Michael told her everything he could remember, the things which he knew would interest her, the most personal facts relating to the minute examination of the tomb. It was proving a great puzzle to Egyptologists.
There were many conflicting theories about it--whether the mummy which was found on the floor beside the effigy of the dead queen was the mummified body of the queen or not. It had been sent away to be carefully examined by experts; the report of the examination had not yet been made known. If it was the body of the queen, why had they endeavoured to cut off the golden wrappings which had been rolled round her body? Why had her name been roughly cut out of the inside of the coffin? Why had this queen, who had been buried with such royal magnificence, been "debarred from all benefits of the earthly prayers of her descendants? Why had she become a nameless outcast, a wanderer unrecognized and unpitied in the vast underworld?" [2]
These questions had not yet been solved. Millicent was excited and interested and Michael enjoyed telling her about it. She was inquisitive and insistent. She wanted to know all about the doings in the camp since her visit to the Valley, and Michael thoroughly enjoyed talking to a sympathetic, intelligent listener. Like all Celts, he had the gift of words.
He was so engrossed that Ha.s.san appeared with their coffee long before he was ready for it or expected it. Noticing his surprise, the man instantly took his cue. He salaamed respectfully in front of Millicent.
"_Ta, Sitt_," he said, "will it please you to wait for another hour? The camels are not yet rested, the day is still young."
Millicent looked at Michael. Time really did not matter to him one sc.r.a.p, yet she dared not hint so. He could just as well look for this phantom treasure a year from now. It was all a mystic"s mirage to her, a delightful excuse for a sojourn in the outer desert.
"I"m ready if you are," she said, addressing Mike. Her woman"s tact told her the wisdom of putting no hindrance in his way.
"If the Effendi will graciously consent, it would be wiser to remain here for one hour more," Ha.s.san said. "The men are tired, also."
Michael a.s.sented. If the beasts and the men were tired, they would wait.
The excuse was not unwelcome. The good meal had relaxed his energies.
Ha.s.san thanked him and silently disappeared.
Michael sipped his coffee; it was perfect. He lit a cigarette, after they had turned their chairs to the open front of the shelter. Presently Millicent slipped down from her chair and sat on the sand in front of the tent; there was more air. Soon Michael did the same.
They had lunched well and were friends. A certain delicious apathy stole over Michael, which kept him from referring to any unpleasant topics. He left alone the subject as to why Millicent had trapped him and forced her company upon him. For the time being she was good and gentle, the reason being that she also was relaxed and inert--the result of a good meal after a strenuous morning on camel-back.
Michael had been riding since dawn. The temptation to let things alone was an unconscious one; he submitted to it.
A great expanse of the desert was before them. Millicent lay curled up, like a golden tortoise-sh.e.l.l cat, in the sun; Michael, with his legs doubled up to his chin, rested his head on his knees. He would have been asleep in a few minutes if Millicent had not spoken; suddenly she said:
"Look! Surely that"s my holy man, whose reasoning powers are in heaven?
There, look--far away, over there!"
Michael raised himself and looked to where she pointed. There was nothing to indicate any particular spot in the stretch of sand before them.
"I can just see the tattered rags of his staff. I"m sure it"s the same man. Can"t you see him?"
Michael looked again. "I can only distinguish something moving in the distance. I can"t say what it is, or if it is coming this way."
"Can"t you see a thing like a flag fluttering in the air? I can--there, can"t you see him now?"
"Yes, now I can," Michael said. He got up from his low seat, his energies fully alert, his drowsiness gone. He held himself in check. It was absurd to appear so interested in a desert-fanatic--or an idiot--coming across their path. They were both common enough occurrences in the East.
Millicent watched his face. Why was he so thrilled, why so interested?
Michael"s first impulse was to go and meet the man. He was afraid that he would not notice their encampment. He was afraid that he would not come their way. At the same time, he was conscious that if there was any truth in the old man"s words, their meeting would come about naturally and not by his seeking. The "child of G.o.d" would find him out.
They waited for some time and nothing happened. Michael"s hopes abated.
The figure with the fluttering rags disappeared. It seemed as if it had vanished into the sands. Michael felt disappointed.
The shelter was taken down and packed up, the lunch-basket refilled and the camels harnessed. Ha.s.san appeared.
"_Ya, Sitt_, all is ready."
Nothing had been said about Millicent"s plans; nothing had been said about how she had contrived to meet Michael; no lecture had been delivered. The subject had been forgotten, forgotten by Michael at least, whose interest had been absorbed in the talk about the tomb and in the glimpse he had of the distant figure. Millicent had not forgotten the promised lecture, but it had been her object to make Michael forget it. She had gladly let the matter rest. Why wake sleeping dogs? She let them lie so undisturbed that not one bark had been heard. They slept so soundly that her heart was full of triumph and amus.e.m.e.nt when, seated on her camel, she took her place in Michael"s cavalcade.
She had managed to get through the starting without his feeling any annoyance at her presence. He had simply forgotten his objection to her accompanying him.
[1] Weigall"s _Akhnaton, Pharaoh of Egypt_.
[2] Weigall"s _Akhnaton, Pharaoh of Egypt_.
CHAPTER II
It was not until their rest at sundown that anything of unusual interest happened to the travellers. Their short halt while they drank their tea had pa.s.sed without incident--in fact, Millicent had drunk hers alone on camel-back, for it had been carried in thermos flasks, their Amon-Ra, as Ha.s.san called the magic bottles whose contents retained the heat with no obvious aid.
Michael had spent the time, while he drank his refreshing cup, in consulting Abdul about their route. The camels were not unsaddled.
About this Millicent made no demur. She saw no earthly reason why they should not have rested for as long as they felt inclined, but she did not say so. If this treasure which Michael sought had lain in its safe hiding-place, out of sight of man, for more than two thousand years, why should it not wait there in safety for another couple or so of hours? This she kept to herself; it was her wise policy to remain _douce comme un lapin blanc_, which she did. The night might still see her an accepted part of Michael"s cavalcade. The adventure thrilled her with excitement.
They had finished their evening meal, which Millicent had supplied--a very satisfying and delicate dinner. They had eaten it in the open desert during the cool hours which precede sundown. Michael had thoroughly enjoyed it. The evening light transformed the desert; a heavenly Jerusalem seemed very near. Even Millicent was obedient to the unseen.
As the sun sank lower and lower in the heavens, their conversation drifted towards the subject of Akhnaton"s Aton worship. The kneeling figures of the Arabs, praying in the desert before sundown, had introduced the topic.
They sat on until the globe of gold dropped behind the horizon--a wonderful sight in the desert. For a minute or two its sudden and complete disappearance leaves the world chill and desolate; a cold hand clutches at the human heart; a loneliness enters the soul. G.o.d has abandoned the world; the warmth of His love becomes a memory.
The afterglow was at its most flamboyant; its orange and yellow, streaked with black, suddenly became vermilion. Lights from the underworld struck across the desert like swords of fire; arms of flame broke the vermilion, soaring to heaven like the fires from h.e.l.l"s furnace let loose. The anger and beauty and recklessness was appalling. Then with magic swiftness, during the flickering of an eye, the horizon became one vast lake of sacrificial blood.
The transition was so unexpected, so devastating to the human mind, that fear filled Millicent"s heart. Instinctively she had drawn a little closer to Michael. She craved for arms to guard her, to protect her from the terror of the heavens.
Like a black silhouette against the lake of blood, a human figure rose up out of the desert, a John the Baptist, "a burning and shining light," a voice calling in the wilderness.
As the sonorous words of the Koran were borne to them, Millicent said, "Oh, Mike, it"s my holy man! How mysterious he looks against that wonderful sky!"
Subconsciously Michael had been so grateful to Millicent for her silence during the stupendous glory of the sunset that his heart was full of gentleness towards her.
"Yes," he said. "I see him." Something had told him that the figure which she had described to him during luncheon would appear again; he was not surprised when he distinguished the staff, with its tattered rags waving against the crimson light.
"Isn"t it all wonderful, Mike!" Her voice was reverent; the awfulness of the heavens had humbled her. "I was almost afraid--it seemed like the end of the world, the sky seemed all on fire. The destruction of the world had begun."
""Thy setting is beautiful, O living Aton, who guidest all countries that they may make laudation at thy dawning and at thy setting.""
"Are those Akhnaton"s words?"
"Yes, and his constant song was, "O Lord, how manifold are Thy works."