"Smith, Wilbur - Egyptian 02 - Seventh Scroll" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Wilbur)

"Let's go back to the satellite. photographs," Royan suggested, and drew
the glossy sheet towards her. Duraid came around the table to stand
behind her.

"To me it seems most logical that the natural feature that would
obstruct them in the gorge would be something like a set of rapids or a
waterfall. If it were the second waterfall, that would put them here-'
Royan placed her finger on a spot on the satellite photograph where the
narrow snake of the river threaded itself through the dark massifs of
the mountains on either hand.

At that moment she was distracted and she lifted her head. "Listen!" Her
voice changed, sharpening with alarm.

"What is it?" Duraid looked up also.

"The dog," she answered.

"That damn mongrel," he agreed. "It is always making the night hideous
with its yapping. I have promised myself to get rid of him."

At that moment the lights went out.

They froze with surprise in the darkness. The soft thudding of the
decrepit diesel generator in its shed at the back of the palm grove had
ceased. It was so much a part of the oasis night that they noticed it
only when it was silent.

Their eyes adjusted to the faint starlight that came in through the
terrace doors. Duraid crossed the room and took the oil lamp down from
the shelf beside the door where it waited for just such a contingency.
He lit it, and looked across at Royan with an expression of comical
resignation.

"I will have to go down-'

Duraid," she interrupted him, "the dog!'

He listened for a moment, and his expression changed to mild concern.
The dog was silent out there in the night.

"I am sure it is nothing to be alarmed about." He went to the door, and
for no good reason she suddenly called after him.

"Duraid, be careful!" He shrugged dismissively and stepped out on to the
terrace.

She thought for an instant that it was the shadow of the vine over the
trellis moving in the night breeze off the desert, but the night was
still. Then she realized that it was a human figure crossing the