The Tiger Warrior by David Gibbins Read Free Book Online Page A

eyes. Costas crouched back against it, then trudged up behind the other two men.
    “We’ve been talking about the Battle of Carrhae, Crassus’ lost legions,” Jack said.
    “I’m always ready to hear about a Roman defeat,” Hiebermeyer replied, grinning at Jack.
    “Come on. The Romans didn’t rule Egypt that badly. If it wasn’t for them, you wouldn’t be here, sunning yourself beside the Red Sea. This is basically a Roman site.”
    “I’d rather be in the Valley of the Kings,” Hiebermeyer sniffed.
    “Talking to Costas about Carrhae set me thinking about another Roman defeat,” Jack said. “One never forgotten by the emperors. The lost legions of Varus, destroyed in AD 9 in the Teutoberg Forest.”
    Hiebermeyer stopped in his tracks. “That was my first real taste of archaeology as a boy, hunting for the site of the battle. My family owned a lodge nearby, outside Osnabruck in Lower Saxony.”
    Jack shaded his eyes and looked at Costas. “The Romans were pushing into Germany. It was the glory days of Augustus. The possibilities seemed limitless. Then it all went horribly wrong. Varus was inexperienced, like Crassus, and took three legions into unknown territory. They were ambushed by the Germans and annihilated, twenty thousand men at least.”
    “What’s your point?” Hiebermeyer said, walking slowly again up the hill.
    “The decline of Berenikê, after Augustus. It’s bizarre, at the height of the empire when the Roman economy was booming. It’s as if the British government had suddenly pulled out of any interest in the East India Company in the late eighteenth century, when the biggest fortunes were being made.”
    “The defeat stopped the Romans in their tracks,” Hiebermeyer said. “The Rhine became the frontier. Augustus nearly went insane over those lost legions.” Jack nodded. “I wonder if Augustus had second thoughts. He looked east, to Arabia, to India, the lands beyond this place, where everything was ripe for conquest. He looked, and he said no. The empire was big enough. They couldn’t afford another defeat. And the risk out here, the cost of failure, was huge.”
    “And not just military,” Costas said.
    “Go on.”
    “Massive fortunes were involved, right? Shiploads of gold and silver. That means only the wealthiest investors, including the emperor himself What are the chances of shipwreck on a voyage out here, one in three, one in four? Let’s say it happens, and the emperor loses big-time. His own cash. A high-risk investment gone wrong, and then those legions wiped out. It’s all too much. He pulls the plug on India.”
    Jack stopped. “That’s a hell of an idea.”
    “I’ll sell you it for a cold beer,” Costas said, wiping his forehead.
    “Find me a wreck out here full of mint issues of Imperial gold, and I might believe you,” Hiebermeyer said, trudging determinedly up the slope ahead of them. Costas looked questioningly at Jack, who grinned and followed Hiebermeyer.
    “Speaking of shipwrecks, thanks for the hint, Maurice,” Jack said loudly, catching up.
    “Huh?”
    “That translation you emailed me. From the Coptos archive. The ancient shipwreck. The elephantegos. ”
    “Ah. Yes.”
    “We found one.”
    “Ah. Good.”
    “We found an elephantegos. ”
    “Ah. Yes. Good.” Hiebermeyer stopped, clearly deep in some other train of thought, nodded sagely, then carried on walking. After a few moments he stopped again, dead in his tracks, and peered at Jack, his mouth open in astonishment. Jack caught Costas’ eye, and the two of them continued up the slope. Hiebermeyer followed them to the edge of another large excavation trench, where he was suddenly preoccupied by the busy scene in front of them. He gesticulated at a group of students and Egyptian workers under a tarpaulin in one corner. A dark-featured Egyptian woman quickly came over and climbed out of the trench in front of them, her hair tied back under a bush hat. She spoke quietly to Hiebermeyer in