Crocodile on the Sandbank - Elizabeth Peters [53]
“Tell me what you saw.”
“A tall, pale form, featureless and stark. It stood in shadow, but… Amelia, it had no face! There was no sign of nose or mouth or eyes, only a flat, white oval; no hair, only a smooth-fitting covering. The limbs were stiff—”
“Enough of this equivocation,” I cried impatiently. “What you saw resembled… was like… seemed to be… in short —a Mummy!”
Evelyn stared at me.
“You saw it too! You must have done, or you could not accept this so readily. When? How?”
“One might add, ‘why?’” I said wryly. “Yes, I saw such a form last night. This morning I found scraps of rotted wrappings on the ledge outside our chamber.”
“And you said nothing of this to Walter—or to me?”
“It sounded too ridiculous,” I admitted, “particularly after I learned that the mummy we discovered had mysteriously disappeared in the night.”
“Ridiculous, Amelia? I wish I could think so. What are we to do?”
“I will have the courage to speak now that I have you to support me. But I shudder to think what Emerson will say. I can hear him now: ‘A walking mummy, Peabody? Quite so! No wonder the poor fellow wants exercise, after lying stiff for two thousand years!’”
“Nevertheless, we must speak.”
“Yes. In the morning. That will be time enough for my humiliation.”
But the morning brought a new sensation, and new troubles.
I was up betimes. Emerson, another early riser, was already pacing about near the cook tent. A pith helmet, set at a defiant angle, proclaimed his intentions for the day. I glanced at it, and at his haggard face, and sniffed meaningfully; but I made no comment. Breakfast was prepared; we returned to our table on the ledge, where Evelyn and Walter joined us; and the meal was almost finished when Emerson exploded.
“Where are the men? Good God, they should have been here an hour ago!”
Walter withdrew his watch from his pocket and glanced at it.
“Half an hour. It appears they are late this morning.”
“Do you see any signs of activity in the direction of the village?” Emerson demanded, shading his eyes and peering out across the sand. “I tell you, Walter, something is amiss. Find Abdullah.”
The foreman, who slept in a tent nearby, was nowhere to be found. Finally we made out a small white figure crossing the sand. It was Abdullah; he had apparently been to the village in search of his tardy work force. We were all at the bottom of the path waiting when he came up to us. He spread out his hands in an eloquent gesture and looked at Emerson.
“They will not come.”
“What do you mean, they won’t come?” Emerson demanded.
“They will not work today.”
“Is there some holiday, perhaps?” Evelyn asked. “Some Moslem holy day?”
“No,” Emerson answered. “Abdullah would not make such an error, even if I did. I would think the men are holding out for higher pay, but… Sit down, Abdullah, and tell me. Come, come, my friend, let’s not stand on ceremony. Sit down, I say, and talk.”
Thus abjured, Abdullah squatted on the bare ground, in that very same posture in which his ancestors are so often depicted. His English was not very good, so I shall take the liberty of abridging his remarks.
A conscientious man, he had set out for the village when the workmen failed to appear on time. The squalid little huddle of huts presented a disquieting appearance. It was as deserted and silent as if plague had struck. No children played in the dusty streets; even the mangy curs had taken themselves off.
Alarmed, Abdullah had gone to the house of the mayor—who was, I learned for the first time, the father of Mohammed. He had to pound on the barred door before he was finally admitted, and it took him some time to extract the facts from the mayor. At first he said only that the men would not come. Upon being pressed, he said they would not come the next day either—or any other day. His son was with him; and it was from Mohammed that Abdullah finally received a statement. As Abdullah repeated this, his face retained its well-bred impassivity, but his eyes watched Emerson uneasily.
The workers had been disturbed by the mummy Mohammed had found. The man repeated