After his camp near Berbera was attacked by Somali bandits and he suffered his grievous wound from a spear thrust through his jaw, Burton was forced to postpone his search for the source of the Nile. On his way back to England to recuperate, he had stopped at Giza to explore this mystery before boarding the steamer. His persistent questioning had led him to Kaji, an old Egyptian he’d found huddled in a hut on the edge of the Plateau. As near as Burton could determine, Kaji was some kind of caretaker for the monuments, although the man seemed poor and had no affiliation with the local government. He had badgered the old man every day for a week, before Kaji even assented to talk to him. And then it had taken another week of pestering to get him to agree to take him to the Plateau this evening.
Burton felt the familiar stir of excitement as they closed on the Great Pyramid. He had read the report of the English mathematician John Greaves, who had visited the Pyramid in 1638. Burton had also studied the more exacting measurements of Frenchman Edme-Francois Jomard, who had been commissioned by Napoleon to study the structure, Jomard had deduced the Pyramid of Khufu’s current height to be 481 feet, making it by far the tallest known man-made building in the world. Even more fascinating, Jomard measured each side of the base and discovered, they were all 755 feet long, give or take eight inches, an incredible feat of building by the ancients… accuracy within one-tenth of one percent over such a vast scale. Just as amazing; the sides of the three major pyramids were perfectly aligned with the cardinal directions.
Burton intrinsically felt there had to be more here than what he had heard and studied. He had an instinct for mystery and intrigue and he could feel the power of both swirling about as they reached the base of the Great Pyramid. He was pleased when Kaji led him to the entrance Caliph Abdullah Al Mamum had cracked in the side of the large monument. Burton had read old scrolls in Medina about the caliph and how he had gone to the Great Pyramid in A.D. 820 and forced his way in search of secrets of a “profound science” and the “complete history of man and the truth of astronomy.” The scrolls told that Al Mamum sought a secret chamber that held “maps and terrestrial spheres.” Those scrolls written in the old Arabic tongue had been one of several clues that had led Burton to the Giza Plateau.
Kaji handed Burton a kerosene lantern. “We will light these once we are inside. What we do tonight it is best no one knows about, and there are always thieves and scoundrels hiding in the darkness around the Plateau. Also, the government has officially forbidden travel inside. Those in power know the danger of the truth.” Kaji paused. “Mr. Burton, this is your last chance to turn around and go back. Please, sir, I beg of you, do not pursue this any further. I tell you honestly that death awaits if you persist.”
“Death awaits every man,” Burton said. “You cannot stop me.”
Kaji turned toward the Pyramid. “It is Allah’s will, then.”
They passed into the dark opening and carefully made their way into the tunnel, moving a little distance by feel, before Kaji paused and lit both lanterns.
“In the ninth century, the caliph’s men broke through the rock by heating it with fire, then pouring cold vinegar over the stones,” Kaji informed Burton as they moved down the tunnel. “They had to break through much rock… over one hundred feet… before they reached this.”
Burton ducked his head as they entered a four-foot-high tunnel that his lantern showed went up at a steep angle.
Kaji pointed. “The caliph’s men then found the original entrance, hidden behind a pivoting stone door. That entrance leads to the Queen’s Chamber and the Great Gallery, which ends at the King’s Chamber in the middle of the Pyramid.”
“Both of those had nothing in them when opened,” Burton noted.
“The titles given to those chambers were made up by people who knew no better. They are rooms inside the Pyramid, but there is no evidence a king was buried in one chamber and a queen in the other. No one really knows what was in those rooms… if anything,” Kaji added. “Besides, we are not going up.”
The Arab placed his hands on one of the stone blocks to their right. For the first time Burton noted a large ring on the man’s right hand. He was startled as, with a grinding noise, the stone Kaji had touched rotated clockwise, revealing a narrow opening.
Kaji slid through the opening, Burton following. They were in a wider tunnel, about five feet high by four wide. Burton still had to hunch over, and he waited as Kaji placed his hands on the stone and it rumbled shut behind them.
Enclosed in this tunnel, the way out now sealed, Burton felt the immensity of the Pyramid. The thousands and thousands of massive stone blocks above his head were a palpable presence. The air was stale and dry. A thin layer of undisturbed dust covered the floor of the passageway, which angled downward at what Burton estimated to be a thirty-degree slope.
Kaji headed down the tunnel, Burton following closely, their lanterns casting long shadows in both directions along the smoothly cut stone walls. Burton paused briefly and swung his lantern close to one side. The joints between the blocks were so tight that he could not get the blade of his penknife between them. Remarkable craftsmanship on an immense scale. Even the great cathedral builders of Europe had not managed such work, and this had been built while Europeans were still living in mud huts.
He had to hurry to catch up to the Arab. He heard something very faint and realized Kaji was counting to himself. Burton almost bumped into the other man, when he abruptly halted.
“We are at the base of the Pyramid.” Kaji ran his hands over a particular stone block. Burton now saw that the face of the large ring was turned palm in and that Kaji seemed to be trying to place it in a specific spot.
It must have hit the correct place, because the stone block, over six feet wide, rotated, allowing space on either side. Burton estimated the block to weigh at least several tons, yet it turned smoothly, still perfectly balanced after all these years.
“To the left, Kaji said.
“What’s to the right?” Burton asked.
“Death.”
“A trap set for grave robbers?”
“No. A box that holds death for everyone in the Pyramid and on the Highland of Aker.”
“What kind of box could do that?”
“I have seen it once. A black box inside a sarcophagus in a chamber below the center of the Pyramid. I dared not open it or even touch it. My father told me it holds a very powerful weapon. One that could destroy all three pyramids.”
“What could do that?”
Kaji shrugged. “I know not.”
“How could the ancients have such a weapon?”
Kaji did not answer. Burton wanted to find this box, open it, and see what kind of device could do such a fantastic thing, but he had agreed with Kaji to find something else and he knew he needed to stay on that task. Kaji extended his arm, indicating for Burton to go ahead.
The Englishman paused. “You go first, please.”
Kaji shrugged and scooted through the opening. Burton followed, pushing past the Arab, who waited to close the stone. He could smell the other man’s sweat, the faint odor of spicy food on his breath, and something else, deeper and ranker. Burton had smelled that before, and he thought for a few seconds before he realized what it was… the odor men gave off just before going into battle. The smell of fear.