The ladies and gentlemen of the expedition performed their toilet and settled down to an al fresco meal. They discussed the day’s events and their plans for the night. The Mahdists were considered a serious threat. The preparations included posting sentries on the roof of the temple and manning the two machine guns all night. In addition each guard post was given 2 sticks of dynamite and a pack of the new windproof Lucifers. The main guard was made up of Adrian’s and Binky’s askaris almost all of whom were ex-soldiers. Gerald’s men patrolled the perimeter and formed the reserve.
All of the Europeans, even the ladies, carried two sticks of dynamite. The stairways under the temple had dynamite sticks and tacks laid on them to discomfit any sneak attackers. Halfway down the stairs low tripwires were set and cans of stones attached. Around the perimeter low and high wires were strung between the pillars and again cans of stones were hung to provide audible warning. Adrian posted a strong guard of his sergeant and four askaris at the main entrance and set trip wires in front of them. A duty roster was made up for the Europeans to command the guard.
To occupy themselves and to keep the ladies busy, little tasks were performed. The photographic equipment was set up in the chamber below the temple and photographs taken using the magnesium flash kits. All the murals were catalogued and photographed in sequence.
In the sarcophagus room the canopic jars were counted and this confirmed that although there were six sarcophagi only 5 sets of jars were present. A note was made to investigate this further at a a later date. There were also 5 additional female skeletons one lying across the foot of each sarcophagus.
About 11:30 pm Louis Chaudchat, the Canadian, on duty above the gate spotted some movement amongst the sphinxes. He looked around, more shadows moved silently from cover to cover. Quite convinced that the enemy were attacking he fired a shot in the air. This was the arranged alarm signal.
A shout of “ALLAHU AKBAR” split the night and a volley of shots splattered about Louis. The Dervishes charged from the night. To Louis right the Nordenfelt chattered away killing 4 of the enemy in its first burst. Disaster struck as the base of a cartridge tore away from the case jamming the gun. The gunner frantically tried to extract the case with his bayonet.
The other machine gun was heavily engaged with the riflemen on the hillside. Eventually the weight of fire tells and the dervish riflemen are silenced for the loss of one askari killed. The main force charged home on the defenders. Adrian’s askaris opened fire stemming the rush at the gate but everywhere else the dervishes charged in. Several run straight into the high wires that caught several of them about neck height and catapulted them backwards. A confused hand-to-hand battle took place and Binky managed to hurl a stick of dynamite into the rear of the attackers. The explosion accounted for several.
Binky and Ramsden fought hard with pistol and rifle, killing several of the enemy outright. A dervish attacked Binky from the side and Big Sam hurled himself into the path of the blow receiving a grievous wound in the process. In the centre Adrian battled the dervish leader, a massive standard bearer, trading blow for blow. His askaris came up in support and just as Adrian fell his loyal sergeant ran the dervish through with his bayonet. Then he stood astride his fallen leader protecting his body. Ramsden fell wounded under the blows of several dervishes.
Suddenly, silence fell and the defenders stood their ground awaiting another, probably final rush. Shadows could be seen slipping away into the shadows. All the rest of the night they stood to. No further attacks came though occasionally an ineffective rifle shot split the night.
The casualties were treated. Adrian was not actually dead as first thought but very seriously concussed, had a fearsome head wound and had lost a lot of blood. He would probably have died without the ministrations of Cynthia and Meg. Ramsden’s wound was treated.
After a rest and a substantial breakfast the tasks started the last evening were completed. Binky checked out the chambers leisurely over two days taking photographs and making sketches.
Adrian, from his sick bed sent out his askaris on patrols to watch for dervishes. He told off a labour detachment to clear away the dervish bodies, all 27 of them. He had the freed slaves re-fill all the water containers from the well. While this was going on the askari supervising the work notices a scarab broach set into the wall of the well. Mahmud managed to convince the Adrian to have him lowered down. He disappeared. The askari reported back to Adrian and an askari was lowered into the well. The rope went slack and he, too, disappeared.
Fortunately Hassan and Sgt Achmed appeared and they were lowered down in turn. A side passage was found and investigated. It was quite obvious that both Mahmud and the askari had gone before them. Crawling quite a way along the passage they soon found Mahmud ant the askari. They were sitting in the dark in front of a sealed stone door. It did not take too long to break a hole large enough for Mahmud to wriggle through. The chamber contained a large sarcophagus, in each wall a statue stood – Re and the Pharaoh faced each other, as did Bast and Anubis. The lid of the sarcophagus would not come off with the four of them trying.
They all came up for a midday meal. Then made some careful measurements. These were transposed onto the ground and an excavation made. Then using blocks and tackle the lid was removed and inside a second smaller “sarcophagus”. This was lifted to the surface. When it was opened a strange book was found. It was made up of a series of metallic plates bound together by metal bands. The cover appeared blank. Then a labourer dropped it and the sun caught it from an angle. Pictures appeared and then disappeared as the book fell. The sharp-eyed Gerard saw them. He had the book picked up and turned until the sunlight showed the pictures of the progression of ages from infant to old age. He was convinced that he had found the Book. However, try as he might he could not release the metallic bands holding the book together.
After another night – an uneventful one this time they packed their equipment and finds they set off for the river. In fact they found amongst the stuff picked up a small number of Ruritanian coins and a button bearing the Ruritanian cypher. How had they got there?