Sailing With Mystery by M.A. Lee

Author:M.A. Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 1920s, woman protagonist, high seas adventure, spying, mystery at sea
Publisher: Writers Ink Books
Published: 2023-07-21T00:00:00+00:00

3

By sunset, the smell of roasting lamb filled the air.

The local sheikh had a dramatic entrance on a camel. Everyone stopped their preparations for the evening to watch his ride into camp, with six escorts. The camels lowered, front down then rear, and the men dismounted, white-robed with the typical patterned headscarf. Each had a military rifle strapped across his chest, a strange juxtaposition of the old world with the modern one.

The archaeologist in charge of the diggings, Dr. Brunsen greeted the sheikh. They talked briefly before he brought him to meet Hyatt Ingram and his son. Three of the white-robed guards followed, ducking into one of the larger tents behind the men.

Dinner that evening with the sheikh was eye-opening because the women didn’t dine with him, only the men.

The men gathered around low tables on pillows. Ornate rugs covered the floor. Brass lanterns hung from a rope down the tent’s center. Isabella had managed a peek inside before the women were shuffled off to a smaller tent with a dinner table. Two candelabra provided light. Their chairs were backless camp stools. The china had seen better years. Tarnish stained the fork tines and the beading around the handles. When Mrs. Fremont complained of tea rather than wine, she was shushed by Mrs. Brunsen. “Our host is a devout Muslim. No alcoholic beverages are permitted.”

Yet service was prompt, with two women bringing basins and towels to wash their hands. A girl with a pipe softly played a melodic tune.

Mrs. Brunsen detailed the morrow for them. The more adventurous would have a camel ride around the whole necropolis. Others could tour one of the lesser pyramids. Isabella was disappointed to hear that the pyramids predated any hieroglyphics or artwork.

The entrée was grilled lamb, kafta. Isabella and Nedda enjoyed the spicy oil served with it and dipped in pieces of bland pita-style bread. Savina, Chloe, and Shirley protested the green mash besarah. According to Mrs. Bronsen, the honey balls served with dates and walnuts were Cleopatra’s favorite dessert. The young women gobbled up the sweet and asked for more. Then Nedda muttered, “A sweet tooth is ‘immortal longing’. We need only robe and crown.” With that reference to Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, Isabella had to hide her giggle behind her napkin.

They had no reason to linger over dinner. Lighting their lanterns, they left the tent. A tenor’s high notes soared into the night from the other tent, and somewhere in the darkness a fennec’s high-pitched bark pierced through the song. Lantern lights bobbed about as they stumbled over rocks and veered off then onto the barely-visible path.

Then Mrs. Gallagher turned her ankle and fell. She tried to make light of her fall with “these curséd heels”, but her ankle swelled rapidly. Nedda pulled her up, and Isabella helped bolster her hobble to her tent. Shirley led the way with both lanterns. The woman sighed with relief when they lowered her to the cot. “This day has had nothing but trouble.”

“That ankle needs a compress,” Nedda judged.

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