Beloved Enemy, The (House of Winslow Book #30)

by Gilbert, Morris

  “What does it say, Professor?”

  The professor held the flashlight in one hand and the cylinder in the other. He examined the writing and said, “It seems to be a record of a trading venture under the authority of the pharaoh, and the pharaoh is—”he paused for a moment and then laughed—“is Mentuhotep II!”

  “And Mensah was his chief official.”

  “That’s right. The tomb that archeologists have been looking for, for a long, long time.” The professor grew serious as he carefully marked the piece and laid it aside. “We’ll have to examine every piece of this. It’s going to take a while.”

  “I’d like to run right down this tunnel and open the next door,” Josh cried. “I’m not sure I’ve got enough patience for this sort of work.”

  “I feel exactly the same way, my boy, but we might destroy the one piece of evidence that would be most helpful if we did that. But I’ll tell you what we can do. We can be very careful as we move. We can go through this material and label it, put it in boxes, and go over it in detail later. I’m anxious to get to the end of this tunnel myself.”

  ****

  The labeling of the artifacts took longer than the professor thought. They worked hard at it for a week, and even Kefira grew expert in identifying and labeling assorted pieces.

  Finally the job was done, and one morning the three of them stood before another sealed door.

  “I think I know what to do,” Josh said. “We’ll make a hole, and you can take a look.”

  “That’s exactly right, Joshua. We need your strong right arm for this.”

  Josh had become quite expert at removing stones, and by the light that the other two held for him, he began to pull out a stone. It was no more than eight inches square, and when he had successfully removed it, he stepped back and said, “Take a look, Professor.”

  Phineas moved forward and shined his light through the opening. He pressed his forehead against the stone, and then he was absolutely still.

  Finally Josh could not wait. “Can you see anything, Professor?”

  Phineas did not move for a moment, and then he turned, and his face seemed stricken. “Yes,” he said, “many wonderful things!” He handed the flashlight to Joshua, saying, “Take a look.”

  Josh held up the light, and he also grew very still. He turned then and handed the light to Kefira, saying with a smile, “Take a look.”

  Kefira looked through the hole not knowing what to expect, but she caught her breath. “Why, that looks like gold!” she breathed.

  “It probably is, my dear. I’ve never seen such treasures.”

  The three of them took turns looking, and finally Josh said, “It’s a real find, isn’t it, Professor?”

  “Yes, it is. God has been good to us.” He turned to Kefira and said, “Your dream is responsible for whatever success we have, my dear. I’m so happy that you came to us.”

  ****

  It took less than a day to open the door, and when the way was clear and they stepped inside, Josh exclaimed at the sight. By the light of their flashlights, they saw a gilded throne and vessels made of alabaster. All around on the walls, bizarre paintings seemed to leap out at them, their colors fresh and clear as if they had been painted yesterday. In the center of the room, a royal statue stood like a sentinel, gold-kilted with gold sandals, armed with the traditional mace and staff and the protective sacred cobra upon his forehead. They stood in awe taking it all in, and then the professor went forward and walked around the room. “Here’s another sealed door,” he said. “It probably leads to the burial chamber.”

  “Here’s another one,” Josh said. “I wonder where it leads.”

  They spent all morning just gazing, and the professor took photograph after photograph of the antechamber.

  Finally he said, “Now we will open these two sealed doors. One probably goes to the burial chamber, the other, perhaps, to a treasure room. It’s the way many tombs were built, and this one seems to be following the usual pattern.”

  ****

  The work proceeded slowly from that time onward, and the professor gave strict instructions that nothing would be touched. “It’s very fragile,” he said, “and just introducing the atmosphere could destroy precious things.”

  The men removed one sealed door and found that it indeed was a treasure room.

  “Why, it’s packed with gold and treasures!” Kefira breathed. “Why did they want to be buried with all of this?”

  “They believe strongly in an afterlife, but it was a rather physical afterlife. You’ll notice food is always left with the bodies, and statues of servants to serve them in the afterworld. They were very serious about death.”

  They then moved to the final sealed door, and when that was down, Josh asked, “What if the mummy’s not here?”

  “Ordinarily, I would say it might not be, but there have been absolutely no signs of grave robbers. I think we have the mummy we’re looking for.”

  They entered the room, and there on a high platform was what they were seeking. They saw the sarcophagus of a royal person.

  The professor moved closer and shined the light on the inscription. He stood absolutely still, then whispered, “The body of Mensah.”

  “Then we’ve found it!”

  “Yes, we found it, Josh, and soon all the world will know about it.” He turned and said, “You’ll be a famous man.”

  “No, you’ll be the famous man, Professor.”

  The professor put one hand on Josh’s shoulder and the other on Kefira’s. “There’s enough glory for all of us, and I’ve decided to tell the world exactly how we found this tomb—that God gave a dream to a young woman, and the dream came true.”

  Josh stood speechless, and Kefira could not speak either. The professor laughed suddenly and said, “But this is not the greatest discovery.” He waved his hand at the sarcophagus and included the golden treasures heaped in abundance.

  “It’s not!” Kefira exclaimed. “What is?”

  “This is.” Professor Welles reached into his pocket and brought out a leather pouch. He carefully undid the drawstring and drew out a small clay cylinder. “This is the greatest treasure of all.”

  Josh could see the hieroglyphics, and when the professor handed it to him, warning him to be careful, he began to try to read it. “I’m afraid my study of hieroglyphics isn’t good enough yet, Professor. You’ll have to read it for us.”

  “All right, I will.” Phineas took the clay, holding it as if it were made of very fragile glass, and began to read. “‘The pharaoh extends his good will to the strangers in our kingdom. Especially he wishes that the gods will bless—’” here the professor swallowed hard—“‘Abraham the Hebrew.’”

  Josh too swallowed against the lump in his throat. “I can’t believe it, Professor,” he whispered.

  “I can’t believe it either. I’ve been going over the fragments we found in the first tunnel. Most of them are of little interest, but when I found this one, I think my heart nearly stopped.”

  He held up the clay cylinder and said, “So Abraham found his way to Egypt and somehow the pharaoh knew of him, and he wished the gods to bless him. Well, not the gods of Egypt, but God himself blessed Abraham, the father of the faithful.”

  Kefira reached out and touched the cylinder. “Father Abraham,” she whispered. “He was here.”

  “Exactly as the Scripture says,” Phineas said, nodding. “Now, this will be what I give to the world, so much more than the mummy of a dead man.”

  “What will happen now, Professor?”

  “Everybody will hear of this tomb. You remember when Carter and Lord Carnarvon found the tomb of Tutankhamen? The news stunned the world. Well, I think this will be equally stunning.”

  The three stood there in the midst of all the glories of ancient Egypt, but each of them felt that the bit of clay was of more value than all the gold in the tomb of Mensah.

  ****

  For the next two months, life was a whirl for Kef
ira. The word got out, and as the professor had prophesied, the desert became filled with eager onlookers—Egyptologists, newspaper reporters, government representatives. The professor handled it all well, but it was a hectic time.

  Letters poured in from all over the world. Famous scientists offered their aid, countries vied for part of the treasure for their museums, and the story of how the tomb was found was blazoned across the newspapers of the world.

  “You’re famous, Kefira,” Josh said. The two of them had walked out of the camp to get away from the furor and the constant pressure for interviews.

  “I wish I weren’t sometimes,” Kefira said. “They all want to know everything about me, and there’s not that much to tell.”

  “I think there is. You might as well get used to it.”

  The two reached the tiny spring and stood looking down as it bubbled out of the sand. It was relatively quiet now, for it was late enough that the reporters, who usually stayed awake until the wee hours, had all settled down.

  Josh took her hand, and the two stood there silently. “The quiet’s so good,” Kefira said.

  “Yes, it is. I get tired of all the noise, and the people are getting in the way of the work.”

  “It’s going to take a long time, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, I would say at least a year.”

  “By then Chaim will be out of prison.”

  “Yes, and we’ll be there waiting for him when he comes out.”

  “Would you really do that, Josh? Leave the dig and return to America in time for his release?”

  “He’s my brother. Of course I will.”

  He turned to face her then and said, “It would be nice if we could get married at my home. My family would love to do that. To fuss over you and welcome you as the newest Winslow.”

  Kefira had thought of this. “But a year is a long time to wait for a husband.”

  Josh laughed, pleased. “I don’t know what to make of you.”

  “You can make of me that I’m a woman in love. Do we have to wait a year? Can’t people get married in Egypt?”

  Josh laughed again. He reached out, threw his arms around her, and lifted her clear off the ground, swinging her around. He put her down and kissed her firmly. “Yes, we’ll get married this week, and our honeymoon will be here.”

  “Oh, Josh, can we really do that?”

  “It won’t be much of a honeymoon.”

  “We can go look at the pyramids for a couple of days. A lot of people come all the way from America just to do that, and we can be there in just a few hours.”

  “Yes, we can do that.” He took her in his arms and held her gently and kissed her. “Then,” he said, “we’ll go home, and the Winslows will welcome my bride.”

  Overhead the moon looked down, shedding pale light over the scene. The desert was quiet, and for the moment the only thing that moved was the man and the woman. From the distance, a wild dog of the desert approached silently. He halted abruptly, the silver of the moon reflected in his eyes. He watched the two, then turned and disappeared into the darkness, but the man and the woman did not see him. They looked up at the stars, at the moon, and finally at each other, and then the woman whispered, “Yes, Joshua Winslow. This very week I’ll be your bride.”