Seeing a Large Cat by Elizabeth Peters

how large they were; she looked like a child perched there on the high saddle. She laughed aloud and gathered the reins into her hands.
    "She wants to run! Hurry, or I will be the first to the house. You don't mind, do you, David?"
    "No-yes-wait!" David caught at the bridle.
    Emerson began to mutter uneasily. He believes in the equality of the sexes, except where his daughter is concerned. "See here, Nefret... I don't think... Peabody, tell her..." He grabbed me round the waist and tossed me onto a randomly selected horse.
    "At least wait until David shortens the stirrups," said Ramses. He was standing by Risha, his hand lightly resting on the saddle.... And then he was in the saddle.
    He may have done it to distract Nefret, though the desire to show off was certainly an element. It certainly distracted me. I had not seen his foot touch his own stirrup; it was as if he had flowed, in a single movement, from the ground to the horse's back.
    Nefret stared. "How did you do that?"
    "He's been practicing all summer," David said innocently.
    Ramses gave his best friend a less than friendly look. "It is not that difficult."
    "Then you can teach me," Nefret said.
    "Er-yes. Don't let her run, Nefret. There are too many irrigation ditches and soft spots here. Can you hold her?"
    "Ha!"
    "Hmmm," I said, watching the pair ride off side by side. "He managed that rather well. I hope-"
    But I was speaking to myself. Emerson had gone in pursuit, and David was mounting one of the hired animals. Leaving Abdullah to finish the loading, I followed the others across the green fields of the cultivation into the desert.
    We had had the house built the year after our discovery of Tetisheri's tomb, when it became evident that we would be working in western Thebes for several seasons. It had always been Emerson's intention to build a permanent expedition house, with the Amelia serving as a residence only until we had made up our minds where we wanted to settle down. Pleasant as the boat was, it was not really commodious enough for five people, their books and papers, and a great many antiquities. In my opinion the house was not commodious enough either, and I intended, that season, to add a wing. I had always dreamed of a house with ample office and storage space.
    Not that we were likely, in the near future, to require much storage space. I had not openly objected to Emerson's plans, for that never does any good. Subtle persuasion is the only way to get him to come round to my way of thinking.
    The small tombs Emerson meant to investigate held no interest for me. Most of them had been visited by earlier archaeologists and were known to contain nothing of interest. Thanks to M. Maspero's petty-mindedness the rest of the Valley of the Kings was closed to us, but there were other sites in western Thebes-Drah Abu'l Naga, where we had discovered the tomb of Tetisheri, the cemetery of the nobles at Gurneh, and quite a number of nice temples-that would give my husband's talents greater scope. Once we had solved the mystery of tomb Twenty-A-which should not take long-I would tactfully persuade Emerson to work elsewhere.
    We spent the rest of the morning unpacking and cleaning the house. Driven out of the sitting room by the strong stench of carbolic and Keating's powder, we retreated to the verandah and waited for luncheon to be served.
    The verandah ran along the front of the house, which faced east; it offered a beautiful view, clear down the desert slope to the green fields and the river beyond. Comfortable chairs and sofas, small tables and bright rugs scattered across the tiled floor, gave the place a cozy look. The low wall bounding the terrace supported columns along which I had caused trellises to be built, in the hope of training pretty flowering vines that would frame the open arches. By the time we left Egypt at the end of the season, the vines were doing splendidly. By the time we arrived at the start of the next season, the vines were only