Mansu Yusef - Part 3 - Player Accounts
Doamne Leica Badamaru of
the OVS
At 2130 hours as the
sailors called half past nine pm our two launches headed towards the Egyptian
coast. It was another clear chilly night with no moon. When the lights along the
shore appeared, the Lady Digby stopped so that we could arrive ahead of her.
Eventually we neared the pair of lights we had seen on the previous night. This
time, we in the Lady Bankes headed for the second one, the flambeaux on the
light house. Nearing the high mud banks along the shore we slowed, trying to
keep the noise of the engine down and in case we struck something underwater.
“Do you think there will be anyone on lookout in that lighthouse?” I whispered
to the Professor, who with Manko and I, had been relegated to the stern portion
of the launch. He pondered the question for a moment. “I really have no idea! My
studies have never included the operations of lighthouses.” Manko as usual kept
quiet. His master Doktor Nichtwissen, would never allow a servant to utter an
opinion. Nearer and nearer we crept to the flambeaux, whose flame hardly
flickered as it streamed upwards in the still night air. To the left on the
other side we could glimpse a mass of rushes which we dare not approach too
closely. So far all remained silent as far as we could tell over the noise of
the engine. We must have been only ten yards from the lighthouse as we passed
it. Then observing marker posts on the edge of the rushes we turned right
creeping past a large stand of date palms. At this time we could hear for the
first time a dog barking. Ronald and Miss Warmside must have been nearing the
Jetty. Soon we made out a large boat moored at the end of a stone jetty.
Stopping the engine Captain Hailstone carefully steered us alongside this. As
two sailors tied us to it, two others headed inshore up some steps towards the
white houses of the villagers. Sub Lieutenant Martlet and Mrs Hotspur led us and
the five remaining sailors onto another big fishing boat moored alongside the
jetty. As they pushed us off I saw the two first sailors tip a bridge between
two of the high banks down to the hard mud below. The sailors rowed the boat the
short distance to another quay beneath the Mansion. From the village we could
hear more and more dogs joining in the barking. Martlet led some of his sailors
cautiously up the steps that led to the mansion. I heard some shouting from
within it. The sailors were crouched along the top of the bank when one of them
made a run forward. A volley of shots came from the roof of the mansion and he
fell down. The sailors returned the fire with their big rifles. The firing from
the roof slackened so Martlet’s men ran forward. More shots ensued as Mr Hotspur
led the Professor and myself up the steps. At the top I found Seaman Jones whose
leg had been broken by a bullet. I bandaged him from the first Aid Satchel.
Seaman Humby the brave man who had gone over first was past help. There had been
firing from the lower windows and Seaman Hardwick had received a bullet in his
chest. Once I had bandaged it he thought that he could carry on! Meanwhile
Martlet’s men had broken through the main doors in front of the mansion, so the
Professor and I followed them inside. We crossed a corridor and into a large
high chamber. It contained silk curtains, sofas, cushions, a hookah pipe and
musical instruments. Indeed conforming to ones imaginings of decadent oriental
luxury! There was an ironbound door on the right which Mr Hotspur declared was
locked. Mr Martlet said sharply “We are not here to loot! The Countess will be
upstairs!” and his sailors were already climbing a set above the door. There was
a burst of firing at the top and then a sailor said “This door is locked Sir!”
“Break it open then!” and there were
heavy thuds as the sailors hammered on it with their rifle buts. From beyond the
door which did not hold out long came a cacophony of female screams! Mr Hotspur
heaved the body of a woman out of the way and Mr Martlet picked up a revolver
from the floor. When I reached the top of the stairs I examined her but she was
dead. She was dressed in European tropical clothes. Inside the now open
chamber Mr Hotspur was confiscating a dagger and another pistol, from a
pack of whimpering women. They had been sleeping in three tier bunks and were
not wearing very much! A sailor and the Professor behind me, were gaping open
mouthed! “She has jumped out Sir!” shouted a sailor from the room beyond.
“Down after her! Use your grapnel rope
men!” ordered Martlet. “Mr Hotspur, gag him! Bundle him up! We will take the
Pasha with us back to the launch as a hostage!”
“The lady is injured Sir!” Called out
one of the sailors now outside.
“Madam! Your first aid assistance is
needed!” snapped Martlet. Within the chamber was a large feather bed on which
was presumably the pasha’s form swathed in sheets. As I passed it on the way to
the window there was another burst of firing below. “They are off Sir! I am sure
we winged one of them for he was limping. They have escaped over the garden
wall!”
From the window I looked
down to see the two sailors looking over a white painted wall into the darkness.
The form of a woman lay still on the ground a long way down! “I will go down to
her!” I said turning but Martlet held me by the arm, “No time for the stairs
madam!”
“I am afraid that shimming down ropes
has not been part of my training Sir!” I objected.
“Hold still Madam!” said Mr Hotspur and
before I could understand what was happening, he had looped the grapnel rope
under my arms, they pushed me out of the window and I was lowered down to the
ground. One of the sailors there
loosed the grapnel rope which was pulled up again. “Is she dead?” called down Mr
Martlet so I examined the Countess. She must have started to get dressed as she
was clad in a corset and not much else! She was unconscious but breathing and an
abrasion indicated that she had hit her head. “Her leg’s broke!” said the
sailor, pointing at her right calf which was obviously not straight. “Mr Martlet
she is alive but badly injured. She also needs clothes to make her decent!”
He responded with what
sounded like profanity and then armfuls of clothes were being thrown down to us.
Hastily I sorted through them for what was likely to be needed. She would not
need any ball gowns where she was going! Then Mr Hotspur came down, “I am
ordered to escort you and the Countess back to the launch. We improvised a
stretcher using the sailors rifles and a walking out dress and laid the Countess
on it. Then they carried her back down the steps to the fishing boat with myself
bringing up the rear with a large bundle of clothes. Mr Hotspur manoeuvred the
boat so that we could pass the Countess over to the launch, without casting off
completely. By this time the village had quietened and even the dogs were
silent. Captain Hailstone took one look at the Countess and said “That leg needs
to be set. Here let me do it, I done it before a couple of times. Hold her
still! There are two bones in the calf and they must both be put in place.
Turnwell, get us some kindling sticks, big ones as we will need to splint it!”
I was very glad of this as
it was certainly beyond my expertise and for the patient’s comfort it was best
done whilst she was still unconscious. In fact during the setting she came too,
screamed in agony and passed out again. As the kindling splints were tied in
place the rest of Mr Martlet’s party came aboard. The sailors were carrying the
wounded Seaman Jones and the dead Seaman Humby. Last came the Professor and the
Sub–Lieutenant carrying the swathed Pasha. “We leave him here.” decided Martlet
“His people will find him in due course.” So they left him on the Mansion Jetty.
We reversed away from the harbour all the way back past the Lighthouse. Then we
turned and headed out to the ‘Nightingale’. There the Countess was taken aboard
and put in our cabin. There it was arranged that Marjorie, her abigail Milly
Oakham, Ludmilla and I should care for her with at least two of us present all
the time. Mr Hotspur supplied us with rags and chloroform for if she became
troublesome. In fact she was in too much pain to be troublesome so we used the
chloroform to get her to sleep at night. The Royal Navy cruiser was not to meet
us until dawn of the third so she had two more nights aboard the steam yacht.
The Lady Digby launch joined us about three quarters of an hour after us. The
following day I asked the other OVS members for what had happened in their part
of the operation.
As expected, as quiet as the
Engineer Downhill could keep his engine Surleyman’s dog began barking. Miss
Warmside immediately gave Mr Hotspur’s letter to one of his villainous looking
retainers and soon the hurried off to try to silence the dogs. Alas by the time
they had reached the first dog many others were howling their heads off. One of
the retainers remained guarding the bottom of the steep ascent to the village.
Meanwhile the archaeologist’s party were welcoming the OVS members, ‘volubly’
commented Doktor Nichtwissen. Eventually whilst their three sailors ascended to
the church, the OVS collected the ladder from the column bank and carried it to
where the giantess had appeared. They with one of the archaeologists armed with
a pistol climbed up. She kept guard as there was firing around the mansion and
two sailors were fighting people living in the house beside the stable.
Carefully examining the area between two houses by lamplight Ronald found each
had faded smoke stains on their fresh whitewash. He thought, and unusually the
Doktor agreed with him that these had been caused by limelights. As you will
know these are used brightly illuminate the stages of our theatres. This
indicated that indeed some sort of a fraud had been committed. As Ronald told
Miss Warmside at the foot of the ladder “There were two limelights up there.
They must have lit up a giantess made of cloth or board to frighten your
diggers!”
But at that moment we heard
a lot of shouting from the village and women started appearing standing on their
flat roofed houses. Mudik the interpreter told them that the local militia were
being called out. “Surleyman must have discovered his pet dog was poisoned!”
exclaimed Miss Daniella Mortimer.
“Nonsense! The Egyptians do not have pet
dogs!” declared the Cook Billy Cann. Here they have them to feed the crocodiles
or themselves when times are hard.
“The Sacrados is urging them to drive
all the evil foreigners away!” warned Mudik and they could hear shouting from
the top beside the church. They looked around for the three sailors sent to
guard them but they were nowhere to be seen! “The Sacrados says that you are
undermining the holy column of Simeon Stylites he thinks you should die!”
“That Naval Officer was being only
interested in his own affairs!” exclaimed Doktor Nichtwissen. “He must have
ordered his sailors to go to the Mansion and leave us at the big risk!” They had
left the ladder beneath the Giantesses position to provide an alternative escape
route and thought they should now remove it, but the villagers were noisily
massing at the top of the path. It was too late to go to the ladder, so they all
drew their pistols and when score of the villages started to advance, fired a
volley at them. Three were hit and the rest threw themselves down except one
armed with a spade. In the lead, he attacked Mr Hotspur’s man Saladin Suk, who
cut him down with his sword. The other villagers then crawled away and the women
on the roofs disappeared. Seeing the four lying bodies left behind Miss Phyllis
Weighbridge said “I do not think they will want to work for us anymore!”
“No!” agreed Miss Warmside.
“I have decided that we will have to abandon the excavation! Cornelia has told
me about finding the Ptolemy VIII Drachma. Regardless of which Princess Arsinoe
was buried here it was certainly not the First. That stupid Lieutenant has
undoubtedly aroused great hostility here and no doubt the Pasha will turn very
nasty! We will take the finds and such equipment as we can to the Launch. At
least that appears to be still there. Could you Verification people keep guard
whilst we pack please?”
So they did and eventually
evacuated the archaeologists and most of their gear onto the Launch and back to
the ‘Nightingale’. Also came the heroic Saladin Suk but we think that his
comrade Ali Wey was murdered by the villagers. Miss Warmside, Marjorie and
Doktor Nichtwissen all laid into Martlet about leaving them undefended. How
serious they are I do not know, but the Admiralty may soon be receiving letters
of complaint from the Earl of Taximeter, the Baron of Clonakilty and the German
Embassy! Then we had the sad ceremony of committing Ordinary Seaman Humby’s body
to the deep. The Archaeologist ladies said a few prayers for those of their
Egyptian diggers whom they had been forced to shoot. They had decided amongst
themselves that, since the Nightingale was to return to England they would stay
aboard. Even Mrs Shirley Clydesdale, whose husband was still in Cairo, decided
that she needed a holiday away from Egypt.
The ‘Lady Bankes’ steam launch
took Mr Hotspur and his retainer away the following evening for destinations
unknown and we did not see them again..
At dawn on the third of May
the Cruiser appeared. The Countess, Marjorie, Milly, Ludmilla and I, with the
Royal Navy party were transferred to it by the ‘Lady Digby. Aboard there was a
Naval Doctor who told us that the Countess had a broken collar bone and bruised
ribs as well as the broken leg and black eye. We were required to help nurse her
on her journey back to Chatham. They provided a pair of snow goggles for her to
wear at all times. These were carved out of wood and held in place by straps. In
place of eyeholes there were small crosses cut in the wood to see through. It
was thought that these would negate her hypnotic powers. The cruiser was a fast
vessel and we ladies arrived back at the Painted Lady four days before the
gentlemen.
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Epilogue
During the voyage back to
England we often spoke to the Countess Oddana about our Society’s objectives. We
told her our main mission had been to investigate the report about the sighting
of the ghostly giantess. We told her we had revealed that it had been a fraud
and she admitted that she had played a part in it. According to her, a French
conjuror had sold her a balloon shaped like the heroine of the Verde Opera Aida.
This had been inflated and then illuminated by two lime lights at the
appropriate time. She herself had issued the warning in Arabic using a
megaphone. She also told us some of her earlier adventures which were mostly too
shocking to relate here!
Apparently Hypatia’s Court
presentation went very well and Marjorie has two very large photographs of her
and her grandmother in full court dress. No proposals as yet but it is early
days. A month later Her Royal Highness Princess Louise presented Marjorie and I
each with the Royal Victorian Order (5th Class) for our efforts. Dark
blue with red and white stripes at the edges, it will make a fine complement to
my Ottoman award.
A few months later, whilst
Mr Holmes and Dr Watson were on the continent, foiling a plot to kill the
Austrian Emperor Franz Ferdinand, she was brought to trial. She was defended by
the eminent Mr Clarence Wheedle of Wheedle & Bragg. The main witness against her
was the obnoxious Lieutenant Hibberd. Mr Wheedle
led him on to expose his hatred and contempt for the defendant and
probably all us women. The beautiful Countess hobbled in on crutches and of
course was no longer wearing the snow goggles. Following her Counsel’s lead she
exhibited herself as the unwilling victim of Colonel Dmitri Polishoff and his
two sinister retainers Boris and Sergei. These were all dead and so could not be
questioned. No one else effectively backed up Hibberd’s claims and so the
susceptible jury (all male of course) found her innocent!
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Sub-Lieutenant Charles
Martlet Report on the Mansu Yusef Operation
The objective of this was
to apprehend the Russian Countess Oddana Donutska who had escaped from custody
in Britain where she was suspected of murder. I was also given the additional
task of facilitating an investigation by the Occult Verification Society which
it was hoped would appease some disaffected worker at an archaeological
excavation nearby. The Countess had been located in the Pasha of Damietta’s
Mansion.
At 2130 hours the hired
Steam launches the Lady Bankes and the Lady Digby headed towards the Egyptian
coast. It was a clear chilly night with no moon. When the lights along the shore
appeared, on my orders the Lady Digby stopped. This was in order that my force
would have a chance of reaching the harbour before the dogs started barking.
Eventually we aboard the
Lady Bankes neared the lighthouse. There would have been a keeper in it but as I
had calculated he was not keeping watch. Nearing the high mud banks that are a
feature of this area the experienced Captain Hailstone reduced speed and we kept
noise to a minimum. Before we reached the fisherman’s quay we heard dogs barking
in the village, indicating that the Lady Digby with its Occult Verification
personnel had arrived at the wooden jetty near the excavation. Unfortunately the
dogs barking eventually must have alerted the residents of the Pasha’s mansion.
On landing on the
Fisherman’s quay as ordered Able Seaman Orthwright and Ordinary Seaman Cooper
immediately ascended to the main village high bank. There they threw down the
bridge connecting it with a second village bank. This effectively cut that off.
They then proceeded to keep
control of part of the main village until joined by Leading Seaman Barber with
Able Seaman Petty and Ordinary Seaman Chard. These had landed with the
Verification people and ascended to the village by a steep path. These then
advanced towards the Mansion pacifying three houses on the way. These included
the two closest to the Verification investigation site. The other was next to
the stable where they were obliged to cutlass down a man attacking them with a
pitchfork. As they went they threw down the only bridge connecting the village
to the Mansion high bank.
Meanwhile at the fisherman’s
quay I led my seven ratings and three civilians onto a large fishing craft. One
of the civilians was a Rumanian woman who although an Ottoman subject could
speak adequate English. We took her to observe the proprieties of escorting a
female prisoner. We poled the craft across to the Mansion’s Quay where three
punts were moored. I then led my men ups some steps to the top of the high bank
on which the Mansion stands. Cautiously we massed under cover at the top.
Ordinary Seaman ran forward to another place of cover but a volley of shots rang
out from the roof of the mansion and he fell mortally wounded. We returned the
fire which eventually ceased. We then advanced only to be fired upon from some
ground floor windows. Able Seaman Jones was seriously wounded and Able Seaman
Hardwick less seriously in these exchanges. Two dead bodies were found inside
plus a man with a carbine who surrendered. He was tied up and gagged and left on
the bed he had been hiding under. We proceeded round to the double front door of
the building and breached it with axes. We then entered an empty large hall with
a stair leading upwards. My ratings encountered a European woman who fired a
pistol at them at the top. They shot her down and I took the pistol into my
custody as evidence. We broke open the door the woman he been standing in front
of to be confronted by eight screaming women. The Pasha’s harem I suppose. I
confiscated a dagger and another pistol from them. Two ratings then advanced in
to the chamber beyond. “She’s jumped out of the window Sir!” one reported. So
leaving a rating with one of the civilians to cover the women I joined them. A
man I presumed was the Pasha was cowering in a double bed, so a rating and
gagged him and wrapped him up in the sheets. Looking out of the window I could
make a white clad female form lying inert on the ground. Calling for our female
civilian I ordered the ratings to descend using one of the grapnel ropes that we
had brought. She carried a first aid kit and claimed to have treated wounds
before. The Rumanian woman was reluctant to descend the grapnel rope, so we made
a bowline from it and lowered her down. Meanwhile two men with pistols had fired
at the two ratings, who returned it and drove them off. They were sure that they
had wounded one. However they climbed over the back wall and escaped into the
darkness.
When they had disengaged the woman
from the bowline I asked if the Countess was dead. “Her leg’s broke!” commented
one of the ratings and then the Rumanian shouted up, “Mr Martlet she is alive
but badly injured. She also needs clothes to make her decent!” so from two
wardrobes bulging with female clothing we threw down armfuls of them. Then I
sent down one of the civilian men who was armed with a pistol to help them carry
the prisoner back down to the quay. With the remaining civilian I carried the
Pasha downstairs and out to collect the rest of my force. I ordered the ratings
to carry the wounded Jones and the dead Humby back to the fishing boat. Down
there I found it had been manoeuvred into acting as a bridge to the steam
launch. The injured prisoner had already been transferred to it. The Merchant
Seaman Captain Hailstone was setting her broken leg and did a good job of it. I
left the trussed up Pasha on the quay as I was sure his people would soon
discover him.
We then sailed back to the
‘Nightingale’ Steam Yacht. Three quarters of an hour after us the ‘Lady Digby’
came alongside with the Verification Investigators and all the Archaeological
Excavation party. They had decided to abandon their operations at Mansu Yusef.
Rather crowded accommodation was found for them aboard the yacht.
I felt that we had carried
out this operation rather successfully but next morning I received complaints
from some of the civilian personnel. I write down what they said at the time as
they said they intend to take their complaints to the Admiralty.
The honourable Miss Sibyl
Warmside accused, “You Mr Martlet, having stirred up enough trouble to turn the
villagers hostile, removed the sailors sent for our protection! As a result
seven British women had to rely on only two civilian gentlemen, to protect them
from an armed mob. Fortunately they managed to do so by killing four of our
former employees. The Occult Verification Society discovered that the Ghost
Giantess was a fraud but after the bloodshed we had no hope of regaining our
workforce. Thus we had to abandon our archaeological investigation! I shall ask
my father the Earl of Taximeter to take our complaint to the Admiralty!”
Mrs Marjorie Butterworth
complained, “From one of your seamen I have heard that you ordered the three
with us, to leave us and support you at the mansion, regardless of our safety.
Our colleagues Professor Able Learning and Doamne Leica Badamaru gave you every
assistance, in securing the apprehension of Countess Oddana Donutska, yet you
gave us poor support for the mission we had travelled all this way to perform!
You needlessly aggravated the villagers into hostile action and left us to
defend ourselves! I shall ask my father the Baron of Clonakilty to complain on
our behalf to the Admiralty!”
The German Doktor Sigismund Nichtwissen
complained, “My colleagues and I have travelled four thousand miles at the
bequest of the British Imperial Foreign Office. We were believing that the Royal
navy would be protecting us. Instead we were left in a dangerous situation. We
solved the problem given us but the hostility that you have aroused in the
village has made our mission pointless. I shall be asking the Imperial German
embassy to complain to the Admiralty about your unnecessary endangering of one
of their citizens!”
On the 1st of
May we gave Ordinary Seaman Humby a sea burial. On the 3rd of May I
rejoined my ship bringing the Countess and with four women to attend to her on
the trip home.
Your Obedient Servant Sub Lieutenant Charles Martlet RN
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Colonel Nicholas
Potemkin
You were worried that
something might happen to the Pasha of Damietta before he could come to an
agreement with Hymie Goldski. Hymie had his own bodyguards so he was not your
responsibility at present. The Pasha himself seemed totally unconcerned. He had
his own bodyguards and was enjoying his wildfowl shooting and his Liaison with
the Countess. He told you that one of the advantages of staying at Mansu Yusef
was that there was no local Imam. His cellar there was well stocked with his
favourite alcoholic beverages which he dared not have in his Damietta Palace.
When he had once tried it his wives had reported him to their Imam! You agreed
to maintain the supply of such beverages especially French Wines in future.
However the disappearance of Hereward Hotspur from Cairo worried you. You knew
that he had a secret lair in the British Embassy Stables where it was impossible
to attack him. But your informant told you he had left six days ago. You knew
that he had a lot of Arab contacts he could bribe to do anything. In fact you
feared that these could include some of the villagers at Mansu Yusef but it
seemed that this was not the case. Most of his contacts were Moslems whilst the
villagers were Coptic Christians. You were told that the village dogs always
gave a loud warning if strangers arrived and that there were always two watchmen
in the Lighthouse. The Pasha
himself always had one of his guards on watch on the roof. The arrival of the
French Capitaine Pedant with two carbine armed Museum Guards on top of your two
retainers boosted the garrison of the Mansion to ten armed men. However if the
British women archaeologists left by tomorrow noon as he instructed his three
would be gone when Hymie Goldski arrived. Hymie had reported that he was being
watched by Ottoman spies and was very nervous. A corpulent man from Moscow he
was suffering in the heat.
The waiting was getting on
your nerves and you slept on top of your bed fully clothed.
Report of the ‘Pirate’
raid on Mansu Yusef, 30th April/1st May 1893
I was woken in the middle
of the night by many dogs in the village barking and went up onto the roof of
the Pasha of Damietta’s Mansion. The Pasha’s guard Kepok reported that he had
seen a steam launch sneak into the harbour, so I called up my two men Yevgeny
and Vladimir. We watched and soon a row of heads appeared along the edge of the
high bank on which the Mansion and part of the village stood. One of them ran
forward to trying to take cover behind the garden wall. Carrying a rifle he was
in the uniform of a British sailor. I gave the order to fire and he fell. A
fusillade of shots ensued from the row of heads so I went below to raise the
alarm. Captaine Pedant went up to join those on the roof but his men and the
Pasha’s guards stayed ready to fire from the lower windows. I heard the firing
from them but then it quietened. Then axes were pounding on the double door at
the front of the Mansion. I had reached the Butler’s Pantry, intending to call
out him and Halvidar Kim who lived in the armoury when I heard this. “These
enemies must be come to capture the Countess and they greatly outnumber us. I
shall guard the cellar from the inside, to protect the secret of the Pasha’s
wine store. Lock me in and surrender immediately if the raiders come here!”
So I put bottles on the stairs down to the cellar as a trap and waited
with my revolver at the ready. After half an hour or so the Butler Ras Keb
opened the door and called down to me. “Effendi, the raiders have gone! They
have taken the Countess and the Pasha with them!” So I replaced the bottles from
whence they had come and searched the Mansion with the Butler and the Halvidar.
Abdul, one of Pedant’s museum guards lay dead whilst the other lay tied up. In
the next room Tannit one of the Pasha’s guards also lay dead. Proceeding
upstairs, at the top lay the body of Mimi the French Harem guard. The eight
women in the harem were all cowering terrified. The butler calmed them down and
found that the Pasha had been carried out, wrapped in sheets through their
chamber and out the front door. Somehow the Countess was taken out of the first
floor window. Down below I could see a heap of her clothes left abandoned. We
then went up onto the roof. Kepok and Yevgeny lay dead but Vladimir had a slight
head wound and was merely unconscious! A voice called up from the punt quay,
“The Pasha is down here!”
It was one of the Pasha’a
guards Sergeant Fezput. He with Guard Fatimm had tried to rescue the Countess
who had jumped out of the window. Fatimm had been wounded in the leg and they
had had to flee over the fields. They thought the Countess had been badly
injured by her fall, so that the raiders had had to carry her away. Like myself
they were certain that the raiders were British Sailors. Most likely they were
led by the Spy Hereward Hotspur! Once we had the Pasha back into the Mansion and
properly dressed, he demanded that we check what had been happening in the
village. The raiders had landed on the Excavation jetty as well. They had killed
Mufti an ostler at the village stable. The Headman Surleyman and Sacrados
Alexandros had roused the villagers in an attempt to drive out the raiders.
Surleyman’s son Sput and two other villagers had been killed and another sorely
wounded! The villagers had captured an Arab spy whom they had fed to the
crocodiles! The archaeologists had abandoned their excavation and left with the
raiders taking most of their gear with them. This pleased Capitaine Pedant at
least. The Pasha Ahab Zaghoul was much annoyed by this raid, it being such an
affront to his dignity. He met Hymie Goldski three days later in Damietta and
arranged to sell 12% of his cotton crop to him. This was as much as Hymie could
take at present but he hopes to increase the amount later.
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Complaint to Lord Curzon
by Khedive Abbas II
‘I regret that I have a
most serious complaint to bring you. It seems that on the night of the 30th
April/1st May the village of Mansu Yusef was raided by pirates who
killed nine people there. Some of them were residing in a mansion belonging to
Pasha Ahab Zaghoul of Damietta! The Pasha himself was roughly handled by these
raiders who were wearing the uniforms of the British Royal Navy! One of those
killed was a Museum Guard from the Cairo Museum. He was part of a delegation led
by Capitaine Pedant, sent to terminate an illegal archaeological excavation
being carried out nearby. This was by some British ladies led by a Miss Sibyl
Warmside, who was undermining a Simeon Stylites column. These at least have now
left the area. Understandably the Pasha and all his surviving people are
very upset! Some treasured items were stolen from his Mansion including two
revolvers and an ancient ceremonial dagger. I have to say that diplomatic
relations between our two countries are severely strained by such unlawful acts!
Lord Curzon Khedive
Abbas II
I am writing concerning the
disturbing Mansu Yusef affair you mentioned to me some months ago. I am afraid
that it has taken a lot of time to research the matter. It seems that on the
night in question there were two separate occurrences at Mansu Yusef. One, the
attack on the Mansion we believe to have been carried out by pirates who wore
British naval uniforms as a disguise. The second occurrence concerned an
archaeological excavation run by the Honourable Hubert Warmside, son of the Duke
of Taximeter. It seems that although he had obtained the landowners permission
he had not procured the necessary Firman from the Cairo Director of Antiquities.
A Capitaine Pedant from Cairo, notified those on the site of this and asked that
they leave. Mr Warmside not being present, his sister Lady Sibyl Warmside
decided to procure a steam launch so that the abandonment could proceed. She was
sorry that the necessary paperwork had not been forthcoming. The local workforce
had become discontented some time before, and were accusing her of undermining
Simeon’s Column. Possibly due to the actions of the pirates this discontent led
the villagers to attack the archaeologists on the night in question. These
numbered seven women and four men. The men were compelled to defend themselves,
killing four of the villagers and driving them off. They then completed the
evacuation and in fact returned to England.
I have been in contact
with Her Majesty’s Imperial Government regarding this matter. We have no
responsibility for the actions of the pirate raiders but we do not want the good
relations between our two countries to become strained. Therefore I am empowered
to present nine thoroughbred racing horses to the Pasha of Damietta. I am
informed from his servants that
this gift will be much welcomed by him.
=
=
=
Games Master’s Account
I turned over in my mind
several possible scenarios without finding one to suit. I do not often suffer
from writers block as most of my actions open up possible sequels. However at
the ‘Claymore’ Convention in Edinburgh I bought some inspiring figures. They
were of straw hat wearing naval ratings, ‘female archaeologists’ and ‘sinister
spies’! They were probably designe
d
for the 1920’s but by giving long skirts to two wearing jodhpurs, I made them
suitable for the 1890s. Alan Hamilton had long ago invented TINSEL,
The International
Society of Exploring Ladies. So I decided that the female archaeologists should
be member of that body. Amongst the illustrations we had of them is of three of
them vandalising some Egyptian Ruins! So I had a quick scan through Egyptian
History to find a suitable subject for them to investigate. I ran through the
great Queens whom I thought could be appropriate. Sobeknefaru, Hatshepsut and
Cleopatra VII but thought that male archaeologists of those times would have
them covered. Then I chanced on Arsinoe I the wife/sister of Ptolemy II. The
Ptolemaic rulers were not much studied in the 19th century and much
of their history was lost underwater in an Earthquake at Alexandria. Her body is
probably is probably one of those at the Soma of Alexandria. The Borgias were
tame compared to the Ptolemaics who fought like ferrets in sack most of the
time. Cleopatra VII (the Famous one) had her sister, the last Arsinoe murdered
at Ephesus. Knowing that the Nile Delta no longer had the inundations to worry
about, because of the barrage, I realised that my flat topped brown painted
crags could double as high mud banks. Having the venue on the coast meant that I
could use the two steam launches made at the time of the Shaw Villa adventure.
Most of the village hovels were made from compressed cardboard strawberry
punnets. These are some of my oldest pieces of scenery dating from the 1960s.
The Mansu Yusef Mansion, is the smaller
one used in the Morval Earth Battle of Parthero.
The gold giantess came from
the gift shop either at the Burrel Collection or possibly Highclere Castle. Alan
lent me the Pasha’s Guards and most of the male villagers.
Part 1
- introduction and first part of the action
Part 2 - Second part of the
Action
Part 3 -Player accounts
Part 4 - Games Master Map
and key
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