CHAPTER XIX
The Cat's Secret
The tape machines ran unnoticed, except for an occasional glance fromRick and Scotty. All through the fight the signals had continued, withno one paying any attention. Rick hoped that if they came fromintelligent beings, they were of a kind that didn't get involved in gangfights.
Next to him, bandages around one thigh, Youssef sat, his handshandcuffed together in his lap. Moustafa, unharmed but helpless, washandcuffed in another chair. From outside, the wail of ambulancesannounced that the wounded were being carried off, the police driveramong them. He had been knocked out by a chest shot, but Ben assured theboys there were superb surgeons in Cairo who would take good care ofhim.
The inspector sat on a chair facing the others, the Egyptian cat in hishand.
"Now that things are quiet again," he said, "I think we might talk alittle. I promised our two American guests that they would find out thesecret of this little beast, and now is as good a time as any."
"I can get a saw to open it with," Rick offered eagerly.
Ben grinned. "Patience, Rick. First we must paint a background, so thatwe may see the whole picture. Where shall we begin? With Moustafa?"
Kemel Moustafa maintained a sullen silence.
"No co-operation? Then I shall begin. Boys, I regret to inform you thatMr. Kemel Moustafa is a member of a conspiracy to overthrow the UnitedArab Republic government."
Rick and Scotty turned to look at the mustached man. He sat impassively.
"His brothers also are in this conspiracy. He told you they were inBeirut, but he was not truthful. They are in jail, here in Cairo,awaiting trial. We picked up Ali the day before you arrived. We did notget Fuad until an hour before you visited him. The local people werenervous over the arrest. Many in that neighborhood support theMoustafas."
Kemel Moustafa spoke. "I'm not in it. You can't prove that I am."
Ben nodded. "Proof may be difficult. That is why you were allowed toremain at large while we collected your brothers. But, meanwhile, wehave you on a charge of armed robbery, since you used a pistol to getthe cat from our American friends a few minutes ago." He turned to theboys. "Talk of overthrowing a government probably sounds strange to you.It has been many years since the American government was in any dangerof revolt."
"We don't understand some of the foreign revolutions," Rick agreed. "ButI suppose when a group isn't satisfied, it's apt to plot a revolution ifthere seems to be a chance of success."
"That's right," Ben agreed. "Our country is much older than yours,historically, but actually it's much younger. The Republic is prettynew. Some of our dissatisfied citizens still think it's more efficientto make changes with bullets instead of ballots."
Scotty asked, "Why do they want to make changes? What kind of changes?"
The inspector grinned. "Many kinds. We have groups that think themonarchy ought to be restored. We have others who think our foreignpolicy is too neutral, or that it isn't neutral enough. And we also havepeople who don't like our currency controls because they preventtremendous profits from speculation. There are other groups, too. Allare minorities and the only way they can see to make rapid changes is tooverthrow the government and set up their own."
"Then you have revolutionaries plotting all over the place!" Rickexclaimed.
"It's not quite that bad. Most groups have little support, and only oneor two have any funds. It takes money for revolution, you know."
Rick could see that revolutions cost plenty, and he began to see theimportance of the Egyptian cat. In the little plastic statue, in someform, were the finances of the revolt!
"The money for the Moustafa revolution was to come from America," Bencontinued. "Bartouki needed a messenger, so he waited until one camealong. That was you."
Rick protested, "But why should he trust his finances to a stranger?There must have been better ways of getting the money here!"
The officer shook his head. "It is not as easy as you think. We know whothese revolutionaries are. We keep an eye on their comings and goings.They do not get past our borders without a thorough customs inspection.Now, ask yourself--who can get past customs with no difficulty?Officials of governments, scientific groups who come at our invitation,and tourists."
"Why didn't he use someone disguised as a tourist?" Scotty asked.
"That probably would have been his method, except that you stumbled intothings and the chance was too good to miss. Also, you did not declarethe cat on your customs statement. We would have been interested in anEgyptian cat coming the wrong way!"
"I didn't know I was supposed to declare it," Rick said. "It just neveroccurred to me."
Ben glared. "Technically, you have broken our laws." He relented andgrinned. "But if you will promise to import no more Egyptian cats...."
"I promise, swear, and affirm," Rick said hastily.
"Good. To continue. We took Ali Moustafa into custody, but not before aphone call reached him from New York. His chief clerk listened to thiscall and sold the information to Youssef. The clerk also agreed, for ashare of the profits, to pretend to be Ali, and he enlisted the help ofthe other clerks. We know this from the clerk. He talked freely, in thehope of leniency."
Ben turned to Youssef. "Do you know what is in the cat?"
The thief shook his head. "Only that it is of great value. I bought theclerk's information and help because I knew it was the Moustafas whostole the necklace from the museum. I believe the necklace is in thecat."
Rick stared. The Kefren necklace, worth a quarter of a million! Greatghostly pyramids! This was big business!
"The necklace was smuggled out of the country," Ben agreed. "We arecertain of that. But I do not believe it is in the cat."
"Open it," Rick begged.
The inspector held up his hand. "Presently. Aren't you enjoying thesuspense?"
"It's killing us," Scotty wailed.
"Ah, the impatience of the young!" Ismail ben Adhem obviously was havinga good time. "Well, the pieces are nearly tied up."
"Good," Rick applauded.
Ben chuckled. "On the same day that Kerama invited you to come, I had acall from the Interpol clearinghouse in Paris, a relay from the SanFrancisco police. A wealthy collector of early Egyptian objects in SanFrancisco had been bragging that he had just purchased a genuinenecklace that had belonged to one of the early Pharaohs. We requestedthe Americans to investigate."
That explained the Californian who talked too much, Rick thought. He hadknown the purchase was illegal, but, like many collectors, could notresist letting a few friends in on his secret--and the secret had leakedto the police.
"This collector had paid for the necklace with a certified check, whichwas cashed by an American accomplice." Ben paused for effect. "Theamount was two hundred thousand dollars cash."
He got his effect. All four of his listeners gasped in amazement.
"Even Moustafa didn't know the exact amount," Rick thought.
"The money was in thousand-dollar bills. I have the serial numbers."
Rick spoke up. "But, Ben, numbered bills are like a flag! No one canspend them without getting caught."
"That is true, Rick, when something illegal is involved. Had thecollector kept his mouth shut, no one would have known any illegalitywas involved in the transaction."
"But you can't use American money in Cairo," Scotty objected. "It has tobe changed."
"Right, Scotty. The problem was this: the revolutionaries could notconvert their dollars to Egyptian pounds in America. It would haveattracted too much attention, because only a few banks and financehouses can handle such amounts, and then only in co-operation with thegovernment. Their best bet was to get the dollars into the Arabcountries. We can watch international traffic, but local traffic amongthe Arab nations is hard to control. They would have sent the dollars toanother country to be changed."
"An Arab country?" Rick asked.
"Probably. The borders between the Republic and its neighbors aredesert, impossible
to patrol. The dollars could have been sent, thengradually converted into Egyptian currency. Dollars sell readily in thispart of the world, and sometimes not too many questions are asked."
"I get the picture," Rick stated. "The Moustafas stole the necklace, andsmuggled it to America. Bartouki sold it to the collector, through anAmerican helper. Then he had the money sealed in the cat. He handed itto me, because my sister gave him an opening and I fell into it.Meanwhile, you put Ali in jail, then Fuad. Youssef got into the actthrough the clerk. So then we had Kemel Moustafa and Youssef on ourtrail. Why didn't you put Kemel in jail, too? And how about Bartouki?"
"We had no evidence that would stand up in court against Kemel, althoughwe were convinced he was in the act with his brothers. That's why Iwaited until he tried to take the cat by force."
Rick exploded, "You used us and the cat for bait!"
"It worked," Ben pointed out mildly. "We got both Youssef and Moustafa,although the trap was only for Kemel. And you were never in any realdanger, except for a stray bullet. I've been in the unfinished barrackswith my men since noontime. The senior scientists knew it. That's whythey were willing to leave you alone. Two of my men mingled withYoussef's gang as soon as they arrived, and weren't detected. Any signof real danger to you and they'd have bailed you out fast. But we wereholding off, because I had a radio message that Kemel was on his waywith a gang of his own."
"You certainly had things taped," Scotty said admiringly. "I guess weought to be mad. But you'd have an equal right to get mad because wetried to go it alone."
"We'll call it square," Ben agreed. "About Bartouki. We needed theevidence of the cat, and a statement from you that he had handed it toyou. That was the only sure way of tying him in. Tonight we'll send amessage via Interpol to the New York police."
So far, everything had been circumstantial evidence. Rick wanted to seeif their guesses were correct. "Open the cat," he begged.
"Get the saw," Ben said.
Rick jumped to his feet. There was a toolbox in the closet. He broughtit to the inspector.
Ben handed the cat to him. "Saw away."
Scotty held the cat firmly on a chair while Rick wielded the saw.Plastic sawdust flew from under the blade.
Rick felt the blade hit metal and stopped. "Hit something!" he saidexcitedly. "Metal, but soft. Like lead."
Scotty groaned. "Do you suppose Bartouki was telling the truth?"
"We'll soon know." Rick moved the saw blade to a different angle andbegan cutting around the cat, changing angles each time he hit thematerial on the inside. Before long, the Egyptian cat had a cut aroundits middle and Rick put the saw away. There were a hammer and screwdriver in the toolbox. He inserted the tip of the screw driver into thesaw cut and tapped the handle with the hammer.
The cat split open.
Scotty let out a yell of triumph. In the bottom half was a square oflead, and it was clearly a box, not a solid lump.
"Hurry!" Rick pleaded.
Scotty took the screw driver and pried. The lead box yieldedreluctantly.
There wasn't a sound in the control room except for the impulses fromthe tape recorder, which ran on unnoticed.
Scotty pried gingerly, and the lead box came loose and dropped to thefloor.
Rick scooped it up and turned it in his hands, looking for the opening.He found only a thin seam of solder around one flat side.
"Have to cut it open," Rick said. Using his jackknife, he scored thebead of solder. It cut easily. He scored it again, deeper, and felt theknife blade penetrate. He turned the box and did the same thing to bothends.
Face flushed with excitement, he took the screw driver, thrust it underthe lid, and bent it upward.
The box opened.
It contained a solid wad of bills. Rick touched the top one, still alittle unbelieving. The figure on it was 1000!
He turned the box over and tapped it. The bills dropped out. He didn'tdoubt there were two hundred of them.
Two hundred thousand dollars!
Rick looked at the expressions on the faces around him. Scotty wasstanding with openmouthed excitement. Youssef was leaning forward,feasting on the wealth with greedy eyes. Moustafa was slumped inresignation. And Ismail ben Adhem had the look of the cat that swallowedthe cream.
"Now," Rick said triumphantly, "now we know why the cat was important!"
CHAPTER XX
The Signal Vanishes
Rick studied the Sanborn tracing. He could see where the pulsed signalsgradually disappeared into a much stronger, steady 21-centimeter signal.
"We lost it at 4:02 yesterday," Winston said. "It hasn't reappeared.Apparently the signal source moved into, or behind, a globular cluster."
Rick's brows knit. "That's more evidence that it was moving contrary tonormal direction?"
"It is," Dr. Kerama agreed. "What's more, the calculated velocity wassimply incredible. The only velocities we know of that approximate itare those of galaxies at the very limit of our instruments."
Rick said what was on his mind. "It was a spaceship. What else wouldtravel across normal star directions giving out signals?"
He grinned sheepishly. It wasn't strictly proper to blurt out his owntheories.
"The possibility has occurred to us," Kerama said slowly. "It iscertainly the most appealing explanation, and it is natural that itshould come to your mind, Rick. But it is not the only possiblesolution."
Winston agreed. "There are others that are difficult to explain, unlessyou have a good background in astrophysics, Rick."
Scotty said, "I'm sure you have lots of theories, but honestly--what doyou really think?"
The scientist glanced at his Egyptian colleagues. Farid urged, "Tell himwhat we talked about last night. It may not be subject to any realproof, but I think the boys have a right to know what we've concluded."
"All right," Winston nodded. "To put it as briefly as possible, we agreethat the most likely explanation is that we intercepted intelligentsignals, sent out for some reason by some beings we can't even imagine.For one thing, the space object is so small that we can't even give it adimension. Neither can the other telescopes. Mount Palomar can seenothing."
"A spaceship," Rick said soberly. The implications of it weretremendous!
"It's as good a name as any. And now, boys, let's start folding up ourpart of the operation. We have reservations on tomorrow's flight. Thatwill put us into New York just about suppertime."
"We hate to leave," Scotty told the Egyptian scientists. "Unfortunately,thanks to that Egyptian cat, we didn't get to see much of Cairo."
"At least I saw a piece of the Sahara Desert," Rick said with a grin."Anyway, let's move. I have some shopping to do for my folks, and forJan Miller, and especially Barby."
"Going to take her a bouquet of Egyptian poison ivy?" Winston asked witha smile.
"Nope. I'm going to buy her some nice things, but I'm also going to takeher the remains of the Egyptian cat. Just as a reminder."
He turned to glance around the control room before leaving. The plasteron the ceiling would need repairing where the Sten gun had chipped itdown to the concrete roof slab, but there was little real damage to showthe effect of last night's fight. Even the window broken by Youssef hadbeen repaired.
How simple it all had been--once Ismail ben Adhem had taken over. Rickknew why he and Scotty had failed to solve the mystery. There was toomuch information they did not have, such as the disposal of the Kefrennecklace and knowing that the Moustafas were the prime movers in arevolution.
Farid and Kerama had not been surprised. "There are some who do not likethe controls on trade and exchange that our government had to impose,"Farid explained. "Mostly, they are people who had things pretty muchtheir own way before the Republic was formed. They used to get specialtreatment from government officials who were in their pay, and they grewrich. Now, that's impossible. So they plot revolution to bring the badold days back again--bad old days for most Egyptians, that is. TheMoustafas and Bartouki used to be pretty p
owerful. I suppose they wantedthat power back."
Dr. Kerama added, "This is probably not the last try at revolution thepolice will have to stop. But our country grows more stable all thetime, and the would-be revolutionaries grow older and perhaps wiser."
"Time goes on," Rick agreed. "Things change." He thought of KemelMoustafa the revolutionary, the only one of the three brothers they hadmet--and he thought of Hassan's saying. He added, "The little jackalbarks, but the caravan passes."
Hakim Farid laughed outright. "We'll make a good Egyptian of you yet,Rick."
* * * * *
The time along the Greenwich meridian, from which all world times aremeasured, was 9:30 P.M.
At Spindrift Island, it was 4:30 in the late afternoon. Barby Brant satwith her close friend, Jan Miller, before the roaring fire in thelibrary.
"I'll bet Rick and Scotty are having a marvelous time," Barby said.There was no envy in the statement. She always protested volubly atbeing left behind, but that was more a matter of principle than anythingelse. Once the boys had gone, she always simmered down enough to be gladthey could go, even if she could not.
Jan, a slim, attractive dark-haired girl, said, "I'll bet they're gladyou suggested that Rick deliver the Egyptian cat, too. It was anintroduction to a real merchant, right in the bazaar."
Barby smiled. "They probably made a lot of new friends from just thatone thing!"
It was 5:30 in the afternoon on a tiny island off the coast ofVenezuela. Two elderly men looked up from their inspection of a hotspring. The smaller of the two shrugged. He spoke in Spanish.
"I will keep watch. If new signs develop, I know where to go for help.It is the Spindrift Scientific Foundation. If anyone can help us, thatgroup can. If they can't--well, we are doomed."
In Cairo, it was 11:30. Rick Brant hauled himself to the top of thegreat pyramid of Khufu. Scotty and Hassan joined him.
The view was magnificent. Cairo sparkled like a million jewels, and inplaces they could see the silver ribbon of the Nile. Rick turned andlooked at the radio telescope at Sahara Wells, its great parabolicreflector gleaming in the brilliant moonlight.
He was content. As a last adventure, and with the permission of Winston,the three had decided to climb the pyramid by moonlight. Now themysteries of the Egyptian cat and the strange signal from space werebehind them. In eleven hours they would be air-borne, and tomorrow nightthey would sleep at home.
Hassan spoke. "I sorry to see you go. You come back, maybe?"
"Someday," Scotty said.
Rick added, "When we show my sister that picture of you with the fancyclothes and that scimitar you borrowed, we'll have to bring her to seeyou in person. She won't believe her eyes."
Hassan chuckled softly. "Tell her I will be her bodyguard, to protecther from Youssef, if he ever gets free from jail. I will even protecther from our so terrible Egyptian cats!"
The three sat down on the rough stone at the top of the pyramid. Oncethe great monument had risen to a sharply pointed capstone, but theblocks had been removed and only a tall wooden pole showed how high thepyramid had once reached.
Rick looked up at the stars and traced the outlines of the familiarconstellations, Orion, the Twins, Taurus, the Big Dog, and the LittleDog.
Out there, far beyond those constellations, a spaceship had once passed,sending unknown signals to an unknown destination, eventually to beintercepted here, within sight of the pyramids.
"I wonder what it was," he mused aloud.
Scotty needed no explanation. "Does it matter, if it was some kind ofintelligence?"
Rick shook his head. "Not really. It was nearly five thousand lightyears away, so it took five thousand years to reach us. So when thesignals were first sent, this pyramid hadn't even been built. Egypthadn't been united."
Scotty added, "And in the Upper Nile Kingdom, people were worshipingBubaste...."
"... and Egyptian cats," Rick finished.
The boy glanced up at the stars again and saw the tight cluster of thePleiades. Across the world, the constellation was just coming into viewof anyone standing on top of the mountain known as El Viejo, the OldOne.
The slow stirring in the earth deep under El Viejo would take a fewmonths to grow, but already events taking form would plunge Rick,Scotty, and the Spindrift scientists into the midst of mob violence,armed revolt, and one of the most daring scientific feats of all time, astory to be told in the adventure of THE FLAMING MOUNTAIN.
_The_ RICK BRANT SCIENCE-ADVENTURE _Stories_
BY JOHN BLAINE
THE ROCKET'S SHADOW THE LOST CITY SEA GOLD 100 FATHOMS UNDER THE WHISPERING BOX MYSTERY THE PHANTOM SHARK SMUGGLERS' REEF THE CAVES OF FEAR STAIRWAY TO DANGER THE GOLDEN SKULL THE WAILING OCTOPUS THE ELECTRONIC MIND READER THE SCARLET LAKE MYSTERY THE PIRATES OF SHAN THE BLUE GHOST MYSTERY THE EGYPTIAN CAT MYSTERY
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