The eunuch shrugged.
I wouldnt have thought the Prince was one to wish to spend a week admiring the beauties of the river bank.
The Prince spent his time in the cabin playing cards with the Prince Fahid.
Ah? The Prince Fahid was on the boat, too?
Yes.
Had he, too, brought his harem?
The Prince Fahid is too young to have a harem.
He is Prince Narouzs son?
Nephew.
The Prince was perhaps showing him the sights?
What sights?
Luxor?
The Prince is not interested in antiquities.
What, then, was the point of the journey?
I dont know. Perhaps you had better ask the Prince.
Mahmoud sighed. He had warned Owen beforehand to expect this. The Princes entourage wouldnt say anything. He was finding it difficult to extract even the names of the people who had been on the dahabeeyah.
Let us go back to the harem, he said. How many wives has the Prince?
Four.
And they were all there with him?
Except Latfi, who is having a baby.
Three, then. There were three in the harem quarters?
You spoke of wives only.
There were others, then? How many?
Seven.
Can you give me their names? said Mahmoud, taking out a pencil and notebook.
I am afraid not.
Are you sure? You knew Latfis name.
I know all their names. But it would not be proper for me to tell you the names of His Highnesss wives and concubines.
But I need to know! I am conducting an investigation!
Thats as may be, but a mans harem is his own affair.
Not when part of it disappears overboard.
What do you mean?
You know very well what I mean, said Mahmoud, exasperated. I told you! His Highness has reported that a passenger on the dahabeeyah with him
But she wasnt in the harem.
She wasnt?
No!
What was she doing on board, then?
Well The eunuch hesitated.
You may speak, said Owen encouragingly. Mr el Zaki puts these questions with the knowledge and agreement of His Highness, possibly stretching the truth a little.
She was helping to entertain the princes.
Helping?
There were two others. They came on board at Beni Suef.
On the way up to Luxor or on the way back?
On the way up.
Have you any objection to telling me their names?
I dont know their names, said the eunuch.
The incident had happened on the return journey. The dahabeeyah had moored for the night and the three girls had been up on the top deck enjoying the evening breeze. They had stayed up there with the princes until it had become dark, early, of course, in Egypt.
Prince Narouz, bored, had descended first. About half an hour later, according to the eunuch, Prince Fahid had followed him, accompanied, possibly reluctantly, by two of the girls. The third had remained on the top deck.
And it was from the top deck, apparently, that she had disappeared. Late, quite late, someone had called up to her, asking when she was going to come down. Some time after, not having received a reply, they had sent the eunuch to fetch her. He had found the top deck empty.
At first he had assumed that she had climbed down to the lower deck and gone forward. Some members of the crew had been sitting in the bows and it was only when they denied having seen her that he began to search seriously.
The steersman? said Mahmoud. Surely the steersman must have seen?
On a dahabeeyah the steersman was placed aft, immediately behind the cabin. He usually stood on a little platform raised high enough to enable him to see over and past the cabins when the boat was moving.
After the boat had stopped for the night there was always some work still to be done on the platform. The rudder bar had to be lashed and the ropes stowed. The eunuch said, however, that the steersman had finished his work and gone forward before all this happened.
The eunuch had made a cursory search and then had reported the matter to Prince Narouz. Narouz had been angry, first with the girl for playing the fool and then with the eunuch for not finding her.
He had searched the boat himself. Gradually he came to realize that something was seriously amiss.
By now, of course, it was dark and hard to see anything on the water. The Prince had had all the men up on deck scanning the river with the aid of oil lamps. Meanwhile the eunuch had been concluding a search below.
When he had gone up on deck again he found that the Prince had lowered two small rowing boats and was systematically scouring the river. This had continued all night. As soon as it was light the dahabeeyah had sailed down river with everyone on deck keeping an eye out. They had seen nothing.
In the end they had abandoned the search, set the Prince down so that he could report the incident at once, and sailed on to Bulak.
I shall need to speak to the Ships Captain, the Rais, said Mahmoud. Also to the crew. One by one. Also to the servants. Those girls, of course. Then the harem.
The harem! said the eunuch, shocked. Certainly not! What sort of boat do you think this is?
The dahabeeyah was moored across the river from the main port. This was the traditional mooring place for dahabeeyahs and in the old days, before Mr Cook had come with his steamers, there would have been over two hundred of them nudging the bank. They were the traditional way for the rich to travel by waterand in Egypt everyone travelled by water. The Nile was the main, the only, thoroughfare from north to south and the dahabeeyah was its Daimler.
It was a large, flat-bottomed sailing boat rather like a Thames barge or, as tourists were over-prone to comment, a College houseboat, except that its cabins were all above deck and all aft. This gave it a weird, lop-sided look and might have made it unstable had that not been compensated for by putting the hold forward.
From the point of view of the tourist the arrangement had an additional delight. There was a railed-off space on top of the cabins which served as a kind of open-air lounge, sufficiently high to allow passengers both to enjoy the breeze and to see over the bank. This was important, as in some stretches of the river Mr Cooks customers might not otherwise have benefited from the remarkable views he had promised them.
Owen himself rather enjoyed the views but he had been a little surprised to learn that they had also drawn the Prince.
How long was he up there? he asked the Rais, the Ships Captain, disbelievingly.
Two hours.
Of course, it was cool up there.
Yes.
And he was keeping the women company.
They were already up there, said the Rais. There was a note of disapproval in his voice.
Really? By themselves?
Mahmoud clucked sympathetically.
By themselves.
Thats not right!
They shouldnt have been up there at all! said the Rais. Theres a place for women. And its the harem.
Ah, but these werentI mean, they werent properly in the Princes harem.
They ought to have been. And they ought to have stayed there.
They ought to have been. And they ought to have stayed there.
Were they flaunting themselves? asked Mahmoud, commiserating.
The Rais hesitated.
It was enough to be there, wasnt it? My men could hardly take their eyes off them.
Unseemly! said Mahmoud.
It wasnt proper, said the Rais. The Prince should have known better. Though it is not for me to say that.
Have you captained for him before?
Hes never been on the river before. At least, as far as I know.
So you didnt know what to expect?
All he told us was that he wanted to go up to Luxor. With the Prince Fahid. He was very particular about that. The Prince had his own room, of course, and Narouz wanted a cabin next to him. He didnt even want to be with the harem.
Strange! And then, of course, there were those other women.
He didnt say anything about them. Not until we were nearly at Beni Suef.
They were foreigners, werent they?
Im not saying anything.
They must have been. Our women wouldnt have behaved like that.
Indecent!
Did they wear veils?
They wore veils, the Rais conceded grudgingly. But they showed their ankles!
Oh! said Mahmoud, shocked.
How could Hassan be expected to steer when they were flaunting their ankles in front of him?
Impossible, Mahmoud agreed. Impossible!
They were standing in the stern of the vessel looking up at the back of the cabins. The steersmans platform, with the huge horizontal rudder bar he used for steering, was right beside them.
But I dont understand! said Mahmoud. The woman who stayed up there alone
Shameless! said the Rais.
Shameless! agreed Mahmoud. But she was right in front of him. Surely he would have seen if she hadwell, fallen off.
Ah, but it was dark, you see. We had stopped for the night.
So the steersman wasnt there?
No.
Where was he?
I dont know, said the Rais. Youd better ask him.
And where were you? asked Mahmoud.
I was up here, said the steersman. Wed finished for the day, so I tied the rudder and then came up forward.
They were sitting in the shade of the cooks galley. It was a small shed, rather like a Dutch oven in shape, set well up into the prow to remove it as far as possible from the passengers cabins. The cook stood up on the forward side, so that the shed protected him when there was a favourable wind. They could hear him there now.
The spot was clearly a favourite one with the crew and there had been several men dozing there when Owen and Mahmoud had appeared. They had gone aft to leave them to talk to the steersman in private, but one of them, the cook presumably, had disappeared into the galley.
She was still up there at that point?
Yes. The steersmans wrinkled face broke into a smile. I reckoned the midges would soon drive her down.
It was dark by then?
Just. They were up there admiring the sunset but I wanted to stop while there was still a bit of light. There are one or two things you have to do and you can always do them better if you can see what youre doing. Besides, the Prince didnt want us to go too far. He wanted another night on the river!
Oh, he did, did he? And why was that?
Why do you think? Perhaps he likes it better on the water.
Thats what is was about, you think?
What else could it be? He goes down to his estate and doesnt stay there a moment, we call in at Luxor and he doesnt want to go ashore. We go straight down and straight back and the only thing we stop for is to pick up some women at Beni Suef!
Those women, said Mahmoud, what were they like?
Classy. But not the sort youd want to take home with you.
Foreign.
The steersman hesitated. Well, he said, I dont know. Two of them were, certainly. The otherthats the one who finished up in the riverIm not sure about.
Youre sure about the others, though?
Oh yes. You could hear them talking. Mind you, she was talking with them. I dont know, of course, but it just seemed to me well, and then there were the clothes.
What about the clothes?
Well, they all wore the tob. The tob was a loose outer gown. And the burka, of course. The burka was a long face veil which reached almost to the ground. But from where I was you could see their legs.
Yes. The Rais told us.
Ill bet he did! He oughtnt to have seen that, ought he? I mean, he wouldnt have noticed if he hadnt been looking. Youd have thought a man like that, strict, hes supposed to be
The women, said Mahmoud patiently.
Yes, well, the thing was thatI mean, I couldnt see clearlybut I reckon those two had European clothes on underneath their tobs. You could see their ankles. But the other one, well, I caught a glimpse. She was wearing shintiyan.
Pink ones? said Owen.
Why, yes, said the steersman, surprised. Thats right. How did you know? Oh, I suppose youve seen the body.
Never mind that, said Mahmoud. Lets get back to when she was on the top deck. She was up there when you last saw her?
Yes.
Alone?
Yes.
Why didnt she go down with the others?
I dont know.
Had they been quarrelling?
I dont know.
You heard them talking.
Well, it was not so much quarrelling. I think the Prince was trying to get her to do something. Like, persuade her.
And she didnt want to?
I couldnt really tell, confessed the steersman. I couldnt understand the language, see? It was just the impression I got. He wasnt nasty or anything, not even angry, really. He was just tryingwell, to persuade her, like I said.
He didnt get anywhere, though?
No.
How was she? I mean, was she angry?
I couldnt really say. You never know whats going on behind those burkas. You think alls going well and the next momentbing! Theyve hit you with something. My wifes like that.
Were there any tears?
Tears? Well, I dont know. Not so much tears but you know how they get sometimes, you think theyre going to cry and they dont, they just keep going on and on. A bit like that.
With the Prince? When he was trying to persuade her?
Yes. And with the girls, too. A bit earlier. Going on and on.
Did they get fed up with her?
They left her alone after a bit. Then the Prince came up and had a try and he didnt do any better. He broke off. Is this helping? he asked.
Yes.
Good. I like to help. Onlyall this talking! He suddenly pounded on the back of the galley with his fist.
Whats the matter? asked the cook, sticking his head out.
How about some tea? Im so dry I cant speak.
It sounded to me as if you were doing all right. Id have brought you some before only I didnt want to interrupt you.