ago, and immediately he
moved his camp downstream, to a new place on the hills above the ravine.
He then built some sort of bamboo ladder down into the ravine. My
informer tells me that they are clearing a hole at the bottom of the
empty pool-'
"A hole? What kind of hole?" Von Schiller turned pale as he listened,
and began sweating in a light sheen across his forehead.
"Are you all right, Herr von Schiller?" Nogo was alarmed. The German
looked very ill, as if he were about to collapse.
"I am perfectly well," von Schiller shouted at him.
"What hole was this? Describe it to me."
"The woman bringing the message is a stupid peas ant." Nogo was
uncomfortable, squirming under von Schiller's grilling. "She says only
that when the river water fell, there was a hole in the bottom that was
filled with rock and rubbish and that they have cleared this out."
"A tunnel!" Nahoot could contain himself no longer.
"It must be the entrance tunnel to the tomb."
"Be quied' Von Schiller turned on him furiously. "You have no facts to
back up that supposition. Let Nogo finish." He turned back to the
colonel. "Go on. Give me the rest of it."
"The woman says that there is a cave at the end of the hole. Like a rock
shrine, with pictures on the walls-' "Pictures? "What pictures?"
"The woman said they were pictures of the saints." Nogo made a
deprecating gesture. "She is a very uneducated woman. Stupid
"Christian saints?" von Schiller demanded.
Nahoot interjected, "That is not possible, Herr von Schiller. I tell you
that Harper has discovered the tomb of Mamose. You must act swiftly
now."
"I will not warn you again, you miserable little man," von Schiller
snarled at him. "Keep quiet."
He turned back to Nogo. "Was there anything else in the cavern? Tell me
everything the woman said."
"Pictures and statues of the saints." Nogo spread his hands. "I am
sorry, Herr von Schiller, that's what she said.
I know this is all nonsense, but that is what the woman told me."
"I will judge what is and what is not nonsense," von Schiller told him.
"What did she say happened to these statues of the saints?"
"Harper has packed them in boxes."
"Has he removed them from the shrine?"
"I do not know, Herr von Schiller. The woman did not say.
Von Schiller stepped down from his block. He began to pace up and down
the length of the hut, muttering to himself distractedly.
"Herr von Schiller-' Nahoot began, but the German waved him to silence.
At last he stopped in front of Nogo and stared up at him.
"Did they find a mummy, a body, in the- shrine?" he demanded.
do not know, Herr von Schiller. The woman did not say.
"Where is she?" Von Schiller was so agitated that he clutched the front
of Nogo's uniform jacket and stood on tiptoe to thrust his face up close
to his. "Where is this woman? Have you let her go?" Tiny droplets of
spittle flew into Nogo's face and he blinked and tried to duck, but von
Schiller had him in a death grip.
"No, sir. She is still here. I did not want to bring her to you-, "You
fool. All you are telling me is secondhand.
Bring her in here immediately. I want to question her face to face." He
shoved Nogo away from him. "Go and fetch her."
Nogo returned minutes later dragging the woman into the room by one arm.
She was young, and despite the blue tattoos across her cheeks and chin
she was pretty. She wore the long black robes and head-covering of a
married woman, and carried an infant on her hip.
As soon as Nogo released her arm she sank to the floor and whimpered
with terror. The child she carried whined in sympathy. Its nostrils were
plugged with white crusts of dried snot. The woman opened the top of her
robe with a shaking hand, fished out one of her milk-swollen breasts and
thrust the nipple into the child's mouth. Infant and mother stared at
von Schiller with terrified eyes.
"Ask her if there was a coffin or body of the saint in the shrine," von
Schiller ordered, eyeing the woman with distaste.
Nogo questioned her for a minute and then shook his head. "She does not
know anything about a body. She is very stupid. She does not understand
very well."
"Ask her about the statues of the saints. What has Harper done with
them? Where are they now? Has he removed them from the shrine?"
After another long exchange with the woman, Nogo shook his head. "No.
She says that the statues are still in the shrine. The white man has
packed them into boxes and the soldiers are guarding them."
"Soldiers? What soldiers?"
"Soldiers of Mek Nimmur, the. shufta commander that I told you about. He
is still with Harper."
"How many boxes are thereP In his impatience von Schiller went up to
where the woman sat and prodded her with the toe of his boot. "How many
statues are there?"
The woman waited with terror and shrank away from him. Von Schiller
recoiled from her at the same time, with an expression of disgust.
"Gott im HimmeW He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and patted his
mouth and nose with it. "She stinks like an animal. Ask her how many