Chapter 6: The House of Fools

There was a moment of stunned silence, broken by the irascible voice of Crudwright.

“I fear my dear wife has been out in the sun for too long. Come along, Chastity, let me accompany you to our tent where you may lay down and compose yourself.”

“If one could determine where the eastern edge of this lake was situated in the year Moses led the Hebrews across the Reed Sea one would indeed be standing where Moses and the Israelites had trod.”
We all swung about to face the man who had spoken, his accent upper class English, as was his appearance. Like Crudwright the man eschewed the wearing of native attire but was dressed in a Harris Tweed jacket, complete with matching trousers – he must have been roasting beneath his urbane exterior. His broad brimmed hat was tilted at a rakish angle to shade his eyes, and he smiled at us from a round face fringed by a luxuriant black beard. He stood a little less than six feet tall and his shoulders filled his jacket to bursting point.

“Please introduce me to your companions, Valentine,” he said. “Although I recognise your daughter as she is the spit and image of her mother Priscilla.”
He bowed to Chastity. “I take it you are the second Missus Crudwright? My sincerest commiserations.”
Crudwright did not echo his laughter, but I noticed Chastity had great difficulty in suppressing hers.
Crudwright grudgingly completed the introductions. “Colonel Sir Elijah and Lady Mimi Greenaway, and Captain Guest,” he intoned, pointing to each of us in turn. “This is John Gardiner Wilkinson.”
Wilkinson bowed to Mimi. “I can see that even dressed in Muslim garb you possess the chic elegance of a French female.” He nodded to me. “Your name is not unknown to me, Sir Elijah – I believe you were at Missolonghi when Byron caught some fatal, exotic, disease, probably a Turkish variant of the pox.” He turned to Rollo and held out his hand. “You, Captain Guest, are the reason I am here. It is a pleasure and a privilege to shake your hand.”
He pumped Rollo’s hand for over a minute; Rollo looked confused, and I noticed he winced as Wilkinson’s huge hand had engulfed his.

“Shall we all sit down while I tell you the reason for my being here, other than to meet Captain Guest?” Wilkinson said.
He barked out an order in Arabic. A servant rushed forward with a collapsible, canvas-backed, chair and set it up. Wilkinson settled himself into the chair, which swayed ominously as his bulky body made itself comfortable. He fished in his jacket pocket and brought out a Meerschaum pipe and a tobacco pouch, and then charged the pipe bowl with thumbfulls of tobacco. Another servant approached with lighted spill and applied same to the bowl of the pipe. We were soon wreathed in clouds of aromatic smoke as Wilkinson puffed away.

“The Turks produce a damn fine tobacco, don’tcha know,” he remarked to no one in particular.

“Never mind extolling the virtues of Turkish tobacco, Wilkinson,” Crudwright snapped. “What the devil are you doing here at my excavation?”
Wilkinson allowed another cumulonimbus of smoke to form above his head before replying.

“I have been investigating and excavating at Amarna since eighteen twenty one, and consider myself an expert on the city and the man who ordered its construction. Amarna was built during the reign of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, or Amenhotep the Fourth as he was known before his...”

“It was Israelite slaves who actually built the city, Mister Wilkinson. We are told in the Holy Bible that the Israelites were forced to make clay bricks, many bricks, without being given the straw needed for making them, and all the dwellings in Amarna are made of bricks are they not?”
Once again we were amazed when Chastity Crudwright spoke.

“Well, yes, Missus Crudwright. Amarna was built at great speed, and to expedite the completion of the new capital a great many buildings were constructed from whitewashed clay-brick rather than from stone, although the open temple to Aten is built of limestone, of which the surrounding area has a plentiful supply.”Wilkinson said.
Chastity smiled as her claim was substantiated, and she continued. “It was to escape their bondage at Amarna that Moses led the Israelites to the Promised Land...”

“There is no evidence to support the claim that Moses was a contemporary of Akhenaten, as, alas, Biblical events do not have a verifiable time frame, Missus Crudwright. And Amarna is not unique in having brick built buildings; only the numbers are greater there compared to other cities. Furthermore, brick making was not confined to slaves, and there were other enslaved races in Egypt other than Hebrews – Israelites -- who were in fact settled in the Land of Goshen, which was located in the eastern part of the Nile Delta, more than two hundred miles to the north east of Amarna. I can assure you there is no evidence that Hebrew -- Israelites -- were employed at Amarna as brick...”
Chastity Crudwright detonated in anger. “But the Holy Bible tells us those slaves making thousands of bricks without straw were Israelites. Having to find, and then cut the straw to make the bricks, took them longer to make the bricks than their overseers demanded. It was due to the hardship and harsh treatment meted out to them that Moses led the Israelites out of bondage. There must be evidence in Amarna; but you have not the wit to yet discover...”

“Go to your tent, woman!” Crudwright thundered. “How dare you question the competency of a man renowned for his knowledge of Egyptology. He may be an arrogant blowhard, but John Gardiner Wilkinson is not to be harangued by a mere ex-governess.”
Crudwright turned to Georgina, who was openly enjoying her step -mother’s public humiliation. “See that she gets to her tent, and make sure she does not wander off and be attacked by a camel.”
The two females disappeared and Crudwright faced Wilkinson. “Tell us why you are here, and be quick about it. I have an errant wife to chastise.”

Wilkinson knocked out his pipe before speaking. I could see he was perturbed, either at Chastity’s outburst or by Crudwright’s response, or maybe both.