The Falcon at the Portal - Elizabeth Peters [111]
While Fatima cleared the table Ramses went to find his copy of the text. We pulled our chairs closer as he spread the crumpled paper out. Unlike his normal handwriting, which rather resembles the amorphous shorthand squiggles of Egyptian demotic writing, Ramses’s hieroglyphic hand is neat and easy to read—assuming, of course, that one can read ancient Egyptian. I would be the last to claim that my knowledge of the language is that of an expert, but the first few words were part of a familiar formula.
“Imyre—er—hmmm,” I read aloud. “The overseer of ships, hereditary prince and count, sole companion. These are the titles of the high official who composed the text, Cyrus.”
“Quite right, my dear,” said Emerson, audibly amused. He put his hand over mine. “Supposing we let Ramses translate the entire text—without interrupting him.”
“An excellent suggestion, Emerson,” I replied graciously.
It was certainly an astonishing document. The Egyptians were excellent boatbuilders, and they knew something of astronomy. It was barely conceivable that by following the coastline and putting in to shore periodically to take on fresh supplies, a captain who enjoyed the favor of every god in the extremely extensive pantheon might have accomplished the feat. I didn’t believe it, though; and as Ramses’s interpolated comments made clear, almost every description in the text was plagiarized from much later sources. The man who had put it together was obviously familiar with those sources and with the Egyptian language.
“There are certain anomalies, however,” said Ramses. “For one thing, this text begins with the titles and name of the man who ostensibly composed it. Proper protocol would demand that the date and the king’s name and titles precede his. They are here, but they follow the titles of the official, and those titles are not in the order one would expect.”
“I see what you mean,” Emerson exclaimed. “The chap was a prince and count and sole companion and all the rest; why would he mention his post as overseer of ships before the other, higher titles? Is that significant?”
“If so, the significance eludes me,” Ramses said rather snappishly. Vain about his person he was not,
but he hated to admit his knowledge of Egyptian could fail, even in such a case as this.
“So the clue,” I said, “that might have given us more information was not in the text itself.”
Ramses said he had come to the same conclusion, but that the clue must have been minute in size, or concealed with such diabolical skill that he had not seen it. He added that since we no longer had the bloody—excuse me, Mother and Mrs. Vandergelt—the confounded thing, further speculation was a waste of time. With this I was forced to agree.
Since the following day was Friday, the day of rest for our men, Emerson had agreed to escort me to Cairo and spend the night at Shepheard’s. He did not want to do this—he never does—and now he seized upon an excuse for calling it off.
“I don’t like leaving the children alone, Peabody,” he remarked sanctimoniously. “Vandergelt’s idea, that someone is trying to prevent us from excavating at Zawaiet—”
“Has not changed the realities of the situation, Emerson,” I explained. “They are in no more danger than they ever were, and I believe we can depend on them to take care.”
“Quite,” said the male “child” forcefully, while the female “child” pursed her lips and rolled her eyes.
“Hmph,” said Emerson. “Very well. Er—Nefret, I have a large quantity of notes to be transcribed. It will probably take you most of the day.”
“I had planned to go to Atiyah with Ramses,” Nefret protested. “Kadija is expecting me.”
“You can do that another time. We will be back early Saturday morning ready to get back to work.” Observing her sulky expression, he changed his tactics. “I know you think me overly cautious, my dear, but as a favor to me, give me your word you will not stray far from the house tomorrow. Nothing can happen to you here.”
NINE
Stripped to the waist, sabers in our hands, we faced one another. Ahmed was a hulking brute, his body seamed with