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.His paws made' no sound on the tiles beneath them, across which grains of sand bounced and skitteredlike frightened insects, of which there were also a few.He disdainfully ignored them in the interests ofscience.The top of one of the jars had been removed and Shuttle was thrusting his head into its mouth when heheard the scrape, the slither, and the shuffling noise.He froze, suspended by his chin and front paws, as awhisper of chill seeped through the desert warmth that had formerly permeated the open tomb.And over the scrape, slither, shuffle, the sad mewling cried out within him once more.He shot out of thetomb so quickly that he almost tangled in the bandages of the figure limping relentlessly toward BillParsons' tent.This further alarmed him so that he thrust himself across the remaining distance, throughtent and mosquito net, to land on top of Dr.Mercer's waist, between her rib cage and her hip, where hedug in so hard that had he had the foresight to bring his body with him she would have borne his mark forweeks.It would serve her right, too.What was wrong with their nice flat and her teaching position that she hadto leave him in the care of Monica Thomas to come to this horrid place? He trembled like a brown leaf ina high wind, huddling next to Dr.Mercer.That awful mewling! How could she be deaf to it?But suddenly another sound touched his flattened ears.Low and strangled, gargling and full of loathingfear, and then, cut to dead silence.The silence lasted only a moment before Shuttle's sensitive earsdetected the slow scraape, slither, shuffle, scrape, slither, shuffle, scrape, slitherr, shufffle, scraaape,slitherr! shuffleSLUMP, SCRAPE, SLITHER, SHUFFLE, DRAG! and the dusty stench of thecollection of moldering bandages was within the tent, its hands clawed toward the mosquito netting,ready to dispatch Dr.Mercer as it had no doubt already dispatched Bill Parsons and who knew howmany others? Dr.Mercer stirred and mumbled in her sleep, and half wakened to the mummy's presence,as she had not to Shuttle's.She began to leak that strangled cry.That was too much for Shuttle.Mummy's curse, for it was obviously the manifestation of thatphenomenon that had haunted at least two other excavations that was now attempting to claim his owncolleagues, was all very well.He himself was sometimes cranky when awakened from a long nap.Butthis tent was Shuttle's territory and Dr.Mercer was his companion.Ears flat, fur bristling, fangs bared,claws unsheathed and body four times its normal size, Shuttle launched himself through the mosquitonetting at the bandaged apparition, ready to rend it bandage from bandage.The necessity did not arise.Murderous the mummy might be, but it was an exceptionally well-brought-upspook, nevertheless.Being a supernatural sort, it at once perceived Shuttle and his displeasure, and fell tothe ground in a gesture of submission and humility Shuttle recognized from the reproductions of scrollsand paintings in Dr.Mercer's books.This gruesome thing had probably murdered Bill Parsons, butShuttle, licking himself thoughtfully while watching the mummy grovel, could not bring himself to attackthis unusually sensitive and courteous example of Egyptian eternity.He did spring at it a little, to shoo it off, then followed it from Dr.Mercer's tent, battling at the bandages itdragged to let it know that he meant business.It returned to the tomb, past the body of the guard, nowan empty husk whose ka had apparently had more pressing matters to attend to than guarding the tomb.The mummy returned to its coffin and case, settling itself in with a sigh of dust.It did not replace the lid.That did not reassure Shuttle.Certainly the mummy was obedient now, with a cat-ka to show it its place,but Shuttle had no idea how long he could maintain his present state.Surely, his ka must return to hisbody again soon and then Dr.Mercer would be once more at the mummy's mercy.And, of course, therest of the expedition also would be in danger, but he concerned himself with only one aspect of thesituation at a time.The piteous mewling was louder now, closer, but it seemed to Shuttle that it was less a complaint andmore a summons.He leaped onto the rim of the mummy case and followed his nose, until he peered overthe head-end of the mummy case, where he observed a small mound, little more than earth and sandfrom the look of it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]