The Seventh Scroll - Smith Wilbur - Страница 132

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amongst the grave goods in the tombs of the eleventh to the seventeenth

dynasties, and we can only guess that it was an early form of chess."

She began to sketch for him on one of the blank pages at the back of her

notebook.

"The wooden board was laid out like a chessboard, eight rows of cups

wide and eight rows deep. Like this." She drew it in with quick, deft

strokes of her ballpoint pen.

"The pieces were coloured stones that moved in a prescribed fashion. I

won't go into all the details, but the protocol of the four bulls was an

opening gambit in the game favoured by grand masters of Taita's calibre.

It consisted of making sacrifices to mass the highest-ranking stones in

the first cup from where they could dominate the important centraffiles

of the board."

"I am not sure where we are going, but lead on. I am listening."Nicholas

tried not to look too mystified.

"The first cup of the board." She indicated it on her sketch, as though

instructing a backward child. "The beginning, Duraid said, "Start at the

beginning" Taita said, "The great god Osiris makes the opening coup."'

"I still don't follow you. "Nicholas shook his head.

"Come with me." Carrying the notebooks, she led him through the hatch in

the white plaster doorway and stood beside him at the shrine of Osiris.

"The opening coup. The beginning."

She turned and faced down the gallery. "This is the first shrine. How

many shrines are there altogetherr

"Three for the trinity, then Seth, Thoth, Anubis, Hathor and Ra," he

listed. "Eight altogether."

"Glory be!" She laughed. "The lad can count! How many cups in the files

of the bao board?"

"Eight across, and eight down-' he broke off and stated at her, "You

think-?"

She did not answer, but opened the notebook. "All of these numbers and

extraneous symbols - they spell no coherent words. They do not relate to

each other in any way, except that no number in the list is greater than

eight., "I thought I had caught up with you, but I just lost you again."

"If somebody were to read the notations of a game of T, chess four

thousand years from now, what would he make of it?" she asked. "Wouldn't

it just be lists of numbers and extraneous symbols to him? You really

are being extremely dense, aren't you? This is like pulling teeth."

"Oh, Lordy, Lordy!" His face cleared. "You clever lady!

Taita is playing the game of bao with us."

"And this is the first pylon, where it starts." She gestured to the

shrine. "This is where the great god Osiris makes the opening coup. This

is where we must start at the beginning of the sacred bao board. This is

where we counter his opening move."

They both looked around the shrine for a while, studying the curved

walls and the high domed roof, and then Nicholas broke the silence. "At

the risk of being called extremely dense and having my teeth pulled, may

I ask a question? How the hell do we play a game when we don't even know

the rules?"

olonel Nogo exuded confidence and self, importance as he swaggered into

the conference room to answer von Schiller's summons.

Nahoot Guddabi bustled along behind him, determined not to be excluded

from any of the proceedings. He too tried to look confident and

important, but in truth he felt his position was very insecure and that

he needed to justify himself to his master, Von Schiller was dictating

correspondence to Utte Kemper, but as soon as they entered the room he

stood  quickly and stepped on to the carpeted block.

"You promised that you would have a report for me yesterday," he snapped

at Nogo, ignoring Nahoot. "Have you not heard anything from this

informer of yours in the gorge?"

"I apologize for keeping you waiting like this, Herr von Schiller." Nogo

was immediately deflated by this sharp attack, and he became restless

and uneasy. The German frightened him. "The women were a day late

returning from Harper's camp. They are very unreliable, these country

people. Time means very little to them."

"Yes, yes." Von Schiller was impatient. "I know the failings of your

black brethren, and I might add you are not completely innocent of these

yourself, Nogo. But tell me what news you have for me."

"Harper finished work on the dam seven days ago, and immediately he

moved his camp downstream, to a new place on the hills above the ravine.

He then built some sort of bamboo ladder down into the ravine. My

informer tells me that they are clearing a hole at the bottom of the

empty pool-'

"A hole? What kind of hole?" Von Schiller turned pale as he listened,

and began sweating in a light sheen across his forehead.

"Are you all right, Herr von Schiller?" Nogo was alarmed. The German

looked very ill, as if he were about to collapse.

"I am perfectly well," von Schiller shouted at him.

"What hole was this? Describe it to me."

"The woman bringing the message is a stupid peas ant." Nogo was

uncomfortable, squirming under von Schiller's grilling. "She says only

that when the river water fell, there was a hole in the bottom that was

filled with rock and rubbish and that they have cleared this out."

"A tunnel!" Nahoot could contain himself no longer.

"It must be the entrance tunnel to the tomb."

"Be quied' Von Schiller turned on him furiously. "You have no facts to

back up that supposition. Let Nogo finish." He turned back to the

colonel. "Go on. Give me the rest of it."

"The woman says that there is a cave at the end of the hole. Like a rock

shrine, with pictures on the walls-' "Pictures? "What pictures?"

"The woman said they were pictures of the saints." Nogo made a

deprecating gesture. "She is a very uneducated woman. Stupid

"Christian saints?" von Schiller demanded.

Nahoot interjected, "That is not possible, Herr von Schiller. I tell you

that Harper has discovered the tomb of Mamose. You must act swiftly

now."

"I will not warn you again, you miserable little man," von Schiller

snarled at him. "Keep quiet."

He turned back to Nogo. "Was there anything else in the cavern? Tell me

everything the woman said."

"Pictures and statues of the saints." Nogo spread his hands. "I am

sorry, Herr von Schiller, that's what she said.

I know this is all nonsense, but that is what the woman told me."

"I will judge what is and what is not nonsense," von Schiller told him.

"What did she say happened to these statues of the saints?"

"Harper has packed them in boxes."

"Has he removed them from the shrine?"

"I do not know, Herr von Schiller. The woman did not say.

Von Schiller stepped down from his block. He began to pace up and down

the length of the hut, muttering to himself distractedly.

"Herr von Schiller-' Nahoot began, but the German waved him to silence.

At last he stopped in front of Nogo and stared up at him.

"Did they find a mummy, a body, in the- shrine?" he demanded.

do not know, Herr von Schiller. The woman did not say.

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