True Raiders by Brad Ricca

Author:Brad Ricca [Ricca, Brad]
Language: eng
Format: epub

Twenty-Six

Bertha Vester

JERUSALEM, 1910

That night, Bertha went up to the rooftop. It was always a bit of a scramble, but it was worth the effort. Their location on the city wall afforded a magnificent vantage point: the Dome, now dark, and the stars above her seemed to glint with the same cord of light. The view was nearly unearthly. Bertha took a deep breath and did what she frequently did on these nighttime trips; she thought of her father. She felt close to him here.

Horatio Vester had been gone for many years, but he was still a powerful motivation for the Colony’s efforts in Jerusalem. Bertha knew that he would be proud of all they had accomplished. The American Colony now ran a gift shop and a hotel, raised pigs, and had started a studio of photography. They taught handicrafts, made dresses and tailored suits, and funneled their profits into their philanthropy.

Because of the Colony’s new reach, they had attracted many visitors. A few years ago, a man with a dark beard and a stoop to his neck asked to see the view from the roof. He was H. Rider Haggard, the author of King Solomon’s Mines and the other adventures of Allan Quatermain. Bertha watched quietly as he gazed on the golden Dome. There were plenty of other renowned visitors, but Bertha, like her father before her, was drawn to the misfit characters, the outsiders, who had come seeking answers.

With the archaeological dig still in full swing on Mount Ophel, she had been thinking lately of one such man, Mr. Moses. He was a trader in rare antiquities and operated a small store in Jerusalem. He would look for ancient manuscripts in secret storefronts hidden behind rolled-down canvas doors. He would creep among the dusty hills looking for relics and inscriptions. He returned from one such trip with some ancient Canaanite idols he found in a cave somewhere in Moab. They were praised as an extraordinary find. Before they were announced to the archaeological world, Jacob’s school was given the rare honor of displaying them. Jacob, who had been so excited at the prospect of seeing these important artifacts, took one look and quickly averted his eyes. The pagan idols were depicted in very specific anatomical positions.

Bertha laughed. Her brother Jacob was now a beloved teacher in the school and still looked at his shoes when she told the story. Mr. Moses was later discovered to have produced a scroll of great importance that the experts decried as fake. That part of the story ended quite awfully.

Bertha looked out at the stars, trying not to think of it. Whenever she saw a shooting star, she thought of Miss Poole, another of her father’s favorites. She was quite a character, a charming, if eccentric, little Englishwoman who read astrology charts for tourists in Jerusalem. She would often engage in long, intelligent conversations with Bertha’s father. Miss Poole would sometimes come to the Colony and stay for three days to make a particular point (and to enjoy the food).

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