Free Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie Page A

loss as to where the rocky stronghold of Petra could be. Surely
     they could see for miles and miles all around them? There were no mountains, no hills
     anywhere. Were they then still many miles from their journey's end?
    They reached the village of Am Musa where the cars were to be left. Here horses were
     waiting for them - sorry looking thin beasts. The inadequacy of her striped wash frock
     disturbed Miss Pierce greatly. Lady Westholme was sensibly attired in riding breeches, not
     perhaps a particularly becoming style to her type of figure, but certainly practical.
    The horses were led out of the village along a slippery path with loose stones. The ground
     fell away and the horses zigzagged down. The sun was close on setting.
    Sarah was very tired with the long hot journey in the car. Her senses felt dazed. The ride
     was like a dream. It seemed to her afterwards that it was like the pit of Hell opening at
     one's feet. The way wound down - down into the ground. The shapes of rock rose up around
     them, down, down into the bowels of the earth, through a labyrinth of red cliffs. They
     towered now on either side. Sarah felt stifled, menaced by the ever-narrowing gorge. She
     thought confusedly to herself: “Down into the valley of death - down into the valley of
     death...”
    On and on. It grew dark, the vivid red of the walls faded, and still on, winding in and
     out, imprisoned, lost in the bowels of the earth.
    She thought: “It's fantastic and unbelievable... a dead city.”
    And again like a refrain came the words: “The valley of death...”
    Lanterns were lit now. The horses wound along through the narrow ways. Suddenly they came
     out into a wide space - the cliffs receded. Far ahead of them was a cluster of lights.
    “That is camp!” said the guide.
    The horses quickened their pace a little - not very much - they were too starved and
     dispirited for that, but they showed just a shade of enthusiasm. Now the way ran along a
     gravelly waterbed. The lights grew nearer. They could see a cluster of tents, a higher row
     up against the face of a cliff. Caves, too, hollowed out in the rock.
    They were arriving. Bedouin servants came running out.
    Sarah stared up at one of the caves. It held a sitting figure. What was it? An idol? A
     gigantic squatting image?
    No, that was the flickering lights that made it loom so large. But it must be an idol of
     some kind, sitting there immovable, brooding over the place... And then, suddenly, her
     heart gave a leap of recognition.
    Gone was the feeling of peace - of escape - that the desert had given her. She had been
     led from freedom back into captivity. She had ridden down into this dark winding valley
     and here, like an arch priestess of some forgotten cult, like a monstrous swollen female
     Buddha, sat Mrs. Boynton...

Appointment with Death
    11
    Mrs. Boynton was here, at Petra!
    Sarah answered mechanically questions that were addressed to her. Would she have dinner
     straight away - it was ready - or would she like to wash first? Would she prefer to sleep
     in a tent or a cave?
    Her answer to that came quickly. A tent. She flinched at the thought of a cave; the vision
     of that monstrous squatting figure recurred to her. (Why was it that something about the
     woman seemed hardly human?) Finally she followed one of the native servants. He wore khaki
     breeches much patched and untidy puttees and a ragged coat very much the worse for wear.
     On his head the native headdress, the cheffiyah, its long folds protecting the neck and
     secured in place with a black silk twist fitting tightly to the crown of his head. Sarah
     admired the easy swing with which he walked, the careless proud carriage of his head. Only
     the European part of his costume seemed tawdry and wrong. She thought: “Civilization's all
     wrong - all wrong! But for civilization there wouldn't be a Mrs. Boynton! In savage tribes
     they'd probably have killed and eaten