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By Root 1264 0

the kidnapper, whom we would force to lead us to the man who had hired him. Was it the same individual who had murdered Asad and attacked us? It hardly seemed likely that we had more than one enemy after us (though I had known it to happen), but try as I might, I had not been able to think of a single underlying motive that would explain all the events. However, a new and intriguing idea had occurred to me after Mohammed’s astonishing announcement that afternoon. Could our adversary be a lieutenant of the Master Criminal, bent on revenge for his master’s death? Few if any of them could have known of his work for the War Office, and his demise might well have been blamed on us.

I had encountered several of these individuals, and since I had nothing better to do, I passed them in review. The sophisticated, charming Sir Edward? The gallant young Frenchman I had known as René d’Arcy? The amiable American lad, Charles Holly? Surely not any of them. They had all been perfect gentlemen, even if they were criminals. The only one of Sethos’s immediate entourage who might have concocted such a diabolical scheme was dead. There could be no doubt of it, for I had seen her corpse. Of course I had not known all his people personally . . .

Such speculation got me nowhere, but at least it helped to pass the time.

Darkness had fallen. The old woman was asleep; I could see nothing, but I heard her thin whistling breaths. I had prepared myself for a long wait. The sound that shook me out of my half-doze was so unexpected and so uncanny, I almost lost my balance. It was the high-pitched, mournful howling of a dog.

The crack of a weapon, pistol or rifle, ended the dog’s lament. I waited, holding my breath. What the sound betokened I could not tell; how far away it had been I did not know. But someone was out there in the hills, armed with a modern weapon. Once, in the days of my impetuous youth, I might have rushed out of the hut firing my own little gun. I knew better now. Whatever occurred, I must stick to my post until I was relieved. Grasping my pistol in one hand and my torch in the other, I pointed both at the door and stood ready.

I suppose the interval did not last more than half an hour, but I thought I would burst from frustration and worry before I finally heard a voice. “Peabody, it’s me. Don’t shoot! Is it safe to come in?”

My throat was parched, but I managed to croak a response. “Certainly it is safe. Do you suppose I would shoot blindly at an opening door?”

“I have known it to happen,” said Emerson. The door creaked open and I saw his form outlined against the starlight. He had spoken in his normal tones and his torch was lighted, though he was considerate enough not to shine it directly into my eyes. Stiff with long standing, I stumbled toward him. He removed the pistol from my numbed grasp before he lent me the support of his arm.

“What happened?” I demanded. “I heard the dog howl—and the pistol shot.”

“And you stayed in position? Good girl.” He gave me a quick kiss. “Now if you can only get out of the habit of waving that damned gun at people . . . You aren’t hurt, are you?”

“No, but I’ve been standing in one position for hours! Where is Selim? What happened, curse it?”

“Gone to fetch the horses.” Emerson shone his torch round the interior of the hut. “Opium,” he muttered. “Poor creature. We will have to make arrangements for her tomorrow, Peabody. Her son won’t be coming back.”

“Dead?”

“Yes. The dog must have been his; it was lying beside his body. Strange, the loyalty the beasts feel even for masters who abuse and neglect them.”

After the noisome dark of the hut the night air was as refreshing as cool water against my hot cheeks. I refreshed myself with actual water from my canteen, which I had been unable to do earlier since both my hands were occupied, and while we waited for Selim, Emerson answered my urgent questions.

“The tragedy, if you want to call it that, occurred not far from where we had concealed ourselves. As I reconstruct the affair, Saleh was to meet his employer in the hills above the village.