Michael Pearce - The Last Cut

‘You did, Selim. But-’

‘Then it can be broken like anyone else’s back! That is what I said, didn’t I?’

‘You did. But, Selim-’

‘And that is what I did. One blow, Effendi, that was all. But a mighty one!’

‘I’m sure it was!’

‘And there he lies, Effendi! Just the other side of the dam. I thought it best to leave him lest in his death agonies he might sweep me to the ground with his tail and fall upon me. That’s what you’ve got to watch,’ said Selim condescendingly, ‘the tail. It is as with crocodiles. The tail is the most dangerous part. I know he is but a lizard, Effendi, but he’s a hell of a big one!’

‘How did it happen?’ asked Owen.

‘Well, Effendi,’ said Selim, preening himself, ‘I woke in the night and found I wanted to have a pee. So I prised myself loose from Amina’s embraces-she is a dirty slut, I know, Effendi, and but a peanut seller, but when one is far from home one has to find consolation where one can-and went to water the canal bed. And then I thought: “I’ll bet those idle sods are fast asleep!” For, Effendi, as guards they are not to be trusted. So I went to look, Effendi, for am I not Captain of the Guard?’

‘You certainly are,’ agreed Owen.

‘Well, then. But, Effendi, I did not need to look for even from the bank I could hear Ibrahim’s snores. “I will go over there,” I said to myself, “and give that idle bastard a kick up the backside.” But then, Effendi, I had a better idea. A really good one!’

‘You did?’

‘I thought, I will come upon him quietly, like a thief in the night. And I will lift his galabeeyah and bite him in the bum. And then he will think the Lizard Man has got him and shit hot bricks! That will teach the bugger to fall asleep when I am Captain of the Guard!’

‘So, Effendi, I slid forward on my stomach like a lizard. And I had almost got there when I heard a noise, as of another lizard. And then I thought, it is another lizard! And then I thought, O, my God, it is the Lizard Man himself! Well, then, Effendi, I lay as one dead!

‘And then I thought, Effendi, “He can have that stupid bastard, Ibrahim, for breakfast if he wants,” and I began to slide away again.

‘But then, Effendi, I stopped. Am I not Captain of the Guard, I said to myself? Am I the man to desert my post? And that stupid bastard, Ibrahim, asleep though he be? So, Effendi, I slid forward again and unshipped my truncheon.

‘And there he was, Effendi, bold as brass, digging at the dam! Oh, ho, my beauty, I said to myself, we’ll see about that! And I gave myself a really big swing and then landed him one right across the back. And he gave a great jump and a mighty groan and then lay still. But, Effendi, afterwards I did not go close for I thought he might twitch. They do, you know. Crocodiles, that is. So-’

They came round the side of the dam.

‘Bring a lamp!’ said Owen.

‘Selim-’ said the hesitant constable again.

‘What is it, Abdul? Why don’t you go back to sleep? Now that all the real work has been done by others.’

‘Selim, he is still alive!’

Owen lifted the lamp. By its light he could see a huddled figure lying against the face of the dam.

‘Oh, is he? Stand aside, Effendi. Abdul, Ibrahim, get ready to rain blows upon him should he-’

‘I don’t think that will be necessary,’ said Owen.

He could see now that the huddled form was that of a man. He went up to him and turned the body over with his foot. ‘Why!’ he said. ‘It’s-’

‘Do you know him?’ said McPhee.

‘Oh, yes,’ said Owen. ‘It’s one of the Muslim gravediggers.’

‘He’s broken my back!’ groaned the gravedigger.

‘That will teach you not to be the Lizard Man!’ said Selim. ‘Lizard Man?’ said the gravedigger.

‘You are a fortunate man,’ said Owen. ‘It could have been worse.’

‘Lizard Man?’ said the gravedigger, attempting to sit up. ‘I don’t want anything to do with the Lizard Man!’

‘Leave him lying there!’ said Owen. ‘Let the Lizard Man take his own.’

‘Here, look-’ began the gravedigger.

‘What were you doing there?’ said Owen.

‘Nothing!’

‘Right, leave him!’

Owen began to walk away.

‘Hey, wait!’

Owen turned.

‘Well?’

‘I was thinning out the dam,’ said the gravedigger sulkily. ‘In case those Jews get the job.’

‘You were going to make the Cut yourself?’

‘No, no. It’d take more than me to do that. No, I was just thinning it out in one place. So that it would fall on the Jews when they started.’

‘That is a bad thing,’ said Owen severely. ‘Not only that, it is a stupid thing. What if you gain the contract?’

‘We would know what to do.’

‘Are the others with you on this?’

The gravedigger closed his mouth firmly.

‘The contract goes to the Jews,’ said Owen. ‘You have brought this on your own head.’

(jms

By this time there was no point in going to bed. Owen was never able to sleep during the day. Instead, he went to the Bab-el-Khalk. Used though they were to his early ways, the bearers were surprised to see him.

At this time of the morning a night chill still hung over the building. To one fresh out from England, that pink young man, say, the temperature would have seemed pleasantly warm. Those longer in the sun thought of frost. Owen raised the jacket of his collar and huddled himself in his chair.

Fortunately, it was not long before he heard the pad of bare feet and smelled a delicious aroma and then Yussef, who had heard from the other orderlies that his master was in, appeared with coffee.

‘Would the Effendi like me to send the barber in?’ he suggested, seeing that Owen was unshaven.

‘Why, yes!’ said Owen.

‘The Effendi was out all night?’

‘Yes.’

‘Down at the Cut?’

‘Yes. For most of it.’

‘I hope the charm worked,’ said Yussef.

Owen sat up.

‘Why, yes it did, Yussef! Yes, it did,’ he said in surprise.

Restored, he felt able to contemplate his desk. Among the other messages, most of which appeared to be abusive ones from the Accounts Department, there was one from Georgiades. After some thought, and after the barber had visited, Owen put on his sun helmet and set out for the barrage.

The sun, now, was warming everything up, but out on the river, where there was a little breeze, the heat was not yet overpowering. On the left the misty, purple forms of the two great pyramids of Giza soared above the palm groves. On the right, outlined against the horizon, were the airy domes and flying minarets of the great mosque on the brow of Saladin’s Citadel, lit up by the early morning sun.

Soon the barrage itself appeared up ahead, purple and rose in the sun. There was a crowd of people at the landing stage waiting for boats to take them in to the city. The felucca moved in past the water-carriers already filling their bags for the day’s work.

Owen followed one of them up to the Gardens, past the sweet sellers and peanut sellers setting out their stalls, past the lemonade sellers top-heavy with their ornamental urns on their backs, and on through the trees towards the regulator.

Georgiades, alert this time, came to meet him. He led him through the bougainvillea to where the gardener was bent in a rose bed.

Georgiades walked forward and perched himself on the edge of a gadwal nearby. Owen stayed out of sight, but within hearing distance, behind the bougainvillea.

‘You are about early!’ said the gardener in surprise.

‘I couldn’t sleep,’ said Georgiades.

‘No?’ said the gardener sympathetically. ‘Well, it was hot last-’

‘I was thinking of you,’ said Georgiades.