Sheba. Part 23

'So you're not even Greek?'

'My mother was and her name was Skiros, but I'm proud to say my father was a German. It doesn't matter what his name was.'

Kane turned and looked at Muller who had been standing silently by his side. 'And how does Muller fit into the picture?'

'Quite neatly,' Skiros said. 'He discovered the existence of this place from an old Bedouin who staggered into his camp near Shabwa one night, dying of thirst.'

Kane said, 'For G.o.d's sake, why did you have to deal with a vulture like this, Muller? Any one of a dozen foundations in Europe or America would have gladly given you financial backing.'

Muller looked embarra.s.sed. 'There were reasons.'

'Indeed there were.' Skiros laughed. 'As you won't be going anywhere I see no reason not to tell you the truth, my friend. Like me, the professor is a German - a good German. We serve the Third Reich and our Fiihrer, Adolf Hitler.'

'My G.o.d,' Kane said.

'I work for the Abwehr, you know what that is?'

'German military intelligence.'

'Exactly. We're going to win the coming war, my friend. The day after tomorrow is the ist of September. That's when we invade Poland.'

'Madness,' Kane said. 'You'll all go down to h.e.l.l together.'

'I don't think so. You see, we have the big battalions. We also have Captain Carlos Romero and his friends, who are Spanish volunteers in the SS. They will arrive here in the Catalina tomorrow. The following day they will land on the Suez Ca.n.a.l, seed it with mines and blow it up. That should give our English friends in Egypt and London something to chew on.'

Kane struggled to take it all in. 'I can't believe it.'

'A matter of indifference to me."

Kane took a deep breath. 'What happens now?'

'To you?' Skiros shrugged. 'For a day or two, Muller has a use for you, but after that...' His voice trailed away and he sighed as if genuinely sorry.

'That wouldn't be very wise,' Kane said.

Skiros raised his eyebrows slightly. 'Presumably you have a reason for saying that?'

Kane tried to sound completely sure of himself. 'I sent a letter to the American Consul at Aden telling him exactly where we were going.' He shrugged. 'It was a natural precaution - anything can happen in the desert, you know that.'

'You're lying, of course.'

Kane shook his head. 'I gave you the letter to put in the mail bag for me - remember?'

'Very clever, my friend,' Skiros said softly.

Complete panic had appeared on Muller's face and he subsided on to an ammunition box and wiped sweat from his face and neck with a handkerchief. 'We've got to get out of here,' he said and his voice was shaking.

'Pull yourself together.' Skiros selected a cigarette and tapped it on the packet thoughtfully.

Kane smiled. 'If we don't return within a reasonable period of time, the American Consul in Aden will set the usual machinery in motion. They're bound to come looking for us.'

Skiros smiled thinly. 'Quite correct, but as you your- self have so helpfully pointed out, the Consul will make no move until a reasonable period of time has elapsed.'

Kane cursed softly because Skiros was right and he knew it. The troubled frown disappeared from Muller's face and he sagged with relief. 'G.o.d in heaven, but you're right.'

Skiros nodded complacently. 'You should know by now that invariably I am. The American Consul will make no move for at least a month. We on the other hand, will be out of here within two days.'

'Two days!' Muller said and he seemed to be genuinely perturbed. 'That doesn't leave me much time. I don't know if we'll be through by then.'

'Frankly, my dear Muller, the question of whether or not you manage to break into your wretched tomb before we leave, doesn't interest me.'

'Can I put Kane to work with the other two?' Muller asked.

Skiros turned to Kane. 'I'm sure you won't object. After all, this sort of work is more in your line.'

Kane tried to think of something to say, but for the moment, he was beaten. 'I guess this is your round.'

Skiros grinned good-humouredly. 'That's it, Kane. Be philosophical about the thing.' All at once, his manner changed and he became brisk and businesslike. 'And now you must excuse me. I have much to do.'

He swung round in his chair and picked up the earphones. Muller touched Kane on the arm and led the way outside. He turned to the right and walked along a broad ledge to where two armed men squatted before the entrance to another cave. It was no more than four feet high and Kane bent down to peer inside.

Muller wiped sweat from his face with a handkerchief and said awkwardly, 'I'm sorry about this, Kane.'

'I'm not in the mood to take confession today,' Kane told him. 'What am I supposed to do in here?'

Just inside the entrance was a spot-lamp, and the German switched it on and led the way in. The cave was only thirty or forty feet across, and the roof a couple of feet above their heads. The powerful beam moved slowly across the wall, and with startling suddenness, the outlines of two human figures with bows in their hands sprang into life.

Kane went forward and examined the figures with interest. 'Polychrome wall painting,' he said, touching them gently with his fingers. 'Remarkably well preserved.'

'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 pa.s.sage 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 a.s.sume that burials took place here.'

Since entering the cave, Kane had been conscious of faint sounds, and now a light appeared in the dark pa.s.sage 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 a.s.sistance 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?'