The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters Read Free Book Online

was unnecessary. He had just stuffed into his mouth a piece of pastry dripping with honey and bristling with nuts. The honey had trickled down his chin and onto his jacket. Each spot was already black with flies.
    "Where did you get that?" I demanded.
    "De man gave it to me." Ramses indicated a vendor of sweetmeats who stood nearby, his large wooden tray balanced expertly on his head. Through the swarm of insects that surrounded him the vendor gave me a gap-toothed smile and a respectful salutation.
    "Did I not tell you you were not to eat anything unless I gave you permission?" I asked.
    "No," said Ramses.
    "Oh. Well, I am telling you now."
    "Very well," said Ramses. He wiped his sticky hands on his trousers. A wave of flies dived upon the new spots.
    We proceeded in single file through a covered passageway into a small square with a public fountain. Women in ragged black robes clustered around the marble structure, filling their jars. The appearance of Ramses and Bastet distracted them; they pointed and giggled, and one boldly lifted her veil in order to see better.
    "Where are we going?" Ramses asked.
    "To the shop of an antiquities dealer. I promised your Uncle Walter I would look for papyri."
    Ramses began, "Papa says antiquities dealers are cursed rascals who—"
    "I know your papa's opinions concerning antiquities dealers. However, it is sometimes necessary to resort to these persons. You are not to repeat your papa's comments to the man we are about to meet. You are not to speak at all unless you are asked a direct question. Do not leave the shop. Do not touch anything in the shop. Do not allow the cat to wander off. And," I added, "do not eat anything unless I tell you you may."
    "Yes, Mama," said Ramses.
    The Khan el Khaleel, the bazaar of the metalworkers, is, if possible, even more crowded than the others. We threaded our way past the cupboard-sized shops and the narrow stone benches called mastabas in front of them. Many of the mastabas were occupied by customers; the merchant, just inside the shop, produced his glittering wares from the locked drawers within.
    Abd el Atti's place of business was on the edge of the Khan el Khaleel. The small shop in front was only a blind; preferred customers were invited into a larger room at the rear of the shop, where the old rascal's collection of antiquities was displayed.
    Ever since the days of M. Mariette, the distinguished founder of the Department of Antiquities, excavation in Egypt has been— in theory at least—strictly controlled. Firmans are awarded only to trained scholars. The results of their labors are studied by an official of the Department, who selects the choicest objects for the Museum. The excavator is allowed to keep the remainder. Anyone wishing to export antiquities must have a permit, but this is not hard to obtain when the object in question has no particular monetary or historical value.
    The system would work well enough if the law were obeyed. Unfortunately it is impossible to supervise every square acre of the country, and illegal excavation is common. Working in haste and in fear of discovery, untrained diggers demolish the sites at which they work and of course keep no records of where the objects were found. The fellahin of Egypt have a keen nose for treasure; they have often located tombs unknown to archaeologists. The famous cache of royal mummies that Emerson had mentioned is a conspicuous example. But the peasants are not the only offenders. Wallis Budge of the British Museum took a positive delight in outwitting the antiquities officials. The Amarna tablets, the papyrus of Ani, and the great Greek manuscript of the Odes of Bacchylides are among the valuables smuggled out of Egypt by this so-called scholar.
    In this ambiguous moral ambience the antiquities dealers flourished. Some were more unscrupulous than others, but scarcely any of them operated wholly within the law. The honest merchant had no chance against his dishonest colleagues,