Jack Higgins – Sheba

‘What date would you give them?” Muller asked.

Kane shrugged, his animosity for the moment forgotten. ‘It’s hard to tell. I’ve seen the same sort of thing in the Hoggar Mountains in the Sahara, but comparisons are difficult. I’d say at least eight thousand years old. Are there any more?’

The German swung the lamp, picking out several rock etchings, and the beam came to rest upon a pile of rubble at the rear of the cave beside a narrow opening. ‘I think you will find this much more interesting.’

It was obviously the work of man, and blocks of drafted masonry had been removed to open a passage beyond.

‘And you think this is the entrance to a tomb?’ Kane said.

‘What else could it be?’ Muller asked. ‘The temple is Sabean if not older. If this valley was some sort of holy place, it would be natural to assume that burials took place here.’

Since entering the cave, Kane had been conscious of faint sounds, and now a light appeared in the dark passage and Jamal emerged, a lamp in one hand, dragging a large basket filled with rubble. He stood for a moment and looked at them calmly, his great body streaked with dust and sweat, and then he emptied the basket and disappeared back into the darkness.

‘Presumably Cunningham is in there also,’ Kane said.

Muller nodded. ‘His help, although unwillingly given, has been of great assistance over the past few weeks.’

‘There’s just one thing I can’t understand,’ Kane said. ‘You’ve plenty of Bedouins in camp. Why haven’t you used a few of them as labourers?’

Muller sighed. ‘In the first place, Skiros is not exactly sympathetic to my work and refuses his permission. In any case, they are all incurably superstitious. They believe these caves to be haunted by evil spirits.’

Before Kane could reply, a voice interrupted from behind. ‘If you care to examine the roof, you’ll find a much more cogent reason for their reluctance to work in here. The whole damned lot is ready to fall as soon as anyone coughs.’

The man who emerged from the passage was of medium height and wiry, stripped to the waist, and like Jamal, coated with dust from head to foot.

Muller ignored the remark. ‘How are things progressing today, Cunningham?’

‘No better than yesterday or the day before,’ Cunningham replied. ‘As far as I’m concerned, we’re getting nowhere fast. You’ll need a squad of labourers and pneumatic drills if you want to get anywhere with this lot.’

‘I agree with you, my friend, but what can I do?’ Muller said. ‘However, I’ve brought you a new recruit. Kane here has had a great deal of experience at this sort of thing. I’m sure you’ll be able to work something out between you.’

‘I’d like to point out that I haven’t eaten for some considerable time now,’ Kane said.

Til have some food sent up later this afternoon,’ Muller told him. ‘In return, I shall naturally expect to see some results.’ He went outside, leaving them alone.

Cunningham leaned against the wall and ran a hand wearily over his face. ‘And who the hell might you be? Are you anything to do with the big fellow they dumped in here this morning? I haven’t been able to get a word out of him.’

‘That isn’t surprising,’ Kane said. ‘He hasn’t got a tongue, but there’s nothing wrong with his hearing as long as you can speak either Somali or Arabic.’

Cunningham laughed. ‘Well, my Arabic isn’t too bad. I’ll have to bow out on the Somali question.’

Kane held out his hand. ‘My name is Kane,’ he said. ‘Your wife hired me to find you when she received the letter you’d left with the British Consul in Aden.’

Cunningham straightened and his voice was strained with excitement. ‘Ruth sent you? Have you seen her recently?’

‘Only a couple of hours ago,’ Kane told him. ‘She’s up above with a friend of mine called Marie Ferret. I’m afraid Muller and Skiros grabbed the lot of us.’

‘How is she?’ Cunningham demanded. ‘Is she all right?’

‘She was in good spirits when I last saw her, but very worried about you.’

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *