The entrance to the hillside excavation was cordoned off and manned by two armed guards who were seated in the shade of a small makeshift awning. While the ladies remained in the cart beneath their parasols, Berry and Hafez approached the guards and presented their bona fides. The moment that the gentlemen made reference to Hattie became evident as both guards looked her way with interest.
“I am infamous,” Hattie remarked with a sigh.
Bing could not disagree. “It is a compelling story and some curiosity is to be expected. You are a sympathetic figure.”
Hattie remembered what had happened outside the consulate. “I hope they do not recognize my supposed likeness to the princess—they will expect me to raise the level of the Nile or some such thing.”
“They do not appear credulous,” Bing remarked. “And they wear British uniforms.”
The two men returned to escort the ladies to the tomb, having secured the permission of the guards. Hafez was red-faced and unhappy and the nature of his complaint soon emerged.
“…it is an insult and I shall make a complaint through diplomatic channels.”
Berry soothed him, “I imagine there is a concern for Mademoiselle Blackhouse’s safety—it is unknown as yet what has happened to her parents, or who was responsible.”
“Nonetheless,” the other exclaimed angrily. “I should have been consulted.”
“Why, what has happened, Mr. Hafez?” Bing touched his sleeve in sympathy.
“The consul has stationed British guards here in place of the usual ones.” He bowed his head to Hattie in apology. “I mean no offense to you, Miss Blackhouse—but it must be remembered your parents had no claim to the tomb itself, and neither does the English king.”
“I quite understand,” she soothed, and did not look at Berry. “It is indeed an affront to you, and you are ill-served.”
Her mild outrage seemed to mollify the minister. “Exactly so—an affront.”
“I can’t imagine the soldiers would think to countermand you—after all, you serve the viceroy.” Unspoken was the addendum that as matters stood, it was not a calamity, perhaps, to ingratiate the British.
On reflection, Hafez appeared to come to the same conclusion. “True,” he agreed. Drawing a sigh, he shook his head. “I must apologize; I am beset by troubles and should not have lost my temper.”
“Small blame to you,” offered Bing. “It is as though your poor country is the prize in a tug-of-war, and you are merely a bystander.”
Only the stakes are not at all like the children’s game, thought Hattie. Too many have died, and I imagine more are slated to die before it is all over. Gazing around her at the tombs, she wondered if anything had changed over the millennia, and very much doubted it. It seemed there would always be conquerors and those who resisted them—and the bloody havoc that was the certain result.
“Shall we go inside?” Berry was apparently not as interested in human nature and its historical ramifications as he was in securing the missing disk from the body of the mummified princess.
The gentlemen assisted the ladies up the crude wooden steps that had been applied to the hillside to expedite access to the tomb. A narrow entryway hewn into the rock was revealed at the crest, and several wooden signs were posted; one contained a warning in several languages, including English. Normally, the tomb entrances were fashioned on a downhill slope but this one was unusual in that it was located on a hillside. As a result, the rubble of the excavation had been cleared out a smoot hole to the side of the entry and a long cascade of discarded rocks and rubble sloped down the hill.
One sign warned of severe penalties for trespassing and another indicated the tomb was presumably that of Seti’s daughter. Hattie found it unfair that history defined the princess only by whose daughter she was—the slight was one well familiar to her. “Isn’t there a record of her name somewhere?”
“Seti had many daughters and her name is as yet unknown,” Hafez explained. “We are hopeful that soon we can make a determination based upon the hieroglyphics in the chamber. What we can translate, however, refers to the pharaoh’s ‘hidden treasure.’ It is possible that the description is actually a form of her name but we are not yet certain.”
“A devotion that transcends time,” Bing observed. “Most touching.”
Hafez gestured to another wooden sign, this one written in Arabic. “A warning to tomb raiders of the terrible punishment that will be imposed,” he explained. “It also warns of the curse—and those who have died—for added menace. The thieves are almost impossible to thwart, but we must make the attempt—otherwise, if there are rumors of treasure the guards will be attacked.”