The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog - Elizabeth Peters [173]
Now I understood why Emerson had lured his foe into the cave and left the weapon lying on the floor, as if useless to him. There had been only one bullet. He had certainly employed it in the most effective manner possible.
Pushing me away, he rose to his feet. I rolled over and sat up, my ears still ringing from the noise, my head in a whirl. When one has resigned oneself to death, it takes a while to get used to being alive.
Vincey lay crumpled on the floor, in a spreading pool of gore. Another man lay close by. He lay on his back; Vincey’s bullet—the one meant for us—had struck him square in the breast and flung him backward. The lantern light lay gently on his still face and quiet, outflung, empty hands.
CHAPTER 16
“The combination of physical strength and moral sensibility, combined with tenderness of heart, is exactly what is wanted in a husband.”
TOO late!” I cried, wringing my hands. “He gave his life for us! Oh, Charlie, if you had only come five minutes sooner!”
It was not so long as that, in fact, before our rescuers arrived. Charlie had been the first to enter; now he knelt, head bowed, by the body of his kindly patron. His grief was so genuine I much regretted having suspected him.
“I doubt it would have mattered,” Emerson said. “At the first sound of your approach, Vincey would have acted, and the result would probably have been the same.”
“You are right,” I said. “Forgive me, Charlie. I was so fond of him; and you see, he gave his life for—What did you say, Emerson?”
“Nothing,” said Emerson.
Charlie rose slowly to his feet. His face was drawn with pain and sorrow. I reiterated my apology. He tried to smile. “I will always feel the same regret, ma’am. You can leave him to us, now—to me and Rene. You look in pretty sad shape yourself. Go along, why don’t you, and console Abdullah; he was trying to fight two fellows with rifles the last time I saw him.”
We removed Abdullah from his victims; they had only been trying to defend themselves, and they fled as soon as they were able. “Explanations will be forthcoming in due time, Abdullah,” I said soothingly. “It was all a mistake.”
“So long as you came to no harm,” Abdullah muttered. Since it was too dark to see clearly, he so forgot himself as to run anxious hands over Emerson’s frame, and would have done the same to me, I daresay, had not propriety prevailed.
Our loyal men fought for the privilege of carrying me, so I allowed them to do it in turn. Emerson did not offer; the cat in his arms, he stamped along in such a brown study that he did not even seem to hear Abdullah’s persistent questions. Finally I said, “We will tell you the whole story later, Abdullah, after we have rested. Be content now with knowing that it is over. Er—it is over, isn’t it, Emerson? Emerson!”
“What? Oh. Yes, I think so. There were others involved, only too many of them; but most were Vincey’s dupes or hired thugs. He was the mainspring. Now that he is gone, I believe we have nothing more to fear.”
“Did you kill him, O Father of Curses?” Abdullah asked eagerly.
“Yes,” said Emerson.
“It is good,” said Abdullah.
Not until we reached the Nefertiti did Emerson lower Anubis to the ground and take me from the arms of Daoud, whose turn it was. “Rest and eat, my friends,” he said. “We will come to you later.”
Anubis preceded us up the gangplank. As I watched him trot briskly along, quite ready, as it appeared, to abandon his dead master without the slightest show of regret or remorse, I could almost share Abdullah’s superstitious fear of the creature. “Vincey had trained him to respond to a whistle,” I said softly. “That is how he was able to abduct you. And tonight—”
“Tonight he responded as I had trained him,” Emerson said. “I did not set out to kill Vincey, though I was prepared to do so if there was no other choice. He had begun to annoy me. I would rather have taken him alive, however, and I expected he would follow the cat when it followed me.”
“Trained him?” I exclaimed.