For a little while there was silence as Kane looked at her in astonishment and then he shook his head. ‘Oh, no, Mrs Cunningham. If that’s what your husband was looking for, it’s no wonder you haven’t heard from him.
There isn’t a damned thing out there except sand, heat and thirst.’
‘My husband knew differently. You see, he made an amazing discovery some months ago. Part of his research work entailed the translation of ancient Arabic manuscripts and parchments, many of which had come from St Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai. While working on one of these, he noticed it had been used before and the older script partially erased. By using specialized equipment available at the University, he managed to make a copy of the original writing.’
Kane was beginning to get interested. ‘Was that also in Arabic?’
She shook her head. ‘No, it was in Greek. An account of a special mission performed by a Greek adventurer called Alexias. He was serving as a centurion in the Tenth Legion of the Roman Army.’ She leaned back in the chair. ‘Have you ever heard of a Roman general called Aelius Gallus?’
He nodded quickly. ‘He tried to conquer Southern Arabia in 24 BC. Got as far south as Sheba and sacked the city of Marib. On the way back he had a rough time. Lost most of his army in the desert.’
She nodded. ‘According to Alexias they moved much farther south to Timna and then marched on Shabwa. It was there that Aelius Gallus heard of Sheba’s Temple. It was supposed to lie close to the ancient spice route between Shabwa and Marib, which cuts across a corner of the desert. There were fantastic tales told of the wealth of the place. Alexias was commissioned to lead a small body of cavalry into the desert on a lightning raid. They were to rejoin the main army at Marib.’
She paused and Kane said, ‘Well, go on. Did he find it or didn’t he?’
She smiled. ‘Oh, he found it all right. The route across the desert was marked by seven stone pillars and the temple was about eighty or ninety miles from Shabwa. It lay in a gorge in a great outcrop of rock which, according to Alexias, reared unexpectedly out of the sand dunes. When they arrived, the temple was deserted except for one old priestess who tended the flame on the high altar. The scouting party who were first into the place were so disappointed at not finding the treasure, they tortured the old woman to make her talk. Alexias arrived too late to prevent it. She died cursing them.”
In the silence which followed, Kane was conscious of a sudden irrational shiver. He said, ‘Did they manage to find the temple treasury?’
She shook her head. ‘It was too well hidden. They spent two days searching for it without success and then started back to Shabwa. The first night out they were caught in the open by a terrible sandstorm. It raged for more than a day. They lost some of the horses and had to double up. When they reached the first well, they found it had been poisoned.’ She raised her shoulders slightly and shrugged. ‘Cutting out the messy details, only Alexias came out of the desert alive and walking on his own two feet.’
‘He must have been quite a man,’ Kane said.
She nodded. ‘I’ll let you have the translation of his manuscript to read. You can judge for yourself. He doesn’t explain how he rejoined the army, but he obviously managed it successfully. He ended up as commander of the fort at Beer-sheba in Palestine, writing an account of his adventures.’
Kane got to his feet and walked across to the edge of the parapet. He looked out across the harbour to the Gulf of Aden beyond, shrouded in its perpetual heat haze.
The Catalina swung in across the town and splashed into the waters of the harbour. Beyond it a freighter moved slowly across the horizon towards the Indian Ocean, and three dhows, in formation, swooped in towards the harbour like great birds.
He saw none of these things. Before him stretched the Empty Quarter – and somewhere in its fastness was Sheba’s Temple.