" Monsieur Dukas, please." " Go away, I am busy." "Excellency, please, the stranger, he wants to see you." " Go away." " He's got a big gold watch." "He's giving money away." "Money?" "Halt!" "Stop the eulogy!" "Everybody halt!" "Excellency, it is bad luck to stop." "Sheik Nuwas, our guest of honor, is in no hurry." "Where is the stranger?" "This way, come!" "I am Anatole Dukas, the Prefect of the City." "It is my honor to welcome you to our metropolis." "My name is Paul Bonnard." "I was at your office when the ladies volunteered to help me find you." "You did well, dear children." "If it is lodging you seek, or you wish money to exchange" "I am at your service, monsieur." "Thank you very much." "I was hoping you would be able to recommend me a guide." "A guide?" "May I ask where you wish to be guided?" "Into the Sahara Desert." "Wonderful!" "I have the perfect man for you and I myself will supply the equipment." "I dislike to impose." "It is an honor to be of service." "If you come to my office after the burial I'll present to you the most superb guide." " At what time?" "5:00." "Fine." "Oh!" "You!" "Shame on you!" "To take advantage of a guest." " Give it to me." " Wait." "Huh?" "You'll pay for this crime." "Disgrace to Timbuktu." "Take that thief to jail." "Pardon me, but I am preferring no charges against the young woman." "But a crime has been committed." "Perhaps the payment of a fine would satisfy the civic conscience." "Monsieur, you show an example of extreme nobility." "The municipality releases you." "You are free." "You can thank this gentleman." "Thank you, sir." "I am extremely embarrassed." "If you pardon me, I must go back to the burial of Sheik Nuwas." " At 5:00 in my office." " At 5:00." "Please, don't give any money away in my absence." "All right, come." "Everybody, go." " Why did you steal it?" " I wanted it." "If you wanted it, why didn't you ask for it?" "You can have it." " Really?" " Of course." "Thank you." "Joe!" "Joe January!" "He is not here tonight, MonsieurDukas." "Joe, Joe January." "You see something you like?" "Hardly." "Do these women live here?" "Monsieur, they are the children of the city." "Please." "Joe!" "Joe January!" "Monsieur Bonnard, please, this young lady will take care of you for a few moments." "I have a little errand of an official nature to accomplish." "Guard our guest well." " Excellency." " Is Joe January here?" " He has moved in." " Moved in?" " Yes, with everything." " With everything?" " Joe, you are indisposed?" " Go away." "Could we go somewhere else?" "I have some important information." "I happen to be in jail." " But Joe, the door is open." " Not interested." "What's the matter?" "Have you lost your head?" "I was suddenly put in jail, remember?" "Getting drunk and breaking chairs was bad enough, but bombs, Joe!" "You were making bombs!" "It wasn't bombs, it was the Fourth of July." "What is wrong with the Fourth of July?" "Haven't you heard of a fellow named Geo..." " Who?" " You wouldn't understand." "I am a man of great understanding, if you..." " Stop howling at me." " I am not howling!" "I am speaking in a gentle, friendly voice." "You are free." "I've paid your fine, 200 francs, as I have always done and put it down in my little bill." "You're a crook, Mr. Dukas." "You've been robbing me blind." "You keep socking me with fines and putting 'em on the bill." "And what happens?" "I give you every sou I make and I still owe you." "A little drink will restore you, Joe." "Yeah, you fat crook!" "You gave me 30 days this time, and 270 days before that." "Add 'em up!" "I am entitled to 300 days in this jail." "In toto, at government expense." " Pay attention..." " Stop howling and get out of here." "I am not howling." "Of course, if you get tired of feeding me and housing me free, just say the word and I walk out that door a free man." "You can earn freedom quicker than you think." "No, no tricks." "A foreign gentleman has arrived in Timbuktu." "He is stuffed with money." "His name is Monsieur Bonnard." "You rob him." "Who wants to rob him?" "Monsieur Bonnard is planning an expedition into our beloved Sahara." "I have already made some purchases for him." "I'll bet." "I informed him there is only one man in all of Africa who knows the Sahara like the nail on his thumb, Joe January." "Has he got enough money to get me out of this Garden of Eden?" "You only have to ask him, Joe." "You've said enough." "Agreed." "You will leave in the morning." "I have secured the donkeys." "They are ready to be packed." "I thought we'd take camels." " Did you ever ride one?" " No." "We'll use donkeys." "If you tell me where you are going, I will order the exact amount of supplies." "Well into the desert." "Please, don't misunderstand me, Monsieur Bonnard." "I know it's none of my business, but now that we are friends" " I thought you would wish to tell me." " What?" "If you are going to take photos or to visit friends..." "No." "Then you are a traveler, a man who admires exotic scenery." "No, I am not a traveler." "Lay off, Dukas." "It's none of your business, or mine, where a man's going, or why." "How long a hike are you planning?" "Ten weeks, or more." " There and back?" " No." "One way." "That's quite a distance, mister." "We can get by with two donkeys packed and two to ride." "We will need two more, for the return trip." "Two more?" "Six?" "All right." "Final subject, how much?" " How much do you want?" " I understand you're a rich man." " I am not rich." " That's tough luck all around." "If you let me handle this negotiation, dear friend..." "You keep your sticky fingers out of this, dear friend." "I'll take the job if there's enough in it to buy me out of Timbuktu." "And how much is that?" "I owe this drinker of human blood around 1,000." "What about you, Dita?" "Make it a couple hundred more." "And 2,500 for a boat out of Dakar." "Are you willing to pay 4,000?" "Yes." "Good." "Settled." "And without any foolish waste of time." "You have hired a guide..." "Oh, shut up." "I congratulate you upon this union, Joe." "See you later." "Come on, I'll buy you a drink." "No." "Why not?" "It's my last night." "Maybe my last night in Timbuktu." "Come on, we'll give it a nice goodbye." "This is no time for frivolities." "There are donkeys to select for the morning." "Come on." "You'll steal less if I go along." "Keep your eye on your wallet, Bonnard." "Sorry, Dita, I've got a stake in this one." "Bonnard." "Mr. Bonnard." "Women." "Not me." "The world is full of ferocious animals." "But there is only one unkind one." "Man." "Animals will kill, but a man does worse." "He hurts." "I hate men." "It's morning." "I have to go." "No." "Yes, you must go to sleep." "No." "Talk to me." "You're like a small child asking for fairy tales." "A child." "If I only was." "If I could start over..." "You can." "Everybody can do what they want." "Sin doesn't make a sinner." "Sin is a wound that can be healed." "Struck out?" "Let's mosey." "Get out of here!" "Go away!" "If you want to scrub up Dita's soul, it's all right with me." "It may take a little time." "Go on, laugh at me, because a man sat talking to me all night as if I were a human being." "Go on, laugh, you desert pig!" "I hate loud chippies." "Dirt, dirt!" "That's all you are!" "I don't think that was very kind." "If you want to hang around here and confuse this lady further, go ahead." "We can start tomorrow." "The desert will still be there." " No." "I have to go." "Are the donkeys loaded?" " They're loaded." "Okay, I will join you." "Did you pay for this?" "Yes." "No sense leaving temptation in the lady's way." "We'll be ready to start in 15 minutes unless you have other plans." "He is a friend of yours?" "Yes." "He is a friend." "They're all friends, all the pigs in Timbuktu!" "I hate myself!" "I will remember a woman whose heart was full of pain." "I have to go." "Goodbye, Dita." "Goodbye, Dita." "Everything all right?" "Good morning, Joe." " So, you're off?" " Maybe." " Did you find out more about our friend?" " Nope." "A man of mystery?" "Surely you talked to him last night?" "No." "He was busy." "Oh!" "With Dita!" "He sat up preaching to her all night." "To Dita!" "No!" "That's impossible to believe." "He was still fanning away at her when I walked in on them this morning." "Dita, our little touch of gay Paris in the wilderness!" "Good morning." " Good morning." "Everything ready?" " To the last can of peaches." "Good." "So we are ready to start?" "You ride this one." "Here is half your fee, as we agreed." "2,000 francs." " Thank you." "I owe you 1,000." "No." "The official ledger says 1,400." "Do you want that 1,000, or do you want me back in jail?" "Joe, monsieur..." "All right." "Excuse me, monsieur, but I am opposed to that." " Opposed to what?" " Taking liquor along." "Well, I'm not." "We'll compromise." "You live your way, I'll live mine." "For medicinal purposes, perhaps it may be useful." "Best desert remedy on the market." "Take me along, please." "I'm used to the desert." "Take me along." "I can't, Dita." "I'm going off for a long and difficult trip." "I won't be in the way." "I'm really touched that you want to come, but it's not possible." "I can cook for you, help with the camp." "She might come in sort of handy at that." "I'd like to help you, but I have so much to do." "I'll see you again when I come back." " How long will it be?" " Not very long." "If you tell me where you are going," "I could arrange for our little Dita to communicate." "What are you stewing about, mon capitaine?" "Bonnard told you where we were going last night." " Where?" " The Sahara Desert." "Straight ahead and turn to your left." "Joe, please, I can't." "Allons, Jeannette." " The desert begins." " It's all desert." "I imagine you're curious about where we're going." "You'll get around to telling me." "I have spent 10 years preparing for this trip." "And I studied the Sahara and its history." "I know every word that's written about this dead sea of sand." "There's a lot to know about the Sahara." "You like the desert?" "It's mine." "It's all I own." "I think this will be the most important job of your life." "What is it?" "I'm going in search of my father." "A reunion?" "He disappeared in the desert 10 years ago." "Just where do you expect to catch up with him?" "I don't expect to find him alive." "Dropped out of a salt caravan." "Even camels can't make it sometimes." "I thought that happened farther out." "You missed a few lessons in your home desert study, Mr. Bonnard." "It can happen anywhere." "I've seen dead animals and men 100 yards from water." "That wind blows, and the sand moves, it's goodbye water holes." "The oasis of Asselar will not be covered." "You can start your praying right now." "Yes, it is Asselar." "It hasn't changed." "The old Turkish fort, the well, the palms." " I thought you hadn't been here before." " I haven't." "This is the largest oasis, isn't it?" "That's right." " Anything you'd like me to do?" " I'll manage." "Nothing like soaking your insides while you can." "Here is where the next camp is, due north of us, through the valley of Tilemsi." "We move always toward the hills of Adras." "And from there, to Tin Reroh camp in the Tuareg country." "Fifty-nine miles as the lizard crawls." "How do you know it?" "There is no map showing the mountain." "I memorized my father's letter and destroyed it." "I was reciting a caravan route a few thousand years old." "Oh." "One gets to imagining strange things in the desert." "Yeah, one meets them, too." "Do you know where we go after sighting Mount Tahat?" "There's nothing out there but a million years of dead sand." " Yes, there is." " What?" "I will tell you that when we get to Mount Tahat." "Holy Mother of the Pyramids!" "You're out here after treasure?" "Oh!" "King Solomon's mines or the golden tomb of my Aunt Minnie!" "Out in the middle of nowhere, lookin' for nothing in the wrong season!" "Jeannette, you have a pal on this trip." "A fellow jackass." "It's me!" " Don't you hear anything?" " Yeah." " Jackals?" " No." "Are there any other animals that make a noise like that?" "Men." "Tuaregs." "Do you suppose they have seen us?" "They've been following us for hours." "Are they friendly?" "Nothing is friendly out here." "I hope they are not trailing us." "There's only one way to find out." "They still might be watching us." "They must not know what I am after." "Don't worry." "Nobody pays any attention to gold hunters in the desert except the desert." "You think I'm a fool who believes in fairy tales." "You're paying me a salary." "If you want to go chasing a gold pot, I'll tag along." "I am not going after the riches for myself." "The gold I find will be used to make my father's dream come alive." "A refuge for the needy." "A haven for the sick of soul and body." "A monument to humanity rising out of the jungle." "That was my father's dream." "They've been here." "Must have left a couple of hours ago." "If they have left." "Shall I get firewood?" "There isn't any." "They burned up all the wood years ago." " Use those chips." " Chips?" "Camel chips." "Over there." "See that stuff?" "Find the driest." "It makes a good fire." "Easy." "Take it slow." "Let's just go on about our business." "How did you get out here?" "The Tuaregs brought me." " Well, they can cart you right back." " No." " Go on." " No." "I said get going." "There's no place for you." "We have provisions for two." "When you left, I cried all day." "I wanted to die at the end of the night when a man came to my room." "I hit him and ran away." "I can't live like the girl I was before." "Please, let me stay." "Haul yourself out of here." "He brushed you off in Timbuktu." "Let me stay." "I'll work, I'll help." "We can't turn her away, Joe." "Forget that "we. "" "It's your hike from here on in." "If you want to cross the Sahara with a loony on your coattails, I'm out." "Let me explain." "There's nothing to explain." "I like my chippies in a room." "You pig!" "You're fooling nobody." "You get a crazy yen for a fella, and come hot-footing it out here squealing about salvation." "You're hurting me!" "I'll bust you if you try that again." "She's all yours, Mr. Bonnard." "You will not leave us, Joe." "She can show you the way back." "I'm not going back." "Well, I am." "Please, let me tell you." "Then you decide." "I am going to the lost city of Ophir." "It was a city that vanished 2,000 years ago." "My father found its secret in the Bible." "The city of Ophir flourished in a part of the Sahara when the desert was green with forests and bright with lakes and rivers." "There's no lost city in the Sahara." "Thousands of caravans have traveled over it for thousands of years." "And your father comes up from the Somaliland and walks into a lost city?" "Don't be so naive." "Everyone knew about ancient Troy for thousands of years but nobody knew where to find it." "A few years ago, a German named Schliemann walked up and found it." "He also found a king's treasure, and it wasn't luck." "He knew where it was." "The desert is full of bones that went looking for treasure." "Because they didn't know where to look." "I know!" "Joe, listen, what can you lose?" "Look, here is the rest of your fee." "And I will give you a third of the treasure." " You're offering me a third of a goose egg." " No." "There is gold, silver, ivory, gems." "A pile of treasure." "He described it." ""I held rubies in my hand the size of eggs" ""and emeralds as big as the palm of my hand. "" "My father wrote that, and he was a man who never lied." "I listened too long." "Timbuktu or the Somaliland, what's the difference?" "I'll take a third of your hole in the sand." "And I guess I've got to buy you, too." "A lost city and a batty dame." "You work on her soul, and I'll take care of the desert." "You're tired, Dita." "Why don't you go to sleep?" "I can't." "He reminds me." " Of what?" " Timbuktu." "All the places I've been." "Foul places." "Tell me." "About me?" "Mmm-hmm." "You wouldn't like it." "Talk." "It will comfort you." "My mother taught me only one thing." "Not to cry." "Every time I cried, she slapped me till I stopped." "She said, "Men don't buy cry-babies. "" "We lived in Algiers." "I ran away." "I never saw my mother again." "Was your father alive?" "Who knows?" "I went to different towns." "I met men." "The pictures stay in my head, always the same." "Same hands, crawling all over me like bugs." "I'd like to peel off my skin and be new." "Give me the knife." "Tears are better than a knife for cleansing." "Oh, brother!" "Sinful girl sobbing on your shoulder." "You must feel about 10 feet tall." "You believe in nothing!" "You believe in nobody!" "You drink and sneer and hurt!" "Leave her alone." "Sure." "She's all yours." "We must be off our course." "There shouldn't be a city there." "There isn't." "Look at the horizon, floating a little above it." "It's a mirage." " A mirage?" "A place called Bandiagara, it's about 200 miles from where you see it." "It looks real." "It's as real as that lost city of yours." "What do you say we head for it, and walk off with one of its ivory towers?" "We'd better shelter here in the canyon." "No." "A little further on." "All the wind." "Are you ill?" "No." "I'm dizzy." "I can't breathe." "Make him stop for a while, please." "Of course, as long as you wish." "I'll talk to him." "Paul!" " What?" "What is it!" " Take it off." "Take it off me!" "They were crawling on me." "Don't let them touch me, please!" "Finally got your man?" "Good work." "She had a fright." "There were some spiders." "That's why I didn't stop here." "This place is called Tarantula Canyon." " I'd be a little careful with that." " Her face is bruised." "That much water could save a life." "It's from my canteen." "And whose will you drink out of when that's gone?" "Both of you?" "Not yours!" "Not if I was dying of thirst!" "If you're through with your "Fainting Bertha " tricks, we can move on." "You must stop talking to her like that." " I must?" " Yes." "You will respect her." "Him?" "Respect a woman?" "You're a couple of fakes." "Both of you." "I'm sick of watching you moaning about your souls and pawing each other." "Since I came, he keeps sneering at me, calling me names." "Only one, Dita." "We are a little world by ourselves in the desert, Joe." "Let's be a civilized world." "A couple of men and a dame are a strain on any civilization." "Stay down." "That's their death fires." "They dig a grave in the sand and they keep the drums going till the sick man is dead." "I know." "You know?" "If you were scared when we saw those other Tuaregs, you ought to be shaking now." "Those are Hoggars." "We're stuck." "We can't bypass this water hole." " Where are you going?" " I might be able to help." " It's wrong to interfere with death." " I must do what my father did." "Stop him." " How?" " They'll kill him, he doesn't know." " He knows." " Paul!" "Easy!" "He's all wound up to do something." "Your yelling will only make it worse." "He's making himself understood." "Throwing some kind of language at them." "He's wonderful." "You're kind of slow grabbing him." "You're not fit to talk about him." "Do you believe in him now?" "His city of Ophir, and rubies and emeralds, no!" "But I'll tell you one thing, he's got guts." "I wouldn't go down there." "We'd better make camp up here." "Coming?" "No, I'll wait for him." "If I know Tuareg hospitality, he won't be back before dawn." "I'll wait." "We're in for it." "It's heading our way." "Give me a hand." "Hold on to this." "Spread this out between those mounds." "Joe." "Look!" "This is the rest of our map." "You memorized it pretty well." "This is Mount Tahat." "My father went west, toward In Zize." "Between In Zize and Bidon, there is a plateau." "He went there." "That's a lot of empty country, mister." "Nobody's been over it in my time." "My father has." "The city lies here." "I'm telling you, that's a long haul." "We'll need something better than gold to get us back." "What?" "Water." "If that city is dry, we're cooked." "There will be water." "My father said so." "Hey!" "Need any help?" " Don't embarrass her." " It's all right." "I'm pretending it's a mirage." "Have you got some flour?" "Sure, why?" "We have water to waste." "I'll make some biscuits." "You can cook?" "I can cook, I can breathe, I can live!" "What is the matter with you?" "Are you sick?" " Why?" " You haven't sneered at me the whole day." "Maybe I'm recovering some lost virtue myself." "Yes, and you could use some, too." "It is amazing to walk alone in the desert." "It is like walking over the face of a clock that has stopped." "We can have fire all night long, and we..." "Your dress is torn." "I'll sew it." " What's the matter?" " Come on, I want to talk to you." "Well?" "Well, how about a drink?" "No." "What do you want, Joe?" "Just a little friendliness." "I'm not afraid of you anymore." " That's smart." " Or angry." "I'll drink to that." "Nice night." "Hmm." "How high it is." "Like a big high bed, with a clean sheet every night." "It makes me feel so little." "I do a little shrinking out in the desert myself." "The drink makes you feel bigger?" "Why don't you have a taste?" "Make you listen better." "Hmm?" " No." "Hurry." "What do you want to tell me?" " No hurry." "He sleeps like a rock." "He has got a good conscience." "I don't know." "Can't tell about a fella like that, what he is or isn't." "I'll not listen to talk against him." "He's a pure man." "He's got a good heart." "Okay, maybe you're right." "That's why I want to warn you." "Against what?" "Against cutting him up into little pieces." "He's falling for you." "Except he doesn't know how." "You're lying." "No lies, Dita." "Just an honest tip." "Watch your step and sew that up." "I got a good suggestion." "Come here." "Let's take temptation out of his path, you and me." "Oh, no!" "Not you!" "All right, no combat." "You Bible-spouting phony!" "I'm going to shove this down your throat!" "That won't save you." "Will you leave us alone?" " What hit me?" " I did." " With an ax?" " No, with this." "Oh." "I should have remembered, you're pretty good in a barroom fight." "You're the only one in a barroom." "Every place you go is a barroom." "I don't go around shooting and swinging frying pans." "You touch him and I'll do it again." "I'm sorry." "I had to do it." "I heard your talk." " So you took a shot at me?" " No, not at you." "At the liquor that was making you talk like that." "Let's be friends." "Let's start over." "All right." "We'll start over." "But you pull a gun on me again and one of us will be a dead friend." "I'm going to need a little more information." "This is getting tricky now." "I got to know the degrees." "No more of those sand pictures." "Take a look at this chart." "It tells the story." "We are in or near the tropic of Cancer." "We are at exactly 23 and a half degrees north of the equator." "We are on the tropic of Cancer." "I know where we are." "Where do you think we're going?" "My father went from 23 and a half degrees north, by 5 west using dead reckoning to approximately 5 degrees and 30 minutes west." "Approximately!" "Dead reckoning!" "A half a degree error can mean 30 or 40 miles!" "What did he say about water?" "We'll find a river there." "We'll find a river." "In the middle of the desert." "And we've got a couple of pints of water." "I'm not going to argue with you anymore." "We'll look for exactly eight hours." "If we don't find your Garden of Eden, we're heading back for In Zize." "The end of the line." "We're going back." "We're almost there." "Have faith." "In what?" "In that?" "In my father." "He walked there." "I know he passed there." "He bathed in the river." "Let's get practical." "If your father found gold and a river, why didn't he come back?" "Why?" "I believe in you, Paul." "Why didn't he come back?" "I'll tell you why." "Because it's a lie!" "The whole yarn is a stinking, phony lie!" "No, it's the truth!" "We'll come to the white cliffs." "I will find water!" "You won't find anything out there except a hot grave." "There is a river!" "We have just enough water to get us to In Zize." "We're going back." "I'm calling the turn now." "There's no Garden of Eden." "You're not giving orders." "You want to turn her into a little pile of white bones?" "Do you want to die chasing a mirage?" "We've got eight hours of water left." " After that, we sit down and burn up." " You're not giving orders to us." "All right, but I'm giving orders to one Joe January." "You can do what you want." "You maniac!" "Now we can't even get back to In Zize!" "You're crazy, both of you!" "It's not far, is it?" "No." "It's there, believe me!" "We will find it together." "The three of us." "Come on Paul." "This time, I..." "I think I'll pray." "There they are!" "He wrote," ""The white cliffs rise like a winged wall. "" "There it is, there is my father's truth." "A solid wall of stone and sand." "There is an entrance." "He wrote it." "Well, he was right about the riverbed." "Except it looks like it's been dry 100 years." "Do you think you know where there's water, Jeannette?" "Well, mosey." "Thank you, Father." "Did you think we were going to die?" " It occurred to me." " Three skulls lying in the sand." "And 100 years from now, some travelers would have said," ""I wonder who they were. "" "You still angry with me?" " I always forgive a lady one murder." " Thanks." "I wonder where Paul is." "Nosing around for rubies and emeralds, I guess." "He'll find them." "Have you changed your mind?" "About what?" "Him." "I don't know." "You must have faith in him." "Please say it." "I'll say one thing, he had a smart father." "We will be what he wants, three friends." " He's found something." " Yes." "This isn't the holy city of Ophir." "It's a Roman city." "Are you sure?" "Look at the architecture and that inscription." ""ImperatorTrajan," ""the third legion of Rome," ""made this city to last forever. "" "I guess his father couldn't read." "Funny." "A fellow spends his whole life looking for the Holy City of Ophir" "and winds up discovering the unholy city of Timgad." "Yes, but why did his father disappear?" "Is there something lives here?" "Yeah, ghosts." "Millions of them." "Bonnard!" "Paul!" "Wait!" "Don't leave me." "I feel they are watching us, all the dead people who lived in this city." "It's like a fancy tomb with doors and windows." "Bonnard!" "I don't like this!" "Bonnard!" "It lay beside him." "Your father?" "They murdered him." "I knew he was dead." "But to see him like this, white bones that were once a wonderful man." "Which one is your father?" "The one with the wedding ring." "He was a big man." "A bullet hole in his head." "They murdered him." "This must be the guide." "This fellow's got a knife in his back." "It must have gone through his heart." "My father defended himself." "She died with her arms around the other fella." "Cheap beads." "Imitation leather." "Goes together." "She wasn't a very stylish lady." "What are you reading?" "What is it?" "It's signed "Jonathan. " Your father's handwriting?" "Yes." "What does it say?" "It's a love letter." "Some dame in Cairo, name of Arabella." "He sent her money to join him in Timbuktu." "Oh, no!" "His pa was quite a boy." "He wrote her about the treasure." ""Riches beyond all your dreams. "" "He wrote like a guy jumping out of a window." "He'll take her away to Paris, and they'll live like Solomon and Bathsheba, happy days and nights in each other's arms." "He's reading that!" "You sat all night in my room and gave me new life." "Let me help you now." "Maybe it was arranged that way." "I should be here to help you." "You said God forgives somebody who is bad if they turn good." "Doesn't he forgive somebody good if they turn bad?" "Nothing has happened to you." "You are the same, and if you find the treasure, you can do what you dreamed, what your father dreamed once." " Build a place of goodness." " You still believe in goodness?" "You proved to me it exists." "I'll go with you." " I'll help you live the dream you told..." " I have no dreams." "I buried them." "All three of them." "Like you said in Timbuktu, it's good medicine." "Try it." " He never drank." " As far as you know." " He lied." " Come on, he's dead." "He's paid his bills." "An adulterer and murderer." "It can happen to any man, good or bad." "A woman throws a harpoon into you, and you go where she pulls." "Come on, it'll help you." "Take me to his grave." "It might do you some good to say a prayer over him." "Prayer?" "It was all fake." "The pious voice." "The kindly eyes." "False!" "My father was a lie!" "I believed in lies." "Makes a good frying pan, too." "I'm glad you hit me over the head with it." "I can take it there." "What's the matter?" "Why doesn't he join us?" "He has been gone all night." " We ought to go look for him." " He'll come out of it." "He's probably looking for that bronze door his father wrote about." "Give me your plate." "I'm worried about him." "Yeah." "He's the kind women worry about." "Maybe I've been underestimating him." " You have." " Good." "Then he'll get over the shock." "Everybody has to take a few punches." "You flop, and then get up again." "You did." "I've found it!" "Come on, I need help!" "How about some food first?" "No." "Come on." "The bronze door." "It's sprung." "Let me give you a hand." " Lift and pull." " Yeah." "He's giving a little." "Lies!" "More lies!" "Lies about God!" "Lies about gold!" "You're not used to it." "It will make you feel bad." "I feel nothing." "Where have you been?" "Walking around, thinking." "It's a great town for thinking." "No distractions." "The thing between the guide and the Cairo girl must have started in the desert." "By the time they reached Timgad, your father knew the score." "His Bathsheba was changing Solomons." "He'd told her about the bronze door, so the minute they arrived in Timgad, he hid the treasure someplace else." "He was afraid they would murder him." " Maybe." " Why not?" "He was in the way." "That's why he left a record, in case something happened." "A record?" "I figure, him sitting by himself that night, a man full of pain, he turned to the only thing he knew for comfort, his Bible." "So I rescued his Holy Book and I found something." "A turned-down page." "The only dog-eared page in the Book." "Here it is." ""And they shall go into the holes of the rocks" ""and the caves of the earth for the fear of the Lord" ""and on that day a man shall" ""cast his idols of gold and silver" ""to the moles and to the bats. "" "The bats!" "That's what it says." "The bats came out of the ground!" "Pretty foul down there." "2,000 years of busy bats." " If you want me to make this trip..." " No." "I've found it." "Some of these are Egyptian and..." "Look at this one." "What a ruby." "Do you like it?" "It's beautiful." "It must have belonged to a queen." "It belongs to you now." " To me?" " Yes." "I give it to you." "This ruby, mine?" "Oh!" "Thank you!" "You're kinder than anyone has ever been to me in my life." "What is it Paul?" "Do you want to talk to me?" "Yes." "Alone." "Please." "All right." "What is it Paul?" "Sit down." "You won't run away?" "You will stay?" "I'm here." " My heart hurts for you." " Don't be sorry for me." "Please don't." "Kiss me." "I can't." "Everybody else, why not me?" "Do you want to take it all away, that you gave me?" " I gave you lies." " No." "You gave me a white dress." "I rode through the desert in a white dress." "Don't take it away from me, Paul." "No." "I can't go back now." "Kiss me." " No." " Why not?" "What do you want, more?" "Rubies, emeralds?" "I want nothing." "In God's name, let me go!" "Forgive me." "Here." "Look." "I lived all my life far away from pleasures." "All pleasure." "It is easy for you to say no to them." "You have had them." "I have had nothing." "Here." "There, they are all yours." "What else is it good for?" "I made you virtuous." "I'll buy your virtue." "You will be rich, happy," "radiant." "Take them away!" "Don't touch me!" "Let her go." "She's mine!" "Go to him." "Behind my back." "Like they did!" " You will kill me like they killed him." " Shut up." "You'll kill me, I know it." "You will kill me!" "Come back, you maniac." "He's drunk." "He's crazy and scared." "You'd better stay back in there." "What are you going to do?" "I'm going to keep out of sight." "He's pretty handy with a gun." "You stay back there out of range." "I'd better pick up those extra cartridges." "You'd better make yourself comfortable." "It'll be a long night." "Poor Paul." "He was so kind." "How could it happen?" "It happens." "But to him." "He believed in God." "I can't recite any Psalms for you, but I know about people who believe in God." "Our friend didn't." "He put his faith in his father, a man, a human being." "That's an easy faith to lose." "I know about that, too." "But he was a good man." "He tried to do good." "He dreamed of goodness all his life." "I'm getting a little sick of this poor Paul, kind man, full of grace." "What does it take to wake you up?" "He didn't believe in anything but being a big shot, with God as a front." "I've seen these do-gooders before, usually doing the most good for themselves." "Believing in God is different than drooling over rubies and emeralds." "I guess it's been a pretty rough night for you." "I heard that big auction scene." "You were all right." "You'd better try and get some rest." "Aren't you going to sleep?" "Not yet, but go ahead." "We got a long haul back." "Back..." " Timbuktu." " Yeah." "Back to Timbuktu." "But you're going to ride all the way in that white dress." "You awake?" " Good morning." " Good morning." "Your friend seems to have quieted down." "Maybe too quiet." "I think I'll take a look around." "You'd better hang onto this, just in case." "Be careful." "Hey!" " What's the matter?" " He's gone." " Where?" " Gone with everything!" "Food, canteens, donkeys, everything!" "I felt something was phony last night." "I was too dumb to spot it." "Besides, how do you figure an amateur will take off into the desert alone?" "I forgot we were dealing with a maniac." "Here dump that out and fill it with water." "Shows you how serious this situation is." "But he left us to die." "We're not dying yet." "I'll run him down." "That's all for this course." "We'll get him." "Soon?" "Pretty soon." "When a donkey gets thirsty his belly shrinks." "The cinch loosens." "Pack falls off." "We'll get him." "The only thing our friend will hang on to is the treasure." "A rich man crawling through the desert." "Idiot!" "Idiot!" "No canteen." "Packing a donkey without water!" "That bumble-brain." "Thank God!" "You like peaches?" "Could I have a drink first?" "Oh, of course." "Take it easy." "Just sip it." "That's it." "That's enough for now." "Come on." "Come on!" "Get up." "No." "Go on alone." "I made it happen." "I'm no good." "Everything I touch turns rotten." "You got delusions." " Let's go." " No." "No more." "I got enough trouble, cut out the bellyaching." "Why go on?" "What for?" "I don't want to live." "Too much work, living." "Rotten work." "I wanted to die lots of times." "I'm glad it's over." "I said stand up." "You're not going to go to bed in the desert!" "You're going to stand up and walk like a human being." "Like a woman!" "No, just..." "It's all right." "Jeannette!" "Come, Jeannette." "Come, baby." "It's so good to see you." "Dita, Dita." "Our reserves." "I saved it." "Found a pal." "Isn't she pretty?" "I must be such a mess." "You were never more beautiful." " To you?" " Yeah." "To me." "We're like we never were." "Can such a thing happen to us?" "To me?" "It happened." "You're getting kind of sentimental." "You never kissed me like that before." "I always meant to." "There they are." "Donkeys!" "Two donkeys!" " Dead?" " No." "The rich man in his counting house." "You hate me." "No." "He's going to kill me." "No." "Save me." "Save me, Dita." "His face is so swollen." " You can't drink rubies." " But he's dying." "Probably 10 feet from water, if we can find it." " Do you hear me?" " God help me!" "He'll last a couple of hours if we can find any water." "I'll find you water, little old Jeannette." "Take it easy." "It's a long job." " Let me." " Not yet." "Take a rest." "Is it wet yet?" "No." " Not yet." " It's there." "I know it's there." "There is water here, I know it!" "I can smell it." "There is water, look!" "Water!" "No, Paul!" "No!" "You will not kill me, you will not bury me!" "Joe!" "Joe!" "I killed him!" "Water." "Get some water." "I'm so cold." "Don't move." "I wonder if he can hear me." "He's dead." "I know it." "But I still wonder." "Don't call him names." "You liked him." "I don't know." "Yes." "That's why I called him names." "He was a good guy all, almost all the way." "If his pa hadn't tripped him up, he'd have done all right." "Spent all that junk on healing' the sick and helping the lowly." "And me picking on him for slipping at the finish." "I slipped all the way." " I don't know how to say to you..." " You don't have to say it." "I can hear it." "And if I wasn't so dizzy..." "We're together." "Yeah." "Remind me to thank him for that." "He didn't save the world, he brought two poor devils together" "and gave them a good finish." "No complaints." "No complaints." "Thanks, mister." "Joe." "Joe." "Do you believe in God?" "Yes." "Then pray it isn't a mirage." "Pray." "I'm praying." "They are coming!" "Look!" "They're coming."