I fought to control the beating of my heart so that I could hear better and the soft breathing beside me became definitely perceptible. Then I felt a gentle tugging under my left-hand side and I knew that the unseen visitor was very carefully pulling the mosquito-curtain out from where it was tucked in beneath my mattress. The assassin feared, perhaps, that the folds of the netting might entangle his weapon and so was going to lift it before striking.
It took every effort of will I possessed to lie there rigid but I managed it and stealthily drew my right arm free of the bedclothes so that I could lash out when the time came for me to throw myself aside.
Something touched the bedclothes just above my left elbow and ran lightly up my arm; very gently a hand was laid upon my shoulder. Next instant the unseen presence had leaned forward over me and warm breath fanned my cheek. In a flash it came to me that the figure was too near to strike effectively at that moment. With a terrific heave I jerked myself up and, throwing my right arm wide, cast it out to encircle the head bent above me. In one violent movement I had grabbed the person that menaced me and pulled him down with all my force on top of myself.
There was a muffled cry as a head came sharply in contact with my shoulder, then Oonas’ voice: ‘Julian! Don’t! It’s me! you’re hurting!’
With a sigh of overwhelming relief I eased my grip and struggled up into a sitting position. For all I knew she might have been on the point of attempting to murder me when I seized her but she wasn’t carrying any weapon or I should have felt it, and I was certain now that if she tried any tricks I should be quite equal to dealing with them. I stretched out my hand to switch on the bedside light but she was in the way and she pushed my hand quickly back again.
‘I’m sorry I gave you a fright,’ she said softly. ‘It’s awfully cold out here. Move over, darling, so that I can get into bed with you.’
I hardly knew if I could believe my ears in view of the manner in which we had parted early that morning; but without waiting for me to reply she pulled the bedclothes aside and, putting one arm round my neck, wriggled down beside me.
‘How the devil did you get here?’ was all I could think of to ask just then.
‘The same way as you did, my sweet; by the train that came in from Cairo this evening. But you were in such a hurry at the station you didn’t see me, and directly I got here I went straight to my room. As a matter of fact, I didn’t want to see you again until we could talk things over in comfort without being disturbed.’
‘But you weren’t on the local train from Deir Mowas,’ I objected, ‘and I sank Zakri’s motor-launch, so how on earth did you get to Assiut in time to catch the express?’
I felt her shrug her shoulders. ‘I telegraphed up the line from Deir Mowas and made them stop the express for me. It picked me up there about half-past one.’
‘By Jove, you’ve got a nerve!’ I murmured.
‘It needed none. Only a little influence. After all, this is my country and I am a princess in it, you know. But you don’t seem very pleased to see me, Julian.’
‘If I’d known I might expect you I would have had the champagne on the ice all ready for Your Highness,’ I said sarcastically; but she did not seem to get that so I added, ‘And a nice bowstring ready to strangle you with in the morning.’
‘That would have been very unkind and also very stupid.’
‘Unkind!’ I echoed. ‘And what right would you have to complain if I did decide to wring your neck? You know perfectly well that’s the fate you intended for me. You got in touch with Zakri Bey after our first night on the ship and had him rail those tents and the bubbly wine down to Tell-el-Amarna. You told the Purser that we were to be the guests of the Sheik there for the night and then deliberately led me off to Akhen-aton’s tomb so that the ship should sail without us. The whole affair was a skilfully-laid plot to ensure my murder. Do you deny it?’
‘No darling, no. But I arranged it all before I really got to know you.’
‘What difference does that make?’ I asked angrily. ‘The fact remains that you hatched a scheme to bring about a man’s death and let him make love to you knowing quite well that your friends were going to kill him.’
Oonas sighed, and, pulling off her dressing-gown, snuggled herself down even more closely beside me.
‘I’m a bad woman, darling,’ she said in the voice of a penitent child. ‘I am a very bad woman. There is no doubt about it. But I cannot help being a bad woman, can I?’
There did not seem to be much reply to that line of attack and rubbing her cheek against mine she went on softly:
‘It is all true—every bit of it. I quite meant to have you murdered. You see, you have been causing a great deal of trouble to many friends of mine and so we all thought it would be much the best thing for everybody if you were put out of the way. But then, you see, I fell in love with you and I couldn’t help that either, could I?’
I was at a loss for any appropriate answer to that one also. Of course it might have been quite untrue, but few men are so armour-plated as to be entirely unwilling to believe such a statement when it is made by an exceedingly beautiful young woman; and as I was pondering the matter, she went on again.
‘I know it was very wicked to think of having you killed but life is very much cheaper here than it is in England. Where I was wrong was in not realising sooner how much I loved you; but it wasn’t until last night that I suddenly knew how you had stolen my whole heart cut of my body, and then it was too late to alter the arrangements. When I left you to speak to my maid it was to cancel the orders and I had no idea then that Zakri would come himself to see the business settled, when he turned up I was terrified for you, my darling; but it was I who saved you. I shouted at the top of my voice. “Julian, Julian! Save yourself! They are going to kill you!” and I shot three of Zakri’s men to give you time to get away.’
That part of her story, at least, was true enough as I well knew; although it was overhearing her remark to her maid which had warned me in the first place and enabled me to get my clothes on directly Zakri arrived with his bravoes, which was a good five minutes before she called out to me and the shooting started.
‘That’s all very well,’ I said. ‘But your having changed your mind at the last minute does not alter the fact that you originally intended to have me murdered.’
‘But, Julian, that is unfair!’ she protested. ‘You are being most unreasonable. In Alexandria you pass yourself off as one of our people and steal that tablet from me, which it had taken us so much trouble to get. You come to Cairo where you steal our dope and cause poor Gamal to be arrested so that his place is closed up and a lot of our men will be given long terms of imprisonment. You go to Ismailia where you break into the House of the Angels, wrecking the whole of our business there. Through you it is burnt down and eight young women, who cost us quite a lot of money, are taken out of our hands, and lots more of our people are imprisoned by the police. If you go about making such a nuisance of yourself—what can you expect but that people will want to murder you?’
Her attitude was a little staggering but, looking at things for a moment from her angle I quite saw her point. If I hadn’t interfered with them in the first place they would not have interfered with me but, as it was, they clearly had considerable reason for wishing me out of the way.
I stretched out my arm behind Oonas’ head, switched on the light and picked up a violet cream fondant. She blinked a little and turned to look at me, those heavily lidded, widely-spaced blue eyes of hers only six inches from my own.
‘You aren’t angry with me any more, are you?’ she pleaded, and leaning forward suddenly she kissed me on the mouth.
‘I don’t quite know,’ I confessed, drawing back my head. ‘I’ve had no previous experience of young women who make up their minds to have me killed in cold blood one day and tell me that they’re in love with me the next.’
She laughed. ‘Then, my sweet, you don’t know what real love is like. All your exp
erience must have been with those sticks of Englishwomen. I am quite different and when I feel a thing I feel it with all my being. When I counted you an enemy I would have gone to any lengths to bring about your death. But now that I love you I am yours body and soul.’
‘How did you manage to find out who I was?’ I asked, ‘Did you recognise me right away as the man who visited you dressed up as a Red Indian in Alexandria?’
She shook her head and her dark curls danced with the movement. ‘No, I didn’t know you. But you are not very clever, my darling. You didn’t introduce yourself to me that afternoon at Sakkara, but having met such an attractive young man I naturally enquired who he was directly I got back to the ship. They told me his name was Julian Day and as you’ve been the principal topic of conversation among my friends ever since you landed in Alexandria, that was quite enough. One look at your eyes afterwards, of course, and I knew you again for the man who had posed as Lemming.’
It was my turn to laugh. How I could ever have committed such a crass stupidity as to give my own name to the Purser on the boat, I cannot think. The whole time we had been on board I flattered myself that I had taken her in completely while actually I had as good as pinned a label to my chest which shouted to the housetops who I was.
‘Well,’ I said. ‘What are we going to do now?’
‘Unfortunately there is no champagne,’ she murmured. ‘But at least we could put out the light.’
‘Wait a minute,’ I said quickly. ‘I’d like to know a little better where we stand. The fact that you’re in love with me is very flattering, but how long is it going to last? From the way you talk of them it seems you still approve of all the activities of your friends, whereas, quite obviously, I don’t. What guarantee have I that during the next clash you won’t change sides again and administer poison to me in my morning coffee?’
She really looked genuinely shocked at the suggestion and protested hotly: ‘But, Julian, how could I do such a thing now that I love you? Before it was quite different. As for the things that my friends do, what difference does that make to us? They must make their living somehow but, for myself, I am rich enough not to have to worry. I have found it amusing to be mixed up in their clever plots. But now I am on your side and I will plot for you. I think I could even arrange to have Zakri murdered, if you like.’
I passed a hand over my eyes as I tried to take it in. Here was this young woman, who had been plotting my death only a few hours ago, now anxious to murder somebody else on my behalf. Could such a violent change of heart possibly be genuine? It may have been partly the extraordinary fascination which her enchanting person had over me whenever I was in her presence; but I honestly believed she meant it.
The fact was, that although to all outward seeming she appeared a sophisticated and cultured girl who would be received anywhere in the Western world, underneath she was in some respects as simple as a child, and her emotions consisted entirely of the barbaric loves and hates suited to a woman of the dark ages.
If I was right, she would prove an invaluable ally and could give me information of the first importance which really might enable me to get O’Kieff and the rest just where I wanted them. In any case it seemed that if I took her at her word she could hardly refuse me a certain amount of data upon which I could check up afterwards; so her apparent passion for me opened up a prospect of carrying on my vendetta which I would have been positively mad to have thrown away.
I took her little, heart-shaped face between my hands and looked straight into those marvellous eyes. ‘Oonas,’ I said, ‘are you prepared to prove your loyalty to me by telling me all you know about O’Kieff’s and Zakri’s organisation?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Tomorrow morning I will answer truthfully any questions you like to put to me. Now, can we put out that horrid light?’
The following morning things did not pan out quite like that because, having left me when the first, faint light began to creep through the curtains, she did not emerge from her own room until lunch-time.
I had spent a lazy morning myself, getting up late and exerting myself no more than to go out and buy a few things I needed temporarily until I could retrieve the rest of my kit from Oonas, who had brought it on to Luxor with her.
Having learned of my arrival the night before Amin was waiting patiently to see me on the steps of the hotel. To tell the truth Oonas had occupied my mind so fully that I had forgotten all about him and, having no explanation of my unexpectedly early appearance in Luxor ready to my tongue, I simply told him that I had changed my plans. As Mustapha was still detained in hospital at Ismailia by his shattered arm I assured Amin that I should not need his services for the next four days and that he had better continue with his work in preparation for the expedition; but I took him with me to assist me in my shopping.
We did not have to go far as two rows of shops flank the entrance of the great hotel and really form part of it as they are situated under the wings of its front terrace. They are mainly antique-dealers, bookshops which deal in a great variety of photographs and postcards, and travel-agencies; and except for this single terrace there is no other European shopping centre in the town. There was no sweet-shop among them and all I could procure were some bottled sweets from the English chemist. As the sight of Oonas, on her way to the Nile steamer five days before, had prevented my ordering a big supply from Groppi’s, I was considerably irritated by this but if I could have seen ahead a little I would have realised that this was a trifle compared with the irritations I should have to face in the next few days.
The first hint of them came when, having just started my lunch, I saw Oonas sweep into the dining-room like the Princess she was, and the head waiter bowing deferentially before leading her to a table. She smilingly ignored his gesture towards one in the window and walked straight over to mine instead.
The fact that we had shared a table on the Nile steamer, not to mention our activities of the preceding night, perfectly justified her in doing so without any invitation, but, as I waved the waiter aside and placed a chair for her myself with a smiling greeting, a little devil somewhere at the back of my mind suggested to me that perhaps I hadn’t been quite such a clever boy as I thought.
It was clear that I had definitely saddled myself with this beautiful little wanton for as long as the two of us remained in Luxor. How would the Belvilles view that when they turned up? I could hardly hope to persuade them that Oonas had become a reformed character overnight and was now completely trustworthy when, in the cold light of morning, I did not really believe it myself. Again, it now occurred to me that, although I might succeed in getting a certain amount out of her about Zakri and Co., it would be only what she chose to tell me whereas, having constituted me her cavalier, she would have much more opportunity of finding out things about our own activities, whether I wanted her to or not. I wondered, too, what Sylvia would make of her and had an uncomfortable feeling that neither of them would like each other one little bit. Doubtless I should have thought of all this before but I fear that Oonas’ blandishments on the previous night had played a big part in obscuring my judgment and this was my first awakening to the very tricky situation in which I had landed myself.
All unaware of my miserable forebodings of trouble to come, Oonas chatted away with the utmost gaiety all through lunch while I managed to mask my inward thoughts and play up to her very prettily.
It soon emerged that whatever else about her might be phony her interest in Egyptology certainly was not. She was genuinely disappointed that our having left the ship prematurely had deprived us of visits to Abydos, one of the most ancient shrines in Egypt and the centre of the Osiris cult; and Dendra where the great temple, although dating only from the decadent Ptolemaic period, is the best-preserved in Egypt; and she was determined to make up for lost time now she was in Luxor. Without consulting me in the matter she had already ordered a car to take us out to Karnak that afternoon.
‘That’s grand,’ I said. ‘But, you
know, I want to have a serious talk to you and the earlier the better.’
‘Of course, darling,’ she agreed as though butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. ‘But we can talk just as well while we’re walking round the temple.’ So, for the moment, I left it at that.
It is from Luxor that one views the remains of hundred-gated Thebes which was, perhaps, the greatest city in the whole of the ancient world. It is not as old as Memphis but first became of importance when the Pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom selected it as their capital about 2100 B.C. After the fall of the XIIth Dynasty it suffered a temporary eclipse of a few hundred years, during the rule of the Shepherd Kings, but it rose again to an almost unbelievable magnificence under the New Empire when the Pharaohs of the XVIIIth Dynasty held sway there as the sovereign lords of all the lands and cities from the frontiers of Abyssinia to the Persian Gulf. Unlike Memphis, which has been entirely obliterated, Thebes still has innumerable temples standing which testify to the greatness of its builders.
On the east bank of the river, where the temples of Karnak and Luxor still stand, flourished the city of the living which was larger than the Paris, Berlin or Rome of our day; while on the west bank there was another city—that of the dead—which provides even greater interest. It is here, in this vast necropolis, many square miles in extent, that besides many other temples, there lie the famous Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens and the Valley of the Nobles.
Karnak is about twenty minutes’ drive from Luxor and it is there that the greatest temple of all times was erected to the gods. Its area is so great that St. Peter’s in Rome and the whole of the Vatican could be set down inside it without anywhere touching the boundary walls. The remains consist of innumerable pillars, colossi, pylons, obelisks, courtyards and shrines, since it is not one but many temples built or reconstructed by many Pharaohs from the XIth Dynasty right up to the era of the Ptolemies; so that building was going on there over a longer period than from the time Christ lived on earth to the present day.
The Quest of Julian Day Page 28