Follow a Stranger

feet, although this place had been deserted for so long,

slowly crumbling under the pressures of wind and

weather.

“I only have two weeks to make this preliminary

investigation,” he pointed out. “Now you’re here, Kate,

pass me that plastic bag. I’ve found something

interesting.”

She ran and picked up the top bag from the pile laid

ready, a stone keeping them from blowing away,

returned and handed it to Peter, who gently pushed an

encrusted object inside the bag.

“That was outside the temple area proper,” he said.

“Give me my map. Over there ...” waving a vague arm.

She fetched the map and Peter carefully marked the

spot where he had found his first object.

“What do you think it is?” she asked, staring at it. “A

coin?” It was that shape.

He shrugged. “Possibly. We can’t tell until it’s

cleaned.” He grinned at her. “It’s a temptation to look for

other things, but I must get on—until a proper

accredited expedition is organised the site mustn’t be

disturbed. But as the coin was outside the temple that

won’t matter too much. Now, I want to finish my map

today. I’ll measure and you can jot down the

dimensions.”

“Have you had breakfast?” she asked resignedly.

“What?” He stared at her as if she were talking in a

foreign tongue, then blinked. “Oh, breakfast. Yes, I had a

roll when I first got up.”

“At crack of dawn, by the amount of work you’ve done,”