Chapter 3: What happens in Giza stays in Giza

Cairo, the capital of Egypt, stands on the east bank of the Nile and Giza is situated to the west of the Nile. We were transported across the river by felucca to where several carriages awaited the party. It was a further three or four miles to Giza, and as we approached the pyramids rose from the desert like man- made mountains.

The site includes three large pyramids, the largest being the pyramid of Khufu, known as the Great Pyramid, with two other slightly smaller structures being the burial places of Khufu’s descendants; his son Khafre who succeeded him, and Menkaure, who succeeded Khafre.
Besides these massive constructions there are several much smaller pyramid shaped structures known as Queens’ Pyramids, the tombs of the wives and the mothers of the Pharaohs.

Also in the complex is the statue of the Great Sphinx, a mythical beast with the body of a lion and a human head. The statue is buried in the sand, with only the head and chest visible. It is said Napoleon’s troops used the sphinx’s head as a target and shot off the nose. I would imagine the savants had much to say about such an outrage.
Magnificent, awe inspiring, massive, imposing, incredible; one could string adjectives from here to Timbuctoo and not encompass the emotions an onlooker receives when beholding the structures. It seems impossible that mortals could have built them without help from the Gods.
How could a civilisation with the intelligence, social cohesion, engineering expertise, and organisational brilliance, to create these colossal tombs vanish from the face of the earth? The Egyptians have been a subject race for nigh on two thousand years. How are the mighty fallen.

Rollo examined the pyramids with the eyes of an engineer.
“Just imagine how many men were employed to construct these monoliths, it must have been tens of thousands” he said, enraptured by what he saw, “and what of the organisation and engineering required to bring each massive stone from a quarry, and have it worked on by masons to fit perfectly into the whole composition.”
“From where were the stones quarried, how did they get them here, and then lift them hundreds of feet onto the growing pyramid?” I asked.
“Professor Crudwright would know the answer to your first two questions, Colonel, but he is too busy with El Mekky arranging the labourers and associated workers required for our expedition. As for how the stones were raised up onto the pyramid I assume they would have been pulled up an earth ramp, resting on logs and...”
“But as the pyramid grew the ramp would need to be extended, which would entail steeper and steeper gradients to reach the higher levels?”
“The Egyptians may have had more than one ramp for each construction, and the higher the pyramid reached the longer the ramp would need to be to enable the gradient not to be too great for the stones to be pulled over the rotating logs.” He shook his head in wonder.” As I said, the engineering ability of the ancient Egyptians was incredible.”
I pointed to the desert about us. There was not a tree in sight. “Where did all the timber come from?”
Rollo shrugged. “Perhaps it was the over use of the local timber that led to the desert here. Remember we are talking about events that happened thousands of years ago.”

While I contemplated that statement, the party was called to follow a guide into the Great Pyramid.
I was about to walk over to the assembled party with Rollo when Crudwright appeared, puffing and blowing, and his face crimson with exertion and sun burn.
“Sir Elijah,” he panted, “I need you to witness and sign the agreement I have made with the contractor.”
“Sayeed is going to pay for the hire of labourers, why does the document need my signature?”
“Protocol, Sir Elijah. The British Museum executives have placed you in charge of this expedition and it is your signature they expect to see on any official documentation. They would be most vexed and annoyed to see my signature on a binding document. Rossiter Player would complain long and loudly, and believe me he knows how to complain.”
“Very well, I will go and sign the damned paperwork. I will miss the tour of the pyramid but can live with that. Please explain to my wife why I am not with the sight-seeing party.”
He nodded, and then hurried away to join Rollo who was about to ascend the wooden stairway leading to the entrance to the Great Pyramid with the rest of the party.
The sightseeing group now consisted of Sayeed, Mustapha Ibn Kamal, Crudwright, Rollo and a Provincial guard. The females included Mimi, Chastity, and Georgina, wearing the jilbaab and hijab, and four females from Sayeed’s harem all wearing jilbaabs and niqabs. I assumed one of the masked women would be Fadel, the newest of Sayeed’s wives.

I took a carriage back to Giza and sought out Yusuf El Mekky, the former British soldier Thomas Mackay. He and a swarthy well-built gent were seated outside a café drinking coffee. El Mekky saw me and beckoned me over.
“I tried to get the professor to sign the documents but he was adamant you had to be the signatory. A typical civil servant!”
El Mekky introduced me to his companion. “This is Sheik El Sharmah, who will supply your expedition with all the workers and equipment required. He is an experienced and well regarded contractor.”
The Sheik and I shook hands in the European fashion, and I joined the two of them in a discussion of how the expedition would be supplied and maintained. I also signed the damned document Crudwright was so keen for me to put my name to. The agreement was written in Arabic, so I might have been selling my body, and that of Mimi, to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for all I knew.