At the Giza river port, Evelyn and her siblings are standing and waiting for Mr. O'Connell.
"Do you really think he'll show up?" Evy questions Rose and Jonathan.
"Undoubtedly, I know the breed, he may be a cowboy, but his word is his word." He reassures his sisters.
"Personally, I think he's filthy, rude and a complete scoundrel. I don't like him one bit."
"Anyone I know?" They all turn. As Rick O'Connell walks up; shaved, showered, spit and polished, with a new haircut and clothes. He looks more dashing and handsome than ever. Evelyn is suitably impressed. Rose looks at her sister then O'Connell, wondering if Jonathan is willing to make a bet with her on how long it takes for them to get together.
"Oh... um,...hello." Evy shyly stutters out.
Jonathan grabs O'Connell's arm and shakes his hand. "Smashing day for the start of an adventure, eh, O'Connell?"
O'Connell quickly checks his pockets, "Yeah, sure, smashing." He finds his wallet and relaxes.
Rose leans over to Jonathan and whispers,"Wanna bet that they get together when this trip is over." Jonathan nods, "I say before the trip concludes." Rose gives him a smile as if to say your on, brother.
Evelyn, recovering, she clears her throat."Mister O'Connell, can you look me in the eye, and guarantee me this is not some sort of flimflam? Because if it is, I'm warning you..."
O'Connell steps up close to Evelyn, invading her space looks her straight in the eye. Evelyn doesn't back away."All I can tell you, miss, is that my Colonel found that map in an ancient fortress, and the whole damn garrison believed in it so much, that without orders, we marched halfway across Libya and into Egypt to find that city. Like I told ya, all I saw was sand. Everybody else was wiped-out by Tuareg warriors. I'll take your bags." Rose looks at him impressed.
O'Connell takes her bags and heads up the gangplank and onto barge. Evelyn's eyes follow him, a bit wistfully. Jonathan sees it. "Yes, yes, you're right, filthy, rude, a complete scoundrel, nothing to like there at all." Rose laughs at Jonathan's teasing.
Evelyn gives him a look. Jonathan just grins and that's when the warden suddenly brushes past, tipping his raggedy hat. "A bright good morning to all."
"What are you doing here?" Evelyn exasperatedly spat. "I have come to protect my investment, thank you very much." He plainly states. And up the plank he goes. Evelyn, Rose and Jonathan share a look as the barge pulls out and heads down the Nile.
Upon the River Nile at night, the moon, shining down on the desert. The three vicious Medjai quietly glide 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. Jonathan and the three Americans are playing poker. O'Connell comes out a door, leading to the bar at the bow of the boat, carrying a gunny-sack.
"Sit down, O'Connell, sit down, we could use another good player." Jonathan states calling him over.
O'Connell responds, "I only gamble with my life, never my money."
"Never? What if I were to wager five hundred dollars says we get to Hamunaptra before you?" O'Connell returns Daniel's cocky look.
"Yer on." O'Connell accepts as Burns slips on his dirty bifocals. "What makes you so confident, sir?"
"What makes you?"
Henderson spits a wad of chew into a spittoon. "We got us a man who's actually been there." O'Connell's poker face drops, perplexed. Same with Jonathan.
"I say, what a coincidence, why..." Jonathan starts to exclaim. O'Connell 'accidentally' hits him 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?" Jonathan states trying to cover up.
Evelyn and Rose are siting at a table, staring out over the passing river. O'Connell drops his gunny-sack onto the table, startling Evelyn. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya." Rose's lips tilt upward at his comment.
"The only thing that scares me, Mister O'Connell, are your manners," Evy responds slyly.
"Still angry that I kissed ya, huh?"
"If you call that a kiss." Evy easily rebukes. Rose smiles at her sister, waiting for them to act on the tension they expel. O'Connell 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.
"Did I miss something? Are we going into battle?" Evelyn questions, smiling.
"The last time I was at that place everybody I was with died." This takes the smile off Evelyn's face. O'Connell starts dismantling and cleaning the guns. Rose watches closely as he does so.
"There's something out there, you know, something under that sand."
"Yes, I'm hoping to find a certain artifact, a book, actually, my brother thinks there's treasure. Rose is here to 'keep us in line'. What do you think is out there?" O'Connell looks into Evelyn's eyes.
"Evil. The Tuaregs and the Bedouin believe that Hamunaptra is cursed, they call it, "the doorway to hell"
"Ahmar is Ossirion. "Passageway to the underworld", actually." Rose looks at her sister with a soft glint in her eye, as her sister gives him a know-it-all grin.
"I don't believe in fairy tales and hokum, Mister O'Connell, but I do believe that one of the most famous books in history is buried out there, The Book Of The Living. It's what first interested me in Egypt as a child. It's why I came here, sort of a life's pursuit."
"And the fact that they say it's made out of pure gold, makes no never-mind to you, right?"
Evelyn and Rose are surprised by his knowledge. "You know your history."
"I know my treasure." Evelyn gets up to go, then she hesitates, nervous, as she turns back to O'Connell, and as matter-of-fact as possible says:"By the way,...why did you kiss me?"
O'Connell, cleaning his guns, just shrugs his shoulders."I was about to be hanged, seemed like a good idea at the time." Evelyn's eyes widen, furious, she turns and storms off. O'Connell looks up, watching her leave, a bit perplexed. Rose looks at him menacingly.
"What?... What'd I say?"
"Think about it, O'Connell. Think real hard." Rose exclaims walking off after her sister.
Then he hears someone snickering under the table. He quickly reaches down, grabs that someone and lifts him up.
"My very good friend! What a surprise."
"Why if it ain't my little buddy, Beni. I outta kill you." O'Connell sticks a knife under Beni's throat. Beni swallows hard, then tries to weasel his way out with a big grin.
"You never were any good with the ladies, O'Connell."
O'Connell ignores him, "So you're the one leading the Americans, I shoulda figured. So what's the scam? You get 'em out in the middle of the desert then leave 'em to rot?"
"Unfortunately no, these Americans are smart, they pay me only half now, half when I get them back to Cairo, so I must go all the way." O'Connell pulls the knife away. Beni relaxes, rubs his neck. "You never believed in Hamunaptra, O'Connell. Why are you going back? The devil himself lives out there."
They look as they hear Evelyn yelp. A single camel in the horse paddock takes another bite at her. She yelp again and backs away. Rose is laughing at her, quietly. O'Connell grins as Evelyn flees down the deck, Rose following close behind.
"The girl saved my life, figured it was the least I could do, keep her out of trouble."
"You always did have more balls than brains." O'Connell's eyes narrow at the insult, he looks back at Beni. "Let's make us even, shall we?
"Even?" Beni mutters. O'Connell grabs him and chucks him over the side of the barge. Beni splashes into the river. O'Connell takes his gunny-sack and starts walking off down the deck.
"O'Connell! I am going to kill you for this!" Beni yells from the Nile.
"Sounds familiar." That's when he spots three sets of wet footprints, coming up over the railing from the river and heading down the deck. O'Connell quickly looks around, immediately on the alert.
Rose is sleeping upon the bed in her pale blue nightgown. Evelyn, wearing a white nightgown, stands in front of a mirror. She is in the room that she is sharing with Rose. She gives her head a good shake, letting her hair fall loose over her bare shoulders. Then she turns around, right there is one of the hideous Medjai! He slams his hand over her mouth and lifts up his hook, ready to strike.
"Where is the map?" He hisses darkly. Evelyn's terrified eyes glance down. Hook looks over, sees the map lying next to a flickering candle on a nearby table.
"And the key? Where is the key?" Evelyn's eyes look confused. She shakes her head. As Hook grins,"Then I'll find it myself."
He cocks his hook, about to kill her. And that's when the door is kicked open. Rose wakes with a start as O'Connell bursts in, a gun in each hand. Hook spins Evelyn around and holds her out in front of him. Rose and O'Connell looks at her.
"Friend of yours?" Rose glares at O'Connell, thinking that now is so not the time. Evelyn's eyes widen. And that's when the candle on the table flickers. Everything happens at once, as O'Connell spins around just as a window bursts open. A Medjai leans in and fires a gun. Wood chips blast off the wall next to O'Connell's head. He returns fire, killing the Medjai. The Medjai falls back and a lantern in the room is blasted. Kerosene splashes across the wall. bursts into flames. Evelyn grabs the candle on the table and jams it back over her shoulder, right into Hook's eye. He screeches in pain and lets her go. O'Connell grabs her and yanks her out of the flaming room. Rose rolling off the bed and running right behind them. O'Connell pulls Evelyn down the hall, she tries to jerk free.
"The map! We need the map!" Rose looks at her sister as though she is insane, wanting to go back to a room full of death and fire.
He shoves her up against a wall. "Relax! I'm the map!," He taps his forehead."It's all up here."
"Oh that's comforting." O'Connell gives her a look, then pulls her forward.
"Really Evelyn? Sarcasm. What has become of my proper prudish big sister?" Evelyn glares are O'Connell states,"C'mon, there's still one more of those guys around here somewhere."
As hot melted wax covers Hook's face, while he holds his sore eye and struggles to the door. Then he notices the box on the floor. He bends over to pick it up and that's when the door is kicked open again, it hits him in the ass and knocks him into the fire. Jonathan leans in and seeing nothing but flames, screams,"EVY! ROSE!"
Then he sees the box on the floor and picks it up, as a hand suddenly snatches the box away from him. "Hey that's mine." It's was Hook. His backside is now on fire and as he lifts his pistol, Jonathan quickly backpedals out the door as Hook opens fire.
O'Connell, Evelyn and Rose race out onto the deck near the horse paddock. People are screaming and shouting, they are surrounded by lots of panic. BLAM! A chunk of the wall is blown off next to Evelyn's head. O'Connell pivots and fires back. It's the last Medjai, on the other side of the paddock. He and O'Connell exchange gunfire. Another lantern bursts into flames. O'Connell shoots off the paddock lock. The horses go nuts. O'Connell fires over their heads. They charge foreword and crash through the door. The Medjai scream as the horses stampede over him. flames sweep up the walls and race across the roof. Half the barge is now on fire. O'Connell throws the gunny-sack over his shoulder.
"Can you swim?" He asks both woman, loudly yelling over the chaos that is happening on the barge.
"Well of course I can swim, if the occasion calls for it." Rose looks at O'Connell realizing what he means and jumps over the side of the barge into the River Nile.
"Trust me," He picks her up and throws her over the side,"The occasion calls for it." Evelyn splashes into the water. As O'Connell dives in after her.
As Jonathan runs out onto the bow, he sees the three Americans, with guns in every hand, fanning their pistols, shooting everything in sight. Jonathan just shakes his head. "Americans."
Hook suddenly stumbles up behind him, now a flaming torch. As Jonathan turns around, Hook grabs him by the throat with his flaming arm and pins him to the cabin wall. Jonathan's eyes widen as he sees a hook rising up inside the flames about to strike him. One of the Americans pivot and opens fire, blowing Hook over the railing.
Jonathan turns to the Americans and smiles."I say! Good show!" Then he points his thumb at himself,"And did I panic?" He lifts up his other hand, he has the box back."I think not." And that's when the horses stampede onto the bow. Jonathan dives over one side, the three Americans dive over the other.
O'Connell, Evelyn, Jonathan, Rose and the Warden wade out of the water. Rose's and Evelyn's nightgowns cling tightly to their body as they wring them out. Evelyn looks good and O'Connell notices. Everybody else, including the horses, is getting out on the far shore where O'Connell spots Beni running up to the Americans.
"Hey O'Connell! Looks to me like I got all the horses!"
"Hey Beni! Looks to me like your on the wrong side of the river!" Beni looks up at the stars, then angrily kicks the sand cursing. Rose laughs at his temper tantrum. The flaming barge drifts off, slowly sinking...
O'Connell barters in Arabic with a camel trader at a trading post. As Jonathan forks over some cash. The Trader hands them the reins of five ugly old camels.
"I can't believe the price of these fleabags." Jonathan mutters coarsely.
"We coulda had 'em for free, all we had to do was give 'em your sisters."
"Yes, awfully tempting, wasn't it?" He answers when he sees O'Connell's face knowing that he saw what Evy was wearing."Awfully." Evelyn is changed into a gorgeous, tightly fitted, black Bedouin dress. Rose wore an identical one in dark grey. "Then again..."
O'Connell, Rose, Evelyn, Jonathan and the warden are on camels in the middle of the frying pan; the endless, sun baked Sahara."Never did like camels. Filthy buggers. They smell, they bite, they spit. Disgusting." Jonathan utters loudly.
The warden savagely attacks a chicken wing with his vile green teeth. Flies buzz around his head. He sucks at his gums, then spits out some gristle. O'Connell watches him. "Yeah, disgusting." Rose agrees with O'Connell while trying to keep far away from the warden as possible.
Evelyn is having the time of her life on top of her camel."Well I think they're cute." Showing the majesty of the desert, and getting deeper and deeper into it.
The moon shines down on five lone camel rider's trekking across the vast wasteland. Jonathan is sound asleep, his head bobbing comically to the rhythm of his camel. On the camel next to him, the Warden snores loudly. Up in front of them, Evelyn slowly starts to slide off her saddle. Rose watches her sister as O'Connell reaches over and stops her, then gently pushes her back up onto her saddle, never waking her. For a long moment, his eyes watch Evelyn, and then he looks up at a distant ridge...where Ardeth Bay and a group of Medjai rider are pacing them.
The dawning sun hasn't yet crested the distant horizon as Jonathan and the Warden ride alongside a giant sand dune, arguing.
"And you snore!"
"I do not snore!"
"All night you snored!"
"I have never snored!"
Up in front of them, O'Connell looks at Evelyn. "We're almost there."
"Are you sure?" O'Connell looks down at the ground.
"Pretty sure." The others look down and see dozens of skeletons sticking out of the ground. Bleached and eaten away. Some of the skeletons look like they're trying to crawl up out of the desert floor. Rose shutters.
"What in bloody hell is this?"The Warden shivers in fear at Jonathans question.
"Other seekers of Hamunaptra." Responds the frightened warden.
The American Expedition rides out from behind the far end of the dune. The Americans are accompanied by two dozen native diggers and an Arab Egyptologist. Beni rides lead on a camel, the rest ride horses.
"Good morning, my friend!" O'Connell just nods to him. The two parties come to a stop a hundred feet apart. O'Connell turns and stares out across the endless horizon. Beni does likewise. The Americans look puzzled.
"Well, what the hell we doin'?" Daniel's barks out. "Patience, my good sahib, patience." Beni replies
Henderson looks over at O'Connell."First one to the city, O'Connell! Five hundred! Cash bucks!"
O'Connell and Beni just stare out at the flat nothingness. Evelyn, Rose and Jonathan share a look. And then, the sun starts to rise in the distance, breaking the flat horizon."Get ready."
Evelyn can feel the suspense and the majesty of the moment."For what?"
"We're about to be shown the way." Far off to the right, a HUGE SHAPE begins to rise with the sun. A volcano. O'Connell and Beni watch it, expressionless. Daniels, Henderson and Burns share a look, and then,"HEYA!"
The Americans take off. Racing towards the rising volcano."SEE YA THERE, O'CONNELL!"
Evelyn, Jonathan and Rose give O'Connell anxious, sarcastic looks."Ah, begging your pardon, but shouldn't we be going?"
"After all, you rode us night and day to win that bet." O'Connell doesn't say a word, staring hard.
Beni watches the Americans and spits into the sand."Fools"
And then suddenly, the volcano shifts across the horizon. Passing across the sun as it goes. It's a mirage. The Americans crash their horses to a stop and race the other way, after the volcano. Evelyn and Jonathan smile, amazed. The volcano shifts again, floating across the watery horizon. The Americans crash to a stop again and chase after the volcano. All three of them confused and cursing. O'Connell and Beni just stare, waiting. The volcano shifts again. And the Americans crash to a stop again. Burns is thrown from his horse. Henderson angrily rips his hat off and chucks it to the ground. Daniels just curses as they give up the chase. The volcano comes to a stop on the far left of the horizon. The Americans are on the far right. Nothing moves. And then O'Connell grins and so does Beni. They share a look. And then swat their camels and race away. Everybody else hauls-ass after them. O'Connell and Beni are neck-and-neck. And then Evelyn comes galloping up, hair flying in the wind. Beni takes out his camel whip and starts whipping O'Connell. Trying to knock him off his camel. Once. Crack! Twice. Crack! But on the third try O'Connell grabs the whip and jerks Beni off his camel. Beni slams to the ground and tumbles. Evelyn and O'Connell race across the desert. Evelyn has never felt so alive. She laughs. O'Connell grins; he likes this girl. Beni stumbles to his feet, then quickly dances out of the way as Jonathan, Rose and all the other riders stampede past him. Evelyn beats O'Connell to the stone ramp, racing hard.
"Evelyn! Slow down!" Evelyn ignores him as she races up the ramp towards the gate.
"SLOW DOWN, EVELYN! SLOW DOWN! THERE'S A REALLY BIG..."
Evelyn goes ass-over-teacups through the air and crash lands in a sand dune. She sits up, stunned, sandy hair in her eyes. O'Connell stops at the edge of the ramp next to her camel.
"Never mind."
The Americans ride up and look in wonder at the ruins inside the volcano. O'Connell gives them a big, shit-eating grin."You boys owe me five hundred dollars."
Under the guidance of the Egyptologist, the Diggers are busy hauling rock and dirt out of the Temple doorway. The three Americans are playing poker. Beni smokes a hookah and swats
flies. Dozens of stray camels roam the decrepit city; dusty backpacks and old saddlebags still slung over their humps.
"Where'd all these camels come from?" Daniel's asks Beni. "They belong to the dead. They will wait years for their masters to return before leaving."