Unknown (26 page)

"I suppose that
makes sense," I said.

"It is an
historical fact that Julius Caesar encrypted his messages from Gaul
by substituting letters three places farther on in the alphabet.
D for A and E for B. Now let us test this with the three-letter
combination of WKH. W becomes T and K is H. H represents the
most used letter in the alphabet, which is E. The word is 'the' as we
have already assumed. Just note the number of H letters in this
message. We've solved it, Watson."

"We" had
nothing to do with it, but if it made Holmes happy to put it that
way, who was I to complain? When Wakefield Orloff returned to the
room, the sleuth was seated, working on the cipher with a pen. It was
so simple for him that he digested Orloff's report at the same time.

"Loo Chan will be
on the train to Suez within the hour. I've arranged to have the train
stop at a point along the Bitter Lakes. A boat will get him to the
liner before it enters the Sweetwater Canal. No one will be the
wiser, so we've kept our part of the bargain." The security
agent regarded the silent Holmes thoughtfully. "Gray can
bring a man from the code office if you wish."

Holmes waved one hand in
an aimless gesture without meaning, and I took it from there.

"No need. Holmes
has already deciphered it."

It is with joy that I
report that Orloff's jaw dropped slightly.

"You do recall,"
I added with no little pride, "that Holmes's pamphlet on codes
and secret writings is now required reading for the cipher division."

My moment of reflected
glory was interrupted by the sleuth, who was regarding his handiwork
with a frown.

"We may have broken
one code and run into another. It would seem the late archeologist,
Puzza, was of a whimsical nature."

Holmes allowed himself a
small chuckle, and I suspected his humor was directed at himself.

"Our substitution
key is correct, Watson, for the letters become words, but what we end
up with is a rather clumsy rhyme. Let me read it to you:

"
At
the feet of the sixth Rameses

Lies
the boy in eternal ease,

Unknown
to Kurna and Al Mamun

Son
of the heretic he evaded doom.
"

"The sixth Rameses
I would assume is a pharaoh, but the rest means little to me."

Orloff offered no
comment, so I made a suggestion.

"That Colonel Gray
chap has been in Egypt for a devilishly long time and seems up
on all these things."

"Capital idea,
Watson!"

Orloff was already on
his way to the hall and returned quickly with Gray.

"I didn't know what
to do when you left with the Chinaman, Mr. Orloff, so I stayed
at my post."

"Good thinking,
Colonel," said Holmes. "Loo Chan is of no further concern
to us, but another problem has arisen that requires your expertise.
Can you make anything out of this?"

Gray read through the
message Holmes handed him and then read through it again in the
manner of the military. "Better say nothing than say it wrong."
is an army byword. It produces accuracy, but has a stultifying effect
on inventiveness.

"Well, sir,"
Gray finally said, stroking his moustache, "would this be in
reference to a tomb, perhaps?"

"Very possibly.
What prompted you to consider that?"

We were all clustered
round the message on the table and Gray, quite delighted to be the
center of attention, indicated certain words as he spoke.

"At the feet of the
sixth Rameses could mean at the base of a statue of Rameses Sixth, of
course. Thank God it isn't Rameses Second. There is no end to statues
of him. The reference to 'boy' evades me, but Kurna and Al Mamun
certainly indicate a tomb."

"Wait!" said
Holmes. "Kurna." He turned to me. "Didn't Mycroft
mention Kurna? A city of thieves?"

"Grave robbers,"
I stuttered.

"That's right,
sir," said Gray. "Al Mamun refers to Caliph Al Mamun,
who forced his way into the great pyramid in the ninth century in
search of treasure. Bit of a disappointment, that, since it had
been sacked centuries before."

"Then being unknown
by Kurna and Al Mamun must mean an undiscovered grave. One unpillaged
by grave robbers," I said.

"I'll accept that,"
said Holmes, "But look, does not 'son of the heretic' refer to
the 'boy' in the second line?"

Gray's eyes lit up. "The
heretic in Egyptian history would be Amenhotep Fourth."

"Pity," said
Holmes. "I had hoped you would mention another name."

"Who?"

"Do you recall,
Watson, that Rapp mentioned a pharaoh who espoused a one-god idea?"

"Ikhnaton," I
said, and will never know how that name came to my mind.

"Same chap,"
was Gray's surprising reply. "Ikhnaton, Amenhotep, Akhenaten;
all names for the same ruler. Took charge in 1379. Changed his
capital from Thebes to Akhetaten. Wanted to do away with the other
gods in favor of the sun god, Aton. Didn't make it stick, you
see. Out of touch with his people and was not very prepossessing.
When you are in the god business you have to have a bit of
personality, to spread the faith, as 'twere."

Holmes's face had
recovered its enthusiasm. "Then this boy in the message must be
the son of Ikhnaton."

Gray shook his head.
"Ikhnaton or Akhenaten had no son. He was succeeded by
Smenkmare. Brother, I believe. But wait a minute."

The Colonel studied the
message again. "You have a cipher here, possibly written by an
Egyptologist?" Holmes nodded. "When would he have been
active?"

Holmes scratched his
chin. "I read about Balzoni . . ."

"Oh, Balzoni."
Gray was on familiar grounds. "Everyone out here knows about
him."

"Actually, this was
written by an associate of his."

"Balzoni left Egypt
in 1819. I know because a year later he wrote a rather good book on
his adventures. Point is that early in the century the tombs in Egypt
were a bit of a new thing. At that time it was believed that
Akhenaten was the father of Tutankhamen."

Holmes shook his head.

"You wouldn't know
of him, sir. Minor eighteenth dynasty pharaoh. But he was very
young when he became ruler of Egypt and died at an early age as well.
Ruled for a mere nine years as I recall. I'm not so good on dates and
numbers."

"I'd say you were
doing quite well," commented Holmes with approval. He continued:
"All right, where are we? The message refers to a tomb. What
would be important about that?"

"A tomb unknown to
grave robbers, Mr. Holmes. That would be a rare bird indeed, for the
pharaoh's possessions would be in it. The German expedition uncovered
thirty graves of pharaohs and not a one of them that hadn't been
looted."

"Then this
Tutankhamen tomb would be valuable?"

"Unbelievably,"
was Gray's immediate response.

"And the reference
to doom?"

"That can be read
two ways. In a religious sense, the whole idea of the elaborate
burials was to allow the pharaohs to make their trip to eternity
in peace. Don't quote me, sir, but I've a thought that the despoiling
of their graves would interrupt their progress to the hereafter."

"Seems logical,"
I commented.

"And the other
meaning?" inquired Holmes.

"Political. After
his death, Akhenaten the heretic was expunged from Egyptian history
since his one-god theory was not accepted. Tutankhamen rejected the
one-god idea, thereby avoiding the risk or doom of being removed."

"Well, the tomb
seems to be of Tutankhamen, but where would it be? You mentioned the
German expedition."

"That was Karl
Richard Lepsius and his people."

"Where did he find
so many graves?"

"Same place that
was such a happy hunting ground for Balzoni. Wady Biban al-Maluk, the
Arabs call it. The Valley of the Kings."

"Might not the boy
pharaoh be there?"

Gray shook his head.
"Lepsius's reputation as an archaeologist is enormous, and
he felt that nothing was left in the valley. There's been no serious
excavation work there since his time."

Holmes's eyes had that
opaque look I recognized. "I read that book of Balzoni's you
mentioned. As I recall, he stated more or less the same thing."

"That's right, Mr.
Holmes."

"But that's it, you
see. Puzza, an obscure follower of the Italian adventurer is dying.
He cannot return to the Valley of the Kings, and he has no heirs. His
possessions were disposed of at a public sale. He leaves an obscure
rhyme. It was a jest, a bit of irony from a dying man, for he knew
something that the great Balzoni did not, nor Lepsius either. He
knew there was an undiscovered tomb."

Holmes's eyes sharpened,
and he regarded Gray with that faint smile of triumph. "Might I
guess that the tomb of Rameses Sixth is in the Valley of the Kings?"

There was a startled
look on the Colonel's face. "Dead on, sir!"

"At the feet of
Rameses could mean beneath his crypt, I think."

Before Holmes even
looked at him, Orloff was on his way out of the room.

As Gray and I exchanged
a puzzled glance, Holmes chuckled.

"Mr. Orloff is a
great believer in anticipation, a quality cherished by my brother."

Gray took a breath.
"That would be Mr. Mycroft Holmes, sir?"

Holmes nodded.

"And the Rapp you
mentioned is Sir Randolph Rapp?"

Since the Colonel was
looking at me, I agreed.

"If you'll pardon
the thought, there're some heavyweights involved in this
matter."

Holmes was caught
completely by surprise and chortled. "I follow your thought,
Colonel, and you are more right than you know. However, the gentlemen
in question are in London whereas you are here, and I am grateful
that you are."

Colonel Gray's features
grew redder yet, and he looked as though he had just received the
Victoria Cross from Her Majesty. I'm sure he was thinking that it had
all been worth it, even wet-nursing a seasick general practitioner
who seemed fated to have unusual experiences.

Chapter
Fifteen

The
Sheik Reappears

Things happened fast
after that. Orloff, with that uncanny ability to anticipate the
plans of Sherlock Holmes, put official wheels in motion. I began to
suspect that Mycroft had dispatched a covey of his operatives to
Egypt to act as backup for his top agent in the field. It was
arranged in short order that we were to leave Cairo and head up the
Nile to Luxor by rail. Orloff was to remain in Cairo to keep his
finger on the pulse of the people, but he informed my friend that a
contingent of the Sutherland-Argyle Regiment were on maneuvers
around Luxor prior to being shipped to India. I rather gathered that
a detachment of the Scottish infantry would be available to Holmes if
needed, and such proved to be the case.

It was obvious what had
prompted Holmes's move. I had not forgotten the departed Cruthers or
the fact that he had been investigating an archeological party in the
Valley of the Kings prior to his return to England and death. Then
there was that dagger he had concealed on his person, which my
friend had identified as property of royalty. With the information
that Loo Chan's cipher provided, it seemed realistic to assume that
Chu San Fu had located an undiscovered tomb, though how this fitted
in with his exciting Mohammedan unrest throughout the Middle
East eluded me. Holmes wished to certify the possibility of a new
discovery in the Valley of the Kings prior to the great Mohammedan
conclave in Cairo. I found it somewhat alarming that there had been
mention of members of the Sutherland-Argyle Regiment in connection
with this matter and wondered just what Holmes expected to find in
the Valley of the Kings.

When we finally did
reach Luxor, site of the ancient Thebes, it was evident that Orloff
had made ample use of the cable. In the government buildings we were
informed that the Scottish troopers were already over the river on
the west bank awaiting Holmes's arrival. I was again wan and
indisposed, for the swaying train had not benefited my touchy
stomach. Though nauseous, I was fascinated by the lush green of the
fertile Nile plain, more evident because of the stark grimness and
desolation beyond it rising gradually to towering cliffs. Small
wonder that the Egyptians have through the centuries loved and
cherished their narrow belt of incredibly fertile land,
surrounded as it is by a nothingness of rock and sand. It was at the
foot of the distant cliffs, the Theban hills, that the historic
valley lay in which were entombed so many of the Nile's greatest
rulers. There was a
look of sadness, almost apprehension, on
Holmes's face as
he conferred with me after Gray attended to
details regarding the crossing of the river and the troops placed at
the disposal of the detective.