Roma drew a handkerchief from her pocket and wrapped the pectoral carefully then replaced it. "Come," she told Evelyn, called Mohammed, and said something to him in her fluent Arabic.
"He'll keep the workers away for us and let us know if they find anything. In the meantime, I think we deserve that drink. We can have a better look at it in daylight.
The pavilion provided scant relief from the desert sun, yet its shade seemed like a refuge. Roma mixed two excellent gin and tonics then sat down, handing one to Evelyn. She then took a deep drink of hers before pulling the pectoral out of her pocket.
"Look," she said, "It says 'Ramesses Heqaiunu', the throne name of Ramesses III and on the other side," she flipped it over, "Usermaatre Meriamun, his 'maat' name. How did this end up in Penteweret's tomb?"
"Maybe it was a gift from his father when he was a boy?" suggested Evelyn, "I wonder how much secrecy surrounded this tomb? It took so long to carve them, decorate them, even one that was simple like this would have been at least ten years in the making.
"Someone must have been looking after his interests, maybe even before the Harem Conspiracy. I wonder how long his mother had been making plans? She must have known the price they'd pay if their plans failed. She took such a risk..."
"And paid such an awful price," finished Evelyn, "Just think, they succeed in killing Ramesses only to find themselves with no allies although there were several people who were involved—I've read the papyrus, my teacher assigned it for practice reading hieroglyphics and hieratic."
"I always wondered if she had a backup plan in case things went awry, like someone helping her escape so she could go into hiding. It would be an awful fate for the wife of a pharaoh, even a secondary one, but it would be better than what she knew she would face. Once caught, she would have known her fate was sealed."
"Yes, that would be a comedown for a wife of a living god," said Evelyn in a wry voice, "But if it were me, I'd rather escape than face execution, for I'm sure that's what her fate would have been."
Rick and Ardeth came into the pavilion for water and a break from the sun. Rick's eyes lit up when he saw the gold pectoral and he took it from Roma's hand, saying, "Say, what's this? How much will this fetch in the antiquities market?"
She took the pendant back. "It would fetch a lot if it were to be sold, but it won't be sold. Everything I find is being handed over to the Egyptian government. We'll receive our ten percent recompense. This dig is not being done for profit, but for the sake of discovery. Evelyn and I will share publishing rights, but the government gets any finds we discover."
"Too bad," said Rick, "What are the chances we'll find anything else?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "We should not even have found this, but this has given me an idea. We need to clear the tomb floor. Sometimes these tombs have shafts that go down 40 feet or more. I'm wondering if any family was buried here. Maybe we can find a burial that hasn't been disturbed. The tomb is only one chamber, but it's large. We don't know what we'll find beneath the sand covering the floor until we clear it."
"Maybe more coffins?" suggested Evelyn, "maybe this was intended to be a family burial. He probably had at least one wife, maybe more. If we find royal burials, undisturbed, we may find them intact. That may mean gilded coffins and grave goods, valuable grave goods. The Egyptians would love that."
"You people," said Ardeth, "Digging up the bodies of the dead, why not let them lie?"
"Because if we don't, looters will," Roma replied, "We've found one disturbed burial, and look what the thieves left! Why shouldn't Egypt have the artifacts instead of their being sold on the black market and lost forever? I had more than one professor say that we are racing the tomb robbers and too often losing."
He lay his brown hand on hers, "I see your point. These things are of no value to my people, but they are a part of our history. We just think there are things that are more important—like water."
"Water is more important, but finding artifacts tells the story of the pharaohs. Well, the diggers are off at one o'clock, maybe we can do a little surreptitious digging once they are gone? We only have a short time to excavate and if there are shafts to be discovered, I'd like to find them before our permit is up!"
The idea was simple. Mohammed and a digger he trusted would remain behind after their companions left for the day. If there were shafts to be found, Roma guessed that they would be in the back part of the tomb away from the sarcophagus. They would attempt to clear a section, then if nothing were found would move on to another if they had the time.
Roma walked around then set out parameters. "Here, this is where we will dig. This would be easier if we'd already cleared the floor but I don't want to wait. The more I think about it, the surer I am that we will find a shaft. It's not uncommon in tombs like this. Just think what it would be like to discover Pentaweret's family!"
The going was hot and uncomfortable. During the day the tomb was uncomfortably hot and humid, it was not until night that it would cool off. Ardeth helped Mohammed carry basketfuls of sand to be dumped at the entrance. The workers could sift it the next day.
Ali, the water boy, stayed behind, helping with clearing the sand—his slender fingers proving adept at wielding the brushes. Evelyn was using her hands, sure that if there were anything to be found she could retrieve it as they labored to clear the floor while Rick grumbled that they could have left this for the workers to do the next day.
Roma worked behind Evelyn, brushing away the sand she removed with her fingers. She was almost in agreement with Rick, a gin and tonic sounded tempting, anything to get away from the heat and humidity of the tomb. Perhaps this could have waited, and it was only folly and impatience on her part. She could smell food being prepared, perhaps it was time to call a halt to this nonsense and pick it up the next day.
Until Evelyn found her arm encased in sand. "I've found something," she cried triumphantly, "This goes deeper than the floor, I'm sure of it. Roma, I think we've found the shaft."
All of them pitched in now to sweep the sand away. It was a clumsy job, but at last they uncovered an opening that was almost four feet in diameter, filled to the brim with sand.
Rick whistled and Ardeth put an arm on Roma's shoulders. "Have we found it?" he asked.
"Yes," Roma breathed, "This is a shaft, I knew there might be one. I don't know how deep it is, we won't know until we empty it and that may take a few days. We won't even know if it was disturbed until it's cleared. We'll have to get a ladder and ropes, hopefully, what is down there can be pulled up."
"What's in it?" Rick asked.
"Anything, maybe nothing, but if it's undisturbed there may be a burial. This could have been disturbed in antiquity when they robbed the tomb, but it may have been overlooked. Sometimes they put grave goods in pottery jars, other items will be hidden in the coffin.
"We'll have to split the diggers into two crews now, one to clear the floor and another to clear this shaft. I'll offer a bonus to the diggers who reach the shaft floor and sweeten it if they find grave goods. This tomb will make us famous, Evelyn, I am sure of it."
"Well, I think we should stop," said Rick, "I don't think we can clear the shaft tonight, better that we should get dinner and a good night's sleep then tackle it in the morning when the workers arrive."
It was only with great reluctance that Roma allowed herself to be led away. She was pensive and uncommunicative, even for her, during dinner and their after-dinner cocktails. Even Ardeth could not draw her out of her mood and left her alone.
In the middle of the night, she went to the O'Connell's tent and woke Evelyn. "Evie, come with me, I want to look at the tomb." Clad only in nightgowns and shawls they made their way to the tomb, their only light a lantern Roma held in her hand.
The few bats that lived there had left at dusk. The heat of the tomb had dissipated somewhat and the air was comfortably cooler than it had been during the day. They walked the perimeter, the lantern casting eerie shadows, examining the carvings, searching in vain for even a few hieroglyphs that might give them a clue to revealing its secret.
They stood at the edge of the shaft, its outline on the floor ringed by sand. "Something's in there, Evie," Roma said, "I can feel it. I'm afraid though, you know, Ardeth and I disturbed something here once and it followed me to Cairo. Now I'm afraid of releasing something else. I feel like something is waiting for me..."
"Don't do that to yourself," said the practical Evelyn, "Don't fear something that might not be there."
"But Rick told me what happened, how you woke the spirit of Imhotep. How do I know that we might release something just as bad or maybe worse?'
"You're an archaeologist, how far would you get if you were afraid to open every tomb? I'm sure that whatever was here is gone now. You'll feel better tomorrow when the workers start clearing." Evelyn led her back to her tent so that she could get some sleep, certain that Roma was just experiencing a case of nerves.
It was taking forever, thought Roma as she watched the workers haul basket after basket of sand out of the shaft. They had dug down twelve feet and were now using a ladder, but were not even close to reaching the bottom. So eager was she to clear the contents that she had allowed the workers only a brief break for lunch before they returned to their work.
Evelyn was supervising the sifting but had found nothing, just a few chips of rock that must have been left after construction. If she had hoped they'd find something she was disappointed, but this was the first day of examining the shaft.
They let the workers leave early after a grueling day of removing sand from the shaft. Roma watched as the last worker left the tomb then sighed.
"Twelve feet, twelve feet is all we could manage and nothing, coffins have been found at less than that. I need a drink," she pouted, not bothering to hide her frustration.
Ardeth took her arm, "You need to drink some of your nasty gin, maybe that will improve your mood. The diggers worked hard today, clearing that shaft is not easy work."
"Yes, Roma, we all need a drink. You're too impatient, that's all." Evelyn was the cheerful one, as always, thought Roma, feeling irritated though she did not really understand why.
The next day the diggers did not fare much better, although they managed to clear another ten feet of sand. One of the diggers took over after Evelyn had an overdose of sun. She was not badly burned but the heat had driven her to seek the shelter of the pavilion. And the sifting had yielded nothing.
Day three: the diggers cleared another ten feet and this time their efforts yielded something. Even as they dumped the sand into baskets, pottery shards began to appear in the sand removed by the workers.
Roma, Evelyn, and Mohammed huddled together. "Egyptian pottery," Roma pronounced, it looks like pieces of a jar to hold grave goods. I can't believe it!"
"Tomorrow for sure," said Evelyn, "We'll find something, I'm sure of it, if only it's not been disturbed."
"The workers are getting uneasy," Mohammed told them, "There are some that are saying this tomb is cursed, they are leaving and are asking for their wages.
"If they're that foolish, let them have them, but they must make their own way home." Roma scoffed, "And tell the others there will be double wages for those who stay. We're on the verge of a breakthrough, I can feel it. There's a coffin down there, I know there is. Just wait until we find the bottom, they'll wish they had stayed."