The Mummy Case - Elizabeth Peters [113]
We mounted our donkeys. “Thank goodness that is over,” Emerson said. “I have learned what I needed to know and can wind this business up in short order.”
“What did you learn from the foreman, Emerson?”
“What did you find in the tent, Peabody?”
“Slow down, if you please. I cannot talk or think while bouncing up and down on a donkey.”
Emerson obliged. “Well? Fair is fair, Peabody.”
“Oh, certainly, Emerson. But I have nothing to contribute. Only the fact that Kalenischeff has left, which I deduced from the absence of his luggage.”
“Nothing suspicious among de Morgan’s gear?”
“Not a thing.”
Disappointment lengthened Emerson’s face. “Ah, well, I feared it was too good to be true. He is making little headway with his excavations. No sign of the burial chamber, and the nearby private tombs have all been robbed—stripped of everything, even the mummies.”
“I never really suspected him, Emerson.”
“Neither did I, Peabody.”
iv
When we reached Mazghunah we found that work had stopped. The passage was in such poor condition it could not be dug out. Mohammed had narrowly escaped being buried alive when the shattered walls gave way; and, after he had examined the situation, Emerson commended Abdullah on his good sense in halting further attempts.
“I feared from the start this would eventuate,” he told me. “We will have to clear the entire area and get at the chambers of the substructure from above. The superstructure has entirely disappeared, except for that small mass of brickwork on the north side. Apparently the subterranean passageways have collapsed; you saw how the ground above has sunk in.”
“I am sure you are right, Emerson.”
“My heartfelt apologies, Peabody. I know how you love crawling on your hands and knees through dark, stifling tunnels; but in this case…”
“My dear Emerson, it is not your fault that the pyramid is in disrepair. We must not risk our men on a hopeless task.”
My cheerful tone did not deceive my husband, but I kept the smile fixed on my face until he had left me. Only then did I allow my countenance to reflect the disappointment that filled my heart. I had resigned myself to a sunken pit in place of a towering pyramid, but I had hoped for a substructure. In some pyramids the burial chamber and the passages leading to it were built into the pyramid itself. The internal chambers of others were dug wholly or in part into the rock of the plateau on which the pyramid stood. Ours was one of the latter type, but now my dreams of exploring its mysterious interior were over.
Ramses heard the tragic news with his customary appearance of equanimity, remarking only, “I surmised as much when de wall fell on Mohammed.” I had begun to believe he might have inherited my enthusiasm for pyramids, but this phlegmatic reaction cast grave doubts on such a hypothesis. He did not join us when we returned to work after a hasty luncheon.
Early in the afternoon the men came on a portion of wall over forty inches thick. Deducing that this was part of the enclosure wall of the pyramid, and that its outline defined the extent of the pyramid foundations, Emerson set the crew to work tracing its four sides. I could see it would take several weeks to clear the entire enclosure, for the loose sand kept trickling back into the trenches almost as fast as it was dug out.
Ramses went to his room immediately after supper, while Emerson and I turned to the clerical and recording chores that are a necessary if boring part of any archaeological expedition. The next day was payday; with John’s assistance Emerson began totaling the men’s wages, which varied according to the hours each had put in, the type of work, and the rewards given for objects found. Our evenings had been so lively, with burglaries and detective investigations, that to pass one quietly was an anticlimax. I found myself yawning over my work and was about to suggest we retire early when I heard voices outside.
One was the voice of our loyal Abdullah, raised in peremptory challenge. The other was softer; I could not make out the words it spoke. After a moment Abdullah