𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 [RE-EDITING]

CHAPTER THREE

River Nile. Night. The moon, shining down on the desert. The vicious Mumia quietly glides a narrow skiff out onto the river. The one with the hook sits in the middle of the skiff, the other two row, heading for the passenger barge coming their way.

The Bar at the Bow. Night. Jonathan and the three Americans are playing poker. Dean Harbour comes out of a door carrying a Gunny-sack. "Sit down, Harbour, sit down. We could use another good player."

"I only gamble with my life, never my money."

"Well, well, well. Look who is here with us. Dean Harbour." Said Daniels. "I cannot believe you are still alive. The last time I heard that you almost had been swallowed by the moving sand. You look well and shave."

Harbour returns Daniel's cocky look. "Nice to see you here too, Daniel and others." The Americans eye him, "Thank you for that compliment."

"You gentlemen know each other?" Ask Jonathan.

"Of course. What did he tell you about himself?" Ask Daniel to Jonathan.

"He didn't. I heard from him that he was an explorer. I didn't know more about him because he didn't tell me."

Daniel leans close to him, "We're just not an explorer. You need to survive from being an explorer. You need guns to survive, you need a weapon to survive, you need fighting skills to survive. That is why he carried that Gunny-sack to survive, the same as us. We are not empty-handed."

Jonathan gave Harbour a look and then he gulped. "Interesting." Responded Jonathan. "I have no skills besides my sister's friends. She has all that."

"Is she beautiful? Sounds like you were lucky to have her and Harbour." Said Burns. "What brings you here?"

"I say, what a coincidence, why..." Harbour accidentally hits Jonathan in the ribs with the gunny-sack, shutting him up. Jonathan quickly covers. "..whose deal is it? Is it my deal? I thought I just dealt with it?"

Barge. Night. Evelyn sits on the table, staring out over the passing river. Eman sits reading a journal that her father had left for her about the Hamunaptra. She needs to learn something before their arrival.

"What a beautiful night, Eman." She looked up from the journal, eyeing the place.

"Yes. I still cannot believe why I am here and stuck with Carnahan's and Harbour."

"You really had an issue with that man, Eman. It sounds like you like him. Just like the two married couples always had arguments with nothing more makes sense." Evelyn smiles at her, and Eman's face feels disgusted. "Don't be so harsh on him, my dear."

The gunny-sack drops onto the table, startling both women. "Shit!" Eman looked up at him. "What the hell!"

"I'm sorry, did I startle you both?" Harbour grins, dragged the chair and sat.

Harbour reaches into the gunny-sack and starts pulling out revolvers, pistols, hunting knives, a massive elephant gun, and a half dozen carefully wrapped sticks of dynamite.

Eman jaw drops, unbelievable to see that coming. "No shit." As her finger begins to touch the weapon with amusement.

"Excuse me. Did I miss something? Are we going into battle?"

"The last time I was at that place I almost died." This takes the smile off Evelyn's face. Harbour starts dismantling and cleaning the guns. "There's something out there, you know, something under the sand."

"Yes. I'm hoping to find a certain artifact, a book. Actually, my brother thinks there's treasure. What do you think is out there?"

Harbour looks into Evelyn's eyes. "Evil. The explorer believed that Hamunaptra is cursed; they call it, "the doorway to hell".