Free Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

too …
    “Even in his cups,” she said, “would a man talk of his own misdeeds? Perhaps a soft glance and a glib tongue would be of more use here than bribery. If a man is bribed, and feels guilty later, he can blame those who bribed him. But if he is led to substitute one interpreter for another because blandishments sound sweet to his ear—whom can he blame later but himself? He would scarce boast of his own foolishness, would he?”
    “And all men are fools,” added Sheftu blandly.
    Not you, my friend! thought Mara. Aloud, she said witha shrug, “This one might be. The captain says he’s thick witted.”
    “Aye,” growled Nekonkh uneasily. “But the idea seems chancy …”
    “Perhaps not.” Sheftu was studying Mara with amusement. “This maid understands the arts of blandishment, Captain. I witnessed a little encounter of hers with a baker’s boy, back in Menfe, that gave me real pleasure. I believe we can risk it. If it fails, there will still be time to try something else. We’ll not leave Abydos until she gives the signal.”
    “Then all’s settled?” inquired Mara.
    “Aye. Except for the message you are to give the king. Tell him I have—” Sheftu hesitated, and changed the sentence. “Tell him the war hawk is coming.”
    “The war hawk is coming? But what does it mean?”
    Sheftu smiled. “It is the king I wish to enlighten, Blue-Eyed One, not you.” He got up from the table. “We’ll arrange our signals tomorrow. But now we must separate, or the crew will be marveling at all this tongue wagging.” He started for the door, but paused before Mara, still smiling faintly. “Lest you be wondering, it will
not
be feasible to slip away from me in Abydos, to sell my ring, or to do anything at all save what we have planned. Make no mistake about that. If my prince is endangered, I care not what color eyes I close forever.”
    He moved past her and out of the cabin. Shaken a little in spite of herself, Mara rose to follow, but Nekonkh stopped her with a touch on her arm. She turned to find him gazing down at her with a troubled frown.
    “He’s a hard master, that one,” he whispered, jerking his head toward Sheftu’s retreating figure. “I sweated for you, when he sat there swinging his leg and juggling your life about in his two hands. But you should not have eavesdropped!”
    “I’m not afraid of him. He’ll do me no harm as long asI’m useful to him. But, Captain—how he must hate the queen and love his prince.”
    “Aye … but I think he loves Egypt even more. To my notion that’s what makes him throw away his gold and his life like this, and use men as if they were tools. That’s why he holds a bludgeon over the head of even a friendless maid like you, little one, and turns your wits to his own purpose, and takes chances that could end in murder …” Nekonkh shook his head. “Aye, he’s reckless, and perhaps mad. But—Amon help me—I think I’d follow him to the River of the Dead and back!”
    “He may demand it,” said Mara slowly.
    She left the cabin, drank in the sun-drenched air and the fresh, clean smell of water and canvas sails and wind—miraculously restored to her again—then sought the privacy of her pile of hides.
    All is changed now, she reflected. Yet all is still the same.
    Tomorrow, when they docked at Abydos, she would proceed with her former plans as if nothing had happened today. But what a difference there was! She now had knowledge that would buy her freedom from her new master in an instant, and perhaps shower her with gold as well. In fact, she had wealth already, in the shape of that jewel-encrusted ring—which of course would never leave her sash. All her dreams were beginning to come true. As for revenge—Osiris! She had that tenfold, a hundredfold …
    Then why, she thought, am I not happier?
    She moved restlessly on the soft skins, puzzling over the queer flat taste of her triumph. Finally she raised herself on one elbow and frowned out