Silver Tomb (The Lazarus Longman Chronicles Book 2) by P. J. Thorndyke Read Free Book Online Page B

said the clerk, eyeing Lazarus’s clothes as if he was evaluating whether the term of respect was warranted in this case. “How far do you wish to go?”
    “Oh, we haven’t made up our minds yet, I, my wife and my friend, that is. Luxor at least. Perhaps as far as Abu Simbel. My wife wants to see those headless pharaohs or whatever they are.”
    The clerk nearly rolled his eyes but saved himself just in time. He was clearly disgusted by this shabby European who didn’t even have enough coin to his name to be a Cook’s tourist, but not so disgusted that he would turn away his custom. “The Nefertiti leaves tomorrow morning at eight of the clock. Is that too early for you?”
    “Not at all,” said Lazarus. “Put me down for three tickets.”
    “Very well, I will just go and write them out then I will take down your details. A moment’s patience if you please.”
    When the clerk disappeared into the back room, Lazarus leaned over and pulled the ledger towards him. It was open on the page of the Nefertiti ’s passenger list. He ran his index finger down the page, scanning the names until he arrived at ‘Murad Yasin’ and knew that he had at least found the right company and the right vessel.
    He whiled away the afternoon taking tea in Azbekya Gardens and packing his portmanteau. Evening had set in by the time he arrived at the Grand Continental Hotel. He left a message at reception for Katarina to meet him first thing in the morning at Port Bulaq. He considered trying to obtain her room number and asking her down for drinks or perhaps dinner, but knew he would feel like a cad if he did. She was exactly right about him, he realized. They had slept under the Arizona stars together and traversed a continent in a balloon, eating their meals at a small table and bunking in the same tiny cabin by the light of a single gas lamp, but here, in a passable example of civilization, he dared not ask her to dinner without a chaperone for fear of violating propriety.
    He instead went to Petrie’s room and the two of them sipped at cognacs while Lazarus explained the events of the day to him.
    “Up to another adventure?” he asked the Egyptologist when he was finished.
    Petrie’s eyes twinkled but his brow was furrowed at the same time, as if he was fighting with himself. “Will it be dangerous?”
    “Undoubtedly.”
    “And that Russian woman will be coming?”
    Lazarus’s eyes briefly rolled. “Yes. She’s a damned fine shot if that will make you feel any safer.”
    “Oh, undoubtedly, undoubtedly,” Petrie said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. “But perhaps it would be safer for her if two men were to accompany her. I have a mind to purchase a revolver after yesterday’s encounter with those villains. I shall make enquiries first thing tomorrow.”
    “Then you will come? Your knowledge of Akhenaten’s reign and religious movement may be invaluable to us if we do indeed find Rousseau’s site.”
    This comment seemed to galvanize the young scholar. “Absolutely! I could not pass up an opportunity such as this! Imagine what secrets of the eighteenth dynasty a new site might unlock! The Silver Aten… The mind positively boggles!” He knocked down the rest of his cognac and spilled some as if he had suddenly remembered something. “That reminds me! I’ve been looking at my sketches—I always do them, you know, of my finds—including the ones that were stolen. And something has occurred to me.”
    “Show me,” Lazarus said.
    Petrie went over to his writing desk which was littered with bits of paper, books and sketchpads, and drew out a couple of sheaves with some drawings on them. They were very good ones, done with the painstaking attention to detail that Petrie was known for. Lazarus studied them.
    “That’s a kohl container I found at Tell el-Amarna,” said Petrie, indicating the first sketch. “The one stolen from my poor man at the docks. Imagine that it was dropped nearly three thousand years ago by