Tomb of the Golden Bird - Elizabeth Peters [66]
“Why will he do that?” asked Charla, leaning against her grandfather’s knee. He patted her black curls, a familarity she permitted from no one else.
“He cannot leave it open while he collects supplies and assistants,” I explained. “He will need film, packing materials, and a hundred other things. And people who are experienced in working with delicate objects.”
“He should ask Papa and Grandpapa to help, then.”
“Go and—and throw sticks for Amira, Charla. Outside, if you please.”
The dog, lying athwart the threshold, jumped up, barking. Charla rushed out and they were soon locked in a fond embrace, which ended with both rolling about on the ground. David John’s fair head was bent over a chessboard, with Sethos as his opponent. The boy had been taught the game the past summer by his uncle Walter. It was difficult to find reading material suitable for a juvenile mind; after finding David John immersed in Dracula, his blond hair virtually standing on end, Walter had proposed chess as an alternative. It had seemed like a good idea at the time.
Charla’s talents lay in other areas. Intimidation, for instance.
“Any luck?” I asked of Ramses.
“Only in a negative sense.” He came to take a cup from me and lowered his voice. Though apparently absorbed in the game, David John had an unnerving ability to overhear what he was not supposed to hear.
“The commonest codes consist of letters of the alphabet,” Ramses explained. “Rearranged according to some preestablished system. B for A, C for B, and so on. That’s the simplest variation, and the simplest to crack. Even more complex substitution ciphers can be decoded fairly easily, on the basis of letter frequency and repetition. In theory one could set up a system using numbers instead of letters, but…Confound it, Mother, I’m no expert. I played with simple codes like the ones I’ve described when I was a child, but it was only a game.”
“So there is no hope of deciphering the message?” I asked.
Ramses ran his fingers through his disheveled locks. “I think—mind you, it’s only a guess—that the numbers refer to a book or manuscript. The numbers can be broken into groups of threes, which would indicate the page of the book, the line on the page, and the word or letter in the line. Probably the word. Let’s suppose that the manuscript Sethos found was the master copy. When other copies were dispatched to members of the organization, they already had the book in their possession. They would be able to read this message, and any other that might be sent. But we don’t have it. How many millions of books do you suppose there are in this wide world?”
“Surely there are some obvious choices,” I said. “Books one would find in most households.”
“Oh, yes. The Bible and the Koran come to mind. Do you know how many different editions of each are in print? And before you can ask,” he went on, in mounting exasperation, “it did occur to me that the numbers might be references to verses or suras or chapters. In what language? Arabic, Hebrew, English?” With a malevolent look at Sethos, he added, “You ought to have examined the gentleman’s bookshelves.”
There was no sensible reply to this unfair charge, and Sethos did not attempt to make one. With wrinkled brow he was studying the board. His queen seemed to be in imminent peril.
“It’s late,” Nefret said. “And Charla is filthy, she’s been rolling round on the ground with Amira. Come, David John. You can finish your game tomorrow.”
“I have finished,” said David John, moving a piece. “Checkmate, sir.”
After the children had been removed, I said to Sethos, “You shouldn’t have let him win.”
“I didn’t let him win,” said Sethos.
FROM MANUSCRIPT H
It could not be said that many of their seasons in Egypt had lacked distraction, but to Ramses this was one of the worst. Not only did they have a wanted fugitive hiding out with them, but the discovery of Tutankhamon’s tomb would bring half the world to the small town of Luxor. There was no question of keeping the find a secret. It had been known, and exaggerated, by the citizens of Luxor