The Hippopotamus Pool - Elizabeth Peters [12]
‘I had intended to let you do so, in confirmation of the story I am about to tell you.’ He removed it from his finger and placed it on the palm I had extended.
Even an uneducated tourist would have recognized the basic design. In pharaonic times, scarabs were popular amulets, which carried a hieroglyphic inscription or a name on the flat undersurface. Replicas, some honestly proclaimed as such, some purporting to be ancient, were sold to tourists by the hundreds. In this case the scarab was not of the common faience or stone; it was, or appeared to be, solid gold. It had been fastened to the shank of the ring in a manner familiar to me from ancient examples: twisted gold wires on either side of the scarab-shaped bezel allowed it to pivot. When I turned it over I was not surprised to see the hieroglyphic signs that spelled a name. I recognized the name, but it was not one of the ones commonly found on such trinkets.
I handed the ring to Emerson, who studied it with a scowl as Mr Saleh began to speak.
‘This jewel has been handed down from generation to generation for over three thousand years. It is the symbol of the office of High Priest of the ka of Queen Tetisheri, whose name you see on the scarab. Only the body perishes; the immortal spirit, the ka of the Egyptians, passes on from one fleshly tenement to another. It has been my sacred duty over the long centuries to ensure the survival and the rebirth of that great queen. In my first incarnation, as Heriamon of Thebes, I was her faithful –’
Emerson’s roar made the window glass rattle. ‘Hell and damnation!’
‘Emerson!’ I exclaimed. ‘Do calm yourself. And be careful of the ring, it is twenty-two-carat gold and quite fragile.’
‘Peabody, I will be damned if I will put up with this sort of thing.’ The blood that had rushed to his tanned face turned it a pretty shade of mahogany, but he put the ring carefully into my hand before clenching his own hand into a fist and shaking it under my nose. ‘Reincarnation! Either he is a lunatic or he is inventing this lunatic tale in order to cover up a more sinister plan.’ He jumped to his feet and lunged at the stranger.
Warned by Emerson’s initial scream of rage, the stranger had also risen. The pistol he now held in his hand brought even my impetuous husband to an abrupt halt. ‘Hell and damnation,’ Emerson repeated, in a softer but even more ominous voice. ‘What is it you want, then? If you dare lay hands on my wife –’
‘I have no intention of harming either of you,’ was the quick response. ‘I go armed for other reasons, but I was not unprepared for your reaction. Only hear me out. What harm can it do?’
‘Go on,’ Emerson said curtly.
‘What I told you is true. This body is only the latest of many my ka has inhabited. You may believe it or not, that is immaterial to me. I mentioned it only to explain the source of the knowledge I am about to offer you. I know the location of her tomb. I can lead you to it – a queen’s tomb, with its treasures intact.’
Emerson’s breath caught. He did not believe it – but oh, how he wanted to! He would not have sold his soul for wealth or the face that launched a thousand ships, but a royal tomb! Mephistopheles himself could have made no offer more seductive to the heart of an Egyptologist, even that of a scholar who prizes knowledge above vulgar fame. Emerson’s contributions to the field of Egyptology had won him the acclaim of his peers (and, I am sorry to say, a certain degree of vulgar fame as well), but he had never made that one outstanding discovery all archaeologists dream of. Could this be such a discovery?
‘Where?’ he demanded.
‘Drah Abu’l Naga.’ The stranger stepped back and lowered the pistol. Like me, he had observed the signs, not of belief but of the desire to believe.
In the days when he possessed a beard, Emerson had been wont to tug at it in moments of deep thought. Now sans beard, at my insistence, he had to content himself with rubbing the cleft in his chin. ‘Logical,’ he muttered. ‘But if you know anything about Egyptology, which you obviously do,