The Seventh Scroll - Smith Wilbur (бесплатные полные книги .TXT) 📗
bolstered von Schiller immediately, and he turned on Nahoot with relish.
"It is the only access to the tomb. Follow the man down. I will be close
behind you., 1VjU,)t "Putul- YY(, When Nahoot still hesitated, Helm put
a calloused hand in the small of his back and shoved him forward.
"Get on with it. You are wasting time."
MD
Reluctantly Nahoot started down the affording after SC the monk, and von
Schiller followed him. The framework of bamboo shook and swayed under
their combined weight and the drop to the rocks below sucked at them,
but at last they reached the ledge beside Taita's pool. There they stood
in a small group, staring about them in awe and wonder. .
"Where is the tunnel?" von Schiller demanded as soon as he had regained
his breath, and Hansith beckoned to him to follow him to the wall of the
small coffer dam.
Here von Schiller paused and looked around at Helm and Nogo. "I want you
to remain on guard here. I will enter the tomb with Guddabi and this
monk. I will send for you when you are needed."
"I would feet happier to be with you, to protect you, Herr von
Schiller-' Helm began, but the old man frowned at him.
"Do as I tell you!" And with Hansith steadying him he climbed stiffly
down the wall of the coffer dam into the mouth of the tunnel. Nahoot
Guddabi followed him closely.
"The lights? Where does the power come from?" von to know.
Schiller wanted
"There is a machine," Hansith explained, and at that moment they heard
the soft burble of the generator ahead one of them spoke again as they
moved down of them. the entrance tunnel after Hansith, until they
reached the bridge over the dark waters of the sinkholes
"This is very rough construction," Nahoot muttered, his uneasiness at
last giving way to professional interest. "It tomb I have does not
remind me of any other Egyptian ever inspected. I think we may have been
misted. It is bably some native Ethiopian workings." pro
"You are making a premature judgement," von Schiller admonished him.
"Wait until we have seen the rest of what this man has to show us."
Von Schiller steadied himself with a hand on Hansith's shoulder as they
crossed the bobbing pontoons of baobab wood, and he scrambled ashore on
the far side with relief.
They started up the rising section of the tunnel and passed the
high-water mark.
As soon as the construction of the walls changed to packed and dressed
stone, Nahoot remarked on it. "Ah! I was disappointed at first. I
thought we had been duped, but now one can see the Egyptian influence."
They reached the landing outside the ruined gallery on which stood the
Honda generator. By -now both von Schiller and Nahoot were sweating with
exertion and trembling with excitement.
4Th is looks more and more promising. It may very well be a royal tomb,"
Nahoot exulted. Von Schiller pointed to the plaster seats stacked
against the -side wall where Nicholas and Royan had abandoned them.
Nahoot fell to his, knees beside them and examined them eagerly, his
voice trembling as he cried out.
The cartouche of Mamose, and the seal of the scribe Taita!" He looked up
at von Schiller with shining eyes, "There can be no doubts now. I have
led you to the tomb as I promised you I would."
For a moment von Schiller stared at him, speechless in the face of such
hare-faced arrogance. Then he snorted with disgust and stooped to peer
through the open doorway into the long gallery.
"This has been destroyed!" he cried in horror. "The tomb has been
annihilated."
"No, no!" Hansith assured him. "Come this way. There is another tunnel
beyond."
As they picked their way through the rubble and wreckage, Hansith told
them in halting, broken English AL
how the roof of the gallery had collapsed, and how he, Hansith, had
found the true entrance under the ruins.
Nahoot stopped every few paces to examine and exclaim over the scraps of
painted plaster that had survived the fall of the roof. "These must have
been magnificent.
Classical work of the highest order-'
"There is more to show you. Much more," Hansith promised them, and von
Schiller snarled at Nahoot.
"Leave these damaged sections now. Time is running out on us. We must
hurry on directly to the burial hamber."
Hansith led them up the hidden staircase into the maze of the bao, and
then through the twists and turns to the lowest level.
"How did Harper and the woman ever find their way through this?" von
Schiller marvelled. "It's a rabbit warren."
"Another concealed staircase!" Nahoot was amazed, and stuttered with
excitement as they descended into the gas trap where the ranks of
amphorae had stood undisturbed for thousands of years, and thn climbed
the last flight of stairs to the beginning of the funeral arcade.
Now both of them were stunned by the splendour of the murals and the
majesty of the great god images that guarded the length of the arcade.
They stood side by side unable to move, frozen with awe as they gazed
about them." $ "I never expected anything like this," von Schiller
whispered. "This exceeds anything that I ever hoped for."
"The rooms on each side are filled with treasures." Hansith pointed down
the arcade. "There are such things as you have never dreamed. Harper was
able to take very little with him - a few small boxes. He has left piles
of goods, stacks of chests."
"Where is the coffin? Where is the body that was in the tomb?" von
Schiller demanded.
"Harper has given the body, in its golden coffin, to the abbot. They
have taken it away to the monastery.
"Nogo will soon fetch it back for us, You need not worry about that,
Herr von Schiller," Nahoot assured him.
s though the spell that held them was shattered by this promise, they
started forward together, slowly at first, and then both of them began
to run. Von Schiller tottered into the nearest store room on his old,
stiff legs, and giggled like a child on Christmas morning as he gazed
upon the piled treasures. "Incredible!'
He dragged down one of the cedarwood chests from the nearest stack, and
ripped off the lid with trembling fingers. When he saw the contents he
was struck speechless.
He knelt over the chest and began to weep softly with emotion too
overwhelming to express in words.
/4, Nicholas was banking on the fact that Nogo's men would be driving
along the Cliff tops to reach Taita's pool, and that he would have a
free run up the course of the diverted stream to the dam site. He took
no precautions against running into them, other than to pause every few
minutes to listen and peer ahead. He knew that he had little time left
to him. He could not expect the rest of the party to wait for him at the
boats and endanger themselves for this whimsy of his.
Twice he heard automatic gunfire in the distance, coming from the
direction of the chasm, down towards the Po. However, the chance he
took paid off, and he reached the dam site without running into a I ny
of Nogo's forces. He did not, however, push his luck too far. Before
approaching the dam openly, he climbed the hillside above it and
surveyed the area. It gave him time to recover from the hard run up the
