The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog (40 page)
Read The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog Online
Authors: Elizabeth Peters
Tags: #General, #Mystery & Detective - General, #Detective, #Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths, #Mystery & Detective, #Mystery, #Fiction - Mystery, #Peabody, #Fiction, #Egypt, #Amelia (Fictitious character), #Suspense, #Women Sleuths, #Historical, #Women archaeologists, #Mystery & Detective - Historical, #Detective and mystery stories, #Crime & mystery, #American, #Mystery & Detective - Series, #Crime & Thriller, #Political, #Women detectives - Egypt, #Women detectives, #archaeology
* * *
Sometime later I lay watching the slow drift of moonlight across the floor and enjoying the most exquisite of sensations. I knew I risked breaking that heavenly mood if I spoke, and yet I felt I must say one more thing. "You must admit that Sethos was capable of inspiring considerable devotion in his subordinates, and that they carried out his last wishes as he would have done— freeing Cyrus and sending him to us
in order that our grief might be assuaged at the earliest possible moment. I wonder where they took— "
Emerson's shoulder was by now as rigid as a rock. "You might set up a cenotaph," he suggested with ineffable sarcasm. "A coiled snake, I think, would make an appropriate adornment."
"It is odd you should mention that, Emerson. You remember the little fairy tale I have been translating—
The Tale of the Doomed Prince'?"
"What about it?" Emerson's tone was slightly more affable, but I had had time to reconsider what I had started to say. He would taunt me for the rest of my life if I admitted to the superstitious fancies I had entertained about that harmless story.
"I think I know how it ended."
"Oh?" Emerson replaced the arm he had withdrawn when 1 began speaking.
"The princess saved him, of course. Defeating the crocodile and the dog as she had done the snake."
"That is quite an un-Egyptian ending, Peabody." He drew me close. "There are some interesting, if coincidental, parallels in the two cases, though, aren't there? The prince was as reckless and obtuse as
a certain other individual I could name, and I have no doubt the brave princess saved his worthless neck as persistently and cleverly as you did mine, my darling. Even the dog . . . We encountered no crocodiles or snakes, however. Unless Sethos could be considered— "
"My dear." Though every nerve in my body thrilled with rapture at his eloquent and generous tribute,
I felt obliged to remonstrate. "We have spoken enough about Sethos.
'De mortuis nil nisi bonum,'
you know."
"I don't know, though," Emerson muttered. "I wish I did."
"1 don't understand, Emerson."
"Good," said Emerson.
Before I could inquire further he proceeded to institute certain activities that required my complete attention and ended the discussion. Emerson's powers in that particular area have always been extraordinary, and, as he had occasion to point out in the course of the proceedings, we had a lot
of lost time to make up for.
* * *
STOP PRESS. From our special correspondent in Luxor. ASTONISHING
RESURRECTION OF AMERICAN MILLIONAIRE ARCHAEOLOGIST. Mrs. Amelia P. Emerson: "Divine Providence Answered My Prayers." Professor Emerson: "Mrs. Emerson's Brilliant Medical Talents Have Wrought a Miracle."
"The earlier dispatch from this correspondent reporting the tragic death of American millionaire archaeologist Cyrus Vandergelt turns out to have been somewhat inaccurate. Mr. Vandergelt's injuries, received in the course of the exciting events described in yesterday's
Yell,
were not as severe as was presumed. The news was received in archaeological quarters with..."
* * *
Dearest Mama and Papa,
It is with rapture unalloyed that I anticipate the joy you will experience when I tell you that
within a few days of your receipt of this letter you will be able to clasp me in your arms.
You will be able to clasp Gargery too, if you should be so inclined, though I think such
demonstrations would embarrass him a good deal. You owe him forty-one pounds six shillings.
GLOSSARY OF ARABIC WORDS AND PHRASES
afreet: evil demon
Allah yimessikum bil-kheir: God give you a good evening
Amerikani: American
Alemani: German
baksheesh: tip, present
burko: face veil
dahabeeyah: houseboat
effendi: sir
essalamu 'aleikum: peace be with you
fahddle: gossip
fellah (pi. fellahin): peasant
Feransdwi: French, Frenchman
galabeeyah: loose man's robe
habib: friend
hakim: doctor
harim: women's quarters
hezaam: sash
Inglizi: English
jinni (pi. jinn): demon
jubba: vest
khafiya: Bedouin headcloth
marhaba: welcome
mashrabiyya: carved screen
narghila: water pipe
'Omdeh: local magistrate
reis: captain, foreman
sabil. water fountain
safragi: waiter
sitt: lady
suk: bazaar, market
Touareg: a desert tribe
ukafi: stop!
wadi: canyon
yalla!: go on! hurry!
zemr: kind of oboe
