CHAPTER 14. THE CAT AND THE FIDDLE.

Covering themselves as best as they could manage using sheets and spare clothes from Sallah's wardrobe, Indy and the others left the house and meandered through the town on a seemingly haphazard, wandering route toward the Library. The old part of the city they were in was scruffy and derelict, belying the fact that thousands of people lived and worked there. The houses had been limewashed white once but now were faded and patchy, with crumbling rendering and broken walling. There was litter and waste everywhere and this, combined with the baking heat of the sun made the city stink. Indy looked at the locals, scurrying to and fro, going about their everyday business and he wondered what they would make of him and what he had gotten involved in. He looked at his companions and smiled. Their disguises wouldn't bear close inspection but they would suffice to help them blend in with the general populace as there was much activity and no one was paying them any heed. They hadn't been out in the day time before but it was necessary. They all agreed with Rene when he said it wouldn't take long for the water to dry out in the chambers in the heat of the noonday sun. There was every chance the soldiers would be back in the Library before the end of the day.
Indy was working on a plan as they headed toward the dig site but he knew his idea would not be popular. He decided to wait until later before explaining what he had in mind.
"Quite a place." Marcus said quietly. It was a long time since he had been to Alexandria. "You never know quite what you will find around the corner."
"I wish we could find the missing cats and just get rid of them." Mumbled Robert.
"You know that would do no good." Marcus replied.
"I know. It just makes me feel better to say it." Robert answered. "Anyway, How do we know the last of the cats are in the library, or the tomb, or whatever?"
"We don't." Indy replied. "The other ten cats turned up in all kinds of places over the past few years. I'm just betting on a hunch that the other three weren't in the same place as the others."
"What makes you say that?" Marion asked as they entered a busy shopping street. Doors were open and all kinds of unusual wares were on sale and she couldn't help being distracted by the colour and difference of culture.
Indy looked at her and looked upwards in resignation. Women will window shop anywhere, he thought, but he answered her question saying, "The cats have been around for quite a while as known pieces. Abner noted them briefly, though not as much as we had hoped, in his books. Some turned up years ago on the black market and some have been used for murder. So where are the other three? I don't think anyone's found them yet."
"But what if the Nazi's or the Japanese already have them but haven't used them?" Robert asked.
Indy nodded but Rene answered for him.
"Then why send me looking for them, or why get Indiana interested enough to join in the search? And why are they chasing after them now?" Robert and Indy both nodded but Robert still was not satisfied.
"But the cats could still be out there somewhere, found years ago but lost again, maybe passing through a different set of hands. Anyone could have them."
Indy frowned. "Robert?, Don't be such a defeatist. Anyway, we're hardly likely to look in some junk shop window and find one standing there."
"Indy...." Marion said, pulling on his robe. "What?" He said, irritably pulling away from her grasp. He turned to see her staring intently through a grimy shop window. He followed her gaze and his jaw dropped open. The others followed the line of site until they all stood, open mouthed, staring in the window. There was junk and trinkets of all shapes and sizes for sale. Old jars and jugs, bottles and pictures, pieces of fabric, scrolls of dubious age and even more dubious history but there, over in one corner was a tatty card box containing some pieces of broken stone. Black stone. It was the largest piece, at the top of the small pile that they all stared at. It was a carving of a head. A cats head.
Indy was through the door before the others had time to move. A young boy of about nine was sweeping the floor but apart from him the shop was empty.
"Where's the owner." Indy said in fluent Arabic. The boy only stared. "The Owner!" He said in a more commanding voice. The boy dropped the broom and ran out through a curtain hiding a passageway to the rear of the building. Moments later a small thin slimy looking Arab with horrendous teeth came out, grinning and wringing his hands as if already smelling money. Indy spoke to the man in fluent Arabic.
"The cat pieces. Where did you get them?" He asked. The shopkeeper put on his oiliest expression and replied, "Ah. A man of discernment. You obviously know a good piece when you see it." "Cut the crap!" Indy exclaimed, surprising the shopkeeper. "I just want to know where it came from and what you want for it." The shopkeeper dropped his act and was suddenly all business. "I do not know where it came from. I paid a great deal for the pieces some years ago, realising that they would be even more valuable...." "Yeah, sure!" Indy interrupted. "You mean you got them with a load of other junk and didn't know what the hell it was. How much?"
The Arab frowned. He was not used to being dealt with in this way as usually he was in control of any selling but here, he felt, the tables were turned. This American seemed to be telling HIM what to do and he didn't like it! His expression changed and he spat "Five hundred American dollars!"
"Indy burst out laughing, crying, "WHAT?!", which enraged the shopkeeper even more.
"Six hundred!" He scowled at Indy. Indy grinned at the man who was momentarily caught off guard and he grinned back. Quick as a flash, Indy grabbed the man by his tunic and yanked him off his feet, over the counter and jammed the barrel of his Webley up his nose. "I don't like being taken for a ride." He hissed menacingly. "If you had said fifty bucks, I would have thought it expensive, but I would have paid." He left his words hanging. The Arab gulped, then said, "I, I meant Fifty. Did I say five hundred?" He laughed dramatically nervously and added, "My understanding of your money. Not so good. Fifty. I meant fifty."
"Thirty!" Indy bartered. The Arabs eyes went wide with annoyance "You're fiddling me!" He exclaimed. Indy pulled him closer to his own face and stared. The Arab gulped once again. "You got a throat problem?" Indy asked, putting the Webley down and lifting a wicked knife to the mans face. "I can fix that!"
The Arab frantically nodded the negative and said, "Take the cat. A gift. Please good sir...." Indy dropped the man and passed the box of pieces to Marcus, then stuffed thirty dollars into the Arabs shirt front. "I always pay fairly." He said, as the company left the shop.
Outside the building, they all crowded round as Marcus fitted the pieces of the cat together in the box. "It's all here!" He said, incredulously. Robert lifted the head piece of the figure and studied it for a moment. "It's bigger than the others." He said. The others looked at the pieces for a moment then nodded in agreement. Rene scratched his head thoughtfully then said slowly, "I would guess this is the centrepiece. The main figure." Indy nodded his acceptance of Belloq's statement and added, "Eleven down, two to go." He took the head piece from Robert and hefted it in his hand. "We need some glue." He said, matter of factly, replacing the piece in the box. Marcus tucked the package inside his robes and the company moved on, ecstatic with the chance find. For a further ten minutes they meandered along the increasingly active streets, trying to mingle with the locals. Then, as they rounded the remains of a tall building, Marcus said quietly, "Over there."
They all looked in the direction he was indicating to see a couple of Japanese soldiers heading toward them. Bringing up the rear was a hefty, balding man in a black coat.
"The escape artist!" Indy hissed. He put his hand on his gun, under his robes wanting to shoot the man dead where he stood. He felt a hand on his and looked up to see Rene next to him. "Not yet, my friend." He said, smiling.
Moments later, a group of Nazi stormtroopers came over the hill. "God. How many of them are there!" Robert said, pressing back against the crumbling masonry.
"Too damn many!" Marion answered, a note of concern in her voice.
"We need to get rid of as many of them as we can." Indy said. "And I've got an idea how to do it."
They gathered round, expecting some simple, foolproof plan. They got neither.
"Marcus," Indy began. "Have you ever heard of that tomb trap being used to protect books, or scrolls before?"
Marcus screwed his face up thoughtfully. "Well, no, actually. It was always used on important funeral sites. It was colossally difficult to construct and....." His words trailed off as he realised where Indy's thoughts were leading. "You don't..." "I do!" Indy replied.
The others looked at him and each other, sure they had missed something in the exchange.
"What?" Said Marion. "What?" Echoed Robert. Rene smiled, catching on. "Brilliant, Indiana! Of course! It all makes sense!" "What makes sense?" Marion questioned, confused. Even Sallah was at a total loss.
Indy pulled them all down to crouch on the sand. "Look. For centuries, scholars have debated the whereabouts of Cleopatra's tomb. The cremation is so well documented, scholars now believe it's a false trail. It's TOO well documented. There's no other evidence though. Except the cats. They have been proved to have come from the tomb. They are the only things documented in relationship to the funeral." Marion scratched her head, still not catching on. "So? What does that prove?" She said.
Rene carried on. "Look. If the cats were such an important part of Cleopatra's funeral, and IF she were cremated,..."
Marion's eyes went wide with realisation. "Then why weren't they burned as well!"
Indy nodded with excitement. "Exactly! It's because she WASN'T cremated." Marcus thought again and slowly said, "And if the cats were so important to the funeral of the queen, they must have been buried with her."
Marion looked puzzled. "But most of the cats have been recovered." She said, not sure where the conversation was leading.
"Right!" Indy said. "And there's only a few of them with known histories, right?." He turned to Robert, who nodded in agreement. "And where were they found Robert?" He said, almost fitting the last piece of the puzzle in place for them all.
Robert's eyes went wide with amazement as they all said in unison, "THE LIBRARY!"
"Of course!" Robert exclaimed. "That explains the water trap. It wasn't put there to protect any scrolls, or texts. It was put there to protect the tomb of Cleopatra!"
"But Indy," Marcus began, quelling the excitement. "There's nothing in there. We all saw that. The library has been raided at some time in the past. Several times, I would guess."
Indy shook his head. "No There would be more than one trap to the tomb, and not only one doorway."
"You mean.." Sallah began. "I mean there must be an inner chamber beyond the one we found. And we have to get back in to find it!" Indy finished.
"You said you had a plan to get rid of the Soldiers." Marcus said. Indy smiled. "Sure do." He said with a grin. Then, amidst the ruins, amidst a chorus of objections and complaints, he outlined his plan. After half an hour or so of arguing, they all agreed it was a good plan, but a very dangerous one.
"When do we move?" Rene said. Indy looked round at them all. "You know what to do?" They all nodded. "Right. Move!" He said, getting to his feet. Sallah moved off to the river bank, collecting his workers as he went. He took Marion and Marcus, much to their objections with him. Indy, Rene and Robert set off toward the Library. As they expected, there were Nazi and Japanese soldiers at the entrance. Six or seven stormtroopers were sitting nearby, leaning on the pump and generator they had used to empty the lower chambers. "You can smell them from here!" Indy spat.
He looked at his watch. "Another ten minutes." He said. Rene nodded, patting Indy on the shoulder and moving off among the ruins. Indy thought he heard the words, "Good luck, my old friend."
Minutes passed and exactly on cue, away to the right, a large explosion bloomed over the ruins. The Stormtroopers were on their feet and started running toward the commotion. At that moment, Rene stepped out of the shadows and whistled to the remaining guards. Words were yelled in both Japanese and German and the soldiers gave chase. Indy knew he would only have seconds before they came back. He and Robert sprinted across the clearing and almost leaped down the slick stairway. They turned in to the lower chamber and stood, panting as Indy lit a torch he had carried with him.
"We've only got minutes." He said, scrutinising the walls, pushing gently, not sure quite what he was looking for.
"What would the door be like?" Robert asked. "Surely they wouldn't be stupid enough to have the same kind of...." There came a faint click from beneath his fingers and a section of wall popped open an inch or so. The small opening was only about six inches square.
Indy was there instantly. "Well done, son. "He said, gently opening the panel and peering inside.
The cavity was empty, except for a drawing of two doors split by a letter 'S' on the back wall.
"The same as in Abners notes!" Robert exclaimed, standing. He frowned, then brightened, as if struck by a sudden thought. "If at first...." He began, putting his hand in the hole, to push gently on the back wall.
"WAIT!" Indy yelled, yanking Robert's arm back as his fingers just brushed the cavity wall. "But there's nothing..." The young man started.
"That's what scares me." Indy interrupted. He turned the torch on its side and gingerly pushed on the back of the cavity with the stick. In a flash, almost quicker than sight, a razor sharp steel blade thudded down from the top of the opening chopping the torch in half.
"Your hand." Indy muttered, withdrawing the dramatically shortened torch. Robert trembled. "My god." He whispered.
Gently, Indy pushed on the blade. There came a faint 'click' and the sound of grating stone from behind them.
Indy spun round to see the stair well sliding upwards leaving a solid wall in its place. "Oh, Jeez." He muttered. There was no way out.
"Now what?" Robert cried, throwing his hands up.
There was a faint, trickling sound, growing louder. Indy looked down. They were standing ankle deep in water, and it was getting deeper.
"Jesus, Not again!" Indy said, shaking his head in disbelief, almost resigned to the inevitable.