He Shall Thunder in the Sky - Elizabeth Peters [165]
“Something like that. Doesn’t it seem to you folks that I’m overdue for a little luck? All those years in Luxor without a single find!”
“Excuse me, sir, but that is a slight exaggeration,” Ramses said. “The tomb you found at Dra Abu’l Naga was unique. The plan cast new light on our knowledge of Second Intermediate Period architecture.”
“But there wasn’t anything in it!” Cyrus protested. “Except a few pots and a broken-up mummy.”
“How are you doing at Abusir?” Emerson inquired, taking out his pipe.
“Well, now, there’s another thing. I thought sure there’d be private tombs next to that miserable excuse for a pyramid, but what we’ve come across seems to be a temple.”
“What?” Emerson shouted. “The mortuary temple of the unfinished pyramid of Abusir?”
“Goodness gracious, Emerson, you make it sound like the lost city of Atlantis!” I said. “There are a number of unfinished pyramids—too many, in my opinion. This one has not even a substructure.”
“And that is the only part of a pyramid that interests you,” said Emerson. “Dark, dusty, cramped underground passages! The existence of a mortuary temple suggests that there was a burial after all. What is more important is the temple plan itself. Only a few have been excavated, and—”
“Spare us the lecture, Emerson,” I said with a smile. “We all know you prefer temples to pyramids or even tombs.”
“I dropped you a hint Christmas Day,” Cyrus said. “Been expecting you would drop by to have a look.”
“Hmph.” Emerson fingered the cleft in his chin. “I have been busy, Vandergelt.”
“I reckon you have. What with one thing and another.” Cyrus’s keen blue eyes moved from Emerson to me. After a moment he went on, with seeming irrelevance, “I called on MacMahon the other day. I’m supposed to be neutral in this war; I’ve got friends and sons of friends in both armies. But I figure a fellow has to take a stand, and I’ve made up my mind what side I’m on. Told him I was offering my services, such as they are.”
He was offering his services to us as well. He did not have to say so; coming from Cyrus, who knew us so well, the hint was enough. If it had been up to me I would have confided fully in these loyal friends, on whose assistance and advice I had so often depended. I had not the right. I too was under orders.
* * *
We had an early dinner and then separated in order to assume our costumes. The Vandergelts had brought several pieces of luggage, since I had invited them to spend that night and the next with us. Emerson was gracious enough to approve the ensemble I had selected for him—that of a Crusader. I was his lady, in flowing robes and a pointed headdress. Emerson liked his sword and beard very much, but he objected to my pointed hat, on the grounds that it wobbled a bit and would probably poke someone’s eye out. Brushing this complaint aside, I took his arm and we proceeded into the drawing room, where we found Katherine and Cyrus waiting, dressed as a lady and gentleman of Louis the Fourteenth’s court, complete with powdered wigs.
Before long Ramses joined us. I was relieved to see that he had not assumed one of his more disgusting disguises—a verminous beggar or odorous camel driver. He had better sense than that, of course; it would have been folly to advertise his ability to assume such roles. He hadn’t gone to much trouble; a broad-brimmed “ten-gallon hat” borrowed from Cyrus, a neckerchief tied round his bared throat, and a pair of six-shooters strapped round his waist made him into a dashing and fairly unconvincing model of an American cowboy. I doubted very much that American cowboys wore white shirts and riding breeches.
“For pity’s sake, Ramses,” I exclaimed, as he swept off his hat and bowed. “Are you carrying those weapons into Shepheards?”
“They are not loaded, Mother.”
“What happened to the spurs?” Cyrus inquired, his eyes twinkling.
“I feared they might constitute a hazard on the dance floor.”
“You were right about that,” I said.
Nefret had taken Anna to her room; they came in together. Anna looked quite nice in a bright-skirted gypsy costume and large