Read Online The Mummy Snatcher of Memphis by Natasha Narayan - Free Book Online Page A

before Waldo jumped in front of Rachel and me, shielding us from the body.
    â€œThis is no time to act like my grandfather,” I snapped.
    â€œA corpse isn’t a fit sight for young ladies.”
    â€œI’ll make up my own mind, thank you very much.” I tried to shoulder my way past him. “Let go! I need to help Baruch!”
    It’s true I have never seen a human corpse, but I’ve seen the bodies of plenty of rabbits and pheasants which have been mauled by foxes. Why is it that us girls are considered such silly creatures that we have to be protected from anything upsetting?
    No one offered to help, no one ran to fetch a doctor. Costermongers, top-hatted clerks, flower-girls, everyone circled round the corpse, gawking like fools. There wasn’t one person in among them who was willing to take charge. Never had I felt so lost in this giant city. Itwas just the five of us; mere helpless children and the body with the knife sticking out of its chest.
    Reluctantly, Waldo moved aside. My breakfast lurched inside me. The body of a man is quite different from that of a rabbit. Baruch’s eyes were open, but quite blank. His skin had a sheeny look, like one of Madame Tussaud’s waxwork dummies. That awful blood kept running from his mouth.
    I took off my cape and knelt down by Baruch with some idea of placing it under his head. I knew it would not make him more comfortable in death, but it seemed more respectful. But something, some small movement made me jerk back in surprise.
    â€œHe’s still alive.”
    â€œI think you’re right, Kit,” Waldo picked up Baruch’s wrist. I noticed there was blood congealing on the greener’s index finger, smeared along the palm. He must have tried to grab the knife. “There’s a pulse.”
    â€œDo you think we should take out the knife?” Rachel asked, pointing to the mother-of-pearl hilt sticking out from Baruch’s shirt, but I shook my head.
    â€œNo. We could rupture an artery or something. Quick, we need to get him to hospital.”
    â€œHelp! Stop! Cabby!” Isaac was already halfway in the street, trailing Ahmed behind him.
    I turned and a pair of black trousers loomed aboveme. Looking up, I saw a young man wearing a uniform with blue jacket and a domed hat. A London policeman!
    â€œThank heavens you’ve arrived. He’s still alive.”
    â€œâ€™Ow did this happen, miss?” the bobby asked.
    â€œWe were talking to him and then he went into the crowd and he was knifed. You see it, there—”
    â€œWas ’e robbed?” The policeman asked, finally blowing his whistle for a cab.
    â€œI don’t think so. Actually I don’t know. Baruch is a greener. He was trying to tell us something important and—”
    â€œA greener, you say?”
    â€œYes, why?”
    â€œThought he was your groom. Young lady like you should have a groom or a footman with you when you’re out and about.” The policeman knelt down to take a closer look at the body. “Fellow needs a good wash.”
    â€œHe needs more than a wash,” I said hotly. “He needs a doctor.”
    At last a hansom carriage responded to the constable’s whistle. The driver, a stout man in a loud check jacket, got out of his cab in a leisurely fashion and joined us on the pavement. Why were they all so slow?
    â€œGreener been attacked. Gonna have to get him to hospital,” the policeman explained.
    â€œAs you say, guv’nor.”
    â€œProblem is don’t know who’s gonna pay. These greeners don’t have two brass farthings to rub together.”
    Here was a man’s life at stake and all they could do was stand around chatting.
    â€œI’ll pay,” I said delving into my pocket to pull out my money. My hand curled around empty space. My purse had gone. It was humiliating, awful. I had survived the East End unscathed only for this to happen in the most