The darkness settled over him like the heavy velvet folds of a funeral

pall. It was so intense and complete that it seemed to have a physical

weight and texture. He could taste the darkness in his mouth as it

seemed to force its way into his body and suffocate him.

He ran again, wildly and blindly, losing all sense of direction in the

blackness. He crashed headlong into stone and fell again, stunned. He

could feel the warm tickle of blood running down his face, and he could

not breathe. He whimpered and gasped and slowly, lying on his side, he

curled himself into a ball like a foetus in the womb.

He wondered how long it would take him to die, and his soul quailed as

he knew that it might take days and even weeks. He moved slightly,

cuddling in closer to the stone object with which he had collided. In

the darkness he had no way of telling that it was the great sarcophagus

of Mamose that sheltered him. Thus he lay in the darkness of the tomb,

surrounded by the funeral treasures of an emperor, and waited for his

own slow but inexorable death.

he monastery of St. Frumentius was deserted.

The monks had heard the gunfire and the  sounds of battle echoing down

the gorge, and had gathered up their treasures and fled.

Nicholas ran down the long, empty cloister, pausing to catch his breath

at the head of the staircase that led down to the level of the Nile and

the Epiphany shrine where he had stored the boats. Panting, he searched

the gloom of the deep basin below him into which the sunlight se! Clom

reached, but the moving clouds of silver spray from the twin waterfalls

screened the depths. He had no way of telling if Sapper and Royan were

down there waiting for him, or if they had run into trouble on the

trail.

He adjusted the tattered and bloodstained bandage around his chin, and

then started down. Then he heard her voice in the silver mist below him,

calling his name, and she came pelting up the slippery, slime-covered

stairs towards him.

"Nicholas! Oh, thank God! I thought you weren't coming." She would have

rushed into his embrace, but then she saw his bandaged and blood-smeared

face, and she stopped and stared at him, appalled.

Sweet Mary!" she whispered. "What happened to you, Nickyr

"A little tiff with Jake Helm. Just a scratch, but I am 4, not much good

at kissing right now," he mumbled, trying to grin around the bandage,

"You will have to wait for later."

He put one arm around her shoulders, almost swinging her off her feet,

as he turned her to face down the stairs again.

"Where are the others?" He hurried her down.

"They are all here," she told him. "Sapper and Mek are pumping the boats

and loading."

"Tessay?"

"She's safe."

They scrambled down the last flight of steps on to the jetty below the

Epiphany shrine. The Nile had risen ten feet since Nicholas had last

stood there. The river was full and angry, muddy and swift. He could

barely make out the cliffs on the far bank through the drifting clouds

of spray.

The five Avon boats were drawn up at the edge. Four of them were already

fully inflated, and the last one was billowing and swelling as the air

was released into it from the compressed air cylinder. Mek and Sapper

were packing the ammunition crates into the ready boats and strapping

them down under green nylon cargo nets.

Sapper looked up at Nicholas and a comical expression of astonishment

spread over his bluff features, "What the blue bleeding blazes happened

to your face?"

"Tell you about it one day," Nicholas promised, and turned to embrace

Mek.

"Thank you, old friend," he said sincerely, "Your men fought well, and

you waited for me." Nicholas glanced at the row of wounded guerrillas

that lay against the foot of the cliff. "How many casualties?"

"Three dead, and these six wounded. It could have been much worse if

Nogo's men had pushed us harder."

"Still, it's too many," said Nicholas.

"Even one is too many," Mek agreed gruffly.

"Where are the rest of your men?"

(on the run for the border. Kept just enough of them with me to handle

the boats." Mek stripped the filthy bandage from Nicholas's chin. Royan

gasped when she saw the injury, but Mek grinned.

"Looks as though you were chewed by a shark."

"That's right, I was,'Nicholas agreed.

WI BE, Mek shrugged. "It needs at least a dozen stitches." He shouted

for one of his men to bring his pack.

Sorry, no anaesthetic," -he warned Nicholas as he forced him to sit on

the transom of one of the boats and poured antiseptic straight from the

bottle.

Nicholas let out a gasp of pain. "Burns, doesn't it?" Mek agreed

complacently. "But just wait until I start sewing."

"This kindness will be written down against your name in the golden

book," Nicholas told him, and with an evil leer Mek broke the seal on a

suture pack.

As Mek worked on the wound, pulling the edges together and tugging the

thread tight, he spoke quietly so that Nicholas alone could hear. "Nogo,

has at least a full company of men guarding the river downstream. My

scouts tell me that he has placed them to cover the trails on both

banks."

"He doesn't know that we have boats to run the river, does he?" Nicholas

asked through gritted teeth.

"I think it is unlikely, but he knows a great deal about our movements.

Perhaps he had an informer amongst your workmen." Mek paused as he

pricked the needle into Nicholas's flesh, and then went on, "And Nogo

still has the helicopter. He will spot us on the river as soon as this

cloud breaks."

The river is our only escape route. Let's pray that the weather stays

socked in, like this."

By the time Mek had tied off the last knot and covered Nicholas's chin

with a Steri-Strip plaster, Sapper had finished inflating and loading

the last boat.

Four of Mek's men carried Tessay's litter to one of the boats. Mek

helped her aboard and settled her on the deck, making sure that she had

one of the safety straps close at hand. Then he left her and hurried to

where his wounded men lay in order to help them into the boats too. Most

of them could walk, but two had to be carried.

After that he came back to Nicholas. "I see you have found your radio,"

he said, as he glanced at the fibreglass case that Nicholas had slung

over his shoulder on its carrying strap.

"Without it we would be in big trouble." Nicholas patted the case

affectionately.

"I will take command of that boat, with Tessay."

"Good!" Nicholas agreed. "Royan will 90 with me in the lead boat."

"You had better let me lead,'Mek said.

"What do you know about river running?" Nicholas asked him. "I am the

only one of us who has ever shot this river before."

"That was twenty years ago," Mek pointed out.

"I am an even better man now than I was then," Nicholas grinned. "Don't

argue, Mek. You come next, and Sapper in the one behind you. Are there

any of your men who know the river to command the other two boats?"

"All my men know the river," Mek told him, and shouted his orders. Each