Maj. Eaton:
Dr. Jones, we've heard a great deal about you.
Jones:
Have you?
Maj. Eaton:
Professor of Archaeology, expert on the occult and, how does one say it... obtainer of rare antiquities?
Jones:
That's one way of saying it. Why don't you sit down? You'll be more comfortable.
Col. Musgrove:
Thank you. Yes, you're a man of many talents. Now, you studied under Professor Ravenwood at the University of Chicago?
Jones:
Yes I did.
Maj. Eaton:
And you have no idea of his present whereabouts? [Indy and Marcus exchange a look]
Jones:
Uh, just rumours, really. Somewhere in Asia, I think. I haven't spoken to him for ten years. We were friends but we... had a bit of a falling out, I'm afraid.
Col. Musgrove:
Now, Dr. Jones, you must understand this is all... strictly confidential. Yesterday afternoon, our European section intercepted a German communiqué that was sent from Cairo to Berlin. Now--
Maj. Eaton:
You see, over the last two years, the Nazis have had teams of archaeologists running around the world looking for all kinds of religious artifacts. Hitler's a nut on the subject. He's crazy. He's obsessed with the occult, and right now, apparently, there's some kind of German archaeological dig going on in the desert outside of Cairo.
Col. Musgrove:
Now we've got some information here, but we can't make anything out of it, and maybe you can. [He reads the communiqué] Tanis development proceeding. Acquire headpiece, Staff of Ra, Abner Ravenwood, U.S.
Jones:
The Nazis have discovered Tanis.
Maj. Eaton:
Just what does that mean to you, uh, "Tanis"?
Brody:
Well it-- [Jones interrupts him]
Jones:
The city of Tanis is one the possible resting places of the Lost Ark.
Col. Musgrove:
The Lost Ark?
Jones:
Yeah, the Ark of the Covenant. The chest the Hebrews used to carry around the Ten Commandments.
Maj. Eaton:
What do you mean, the commandments? You're talking about the Ten Commandments?
Jones:
Yes, the actual Ten Commandments. The original stone tablets Moses brought down from Mount Horeb and smashed, if you believe in that sort of thing. Didn't either of you guys ever go to Sunday school?
Col. Musgrove:
Well, uh, I--
Jones:
Look, the Hebrews took the broken pieces and put them in the Ark, and when they settled in Canaan, they put the Ark in a place called the Temple of Solomon.
Brody:
In Jerusalem.
Jones:
Where it stayed for many years. Until, all of a sudden, whoosh, it's gone.
Maj. Eaton:
Where?
Jones:
Well nobody knows where.
Brody:
However, an Egyptian pharaoh...
Jones:
Shishak.
Brody:
Yes... invaded the city of Jerusalem around about 980 B.C. and he may have taken the Ark back to the city of Tanis and hidden it in a secret chamber called the Well of Souls.
Maj. Eaton:
Secret chamber?
Brody:
However, about a year after the pharaoh had returned to Egypt, the city of Tanis was consumed by the desert in a sandstorm that lasted a whole year. Wiped clean by the wrath of God. [the agents exchange looks]
Col. Musgrove:
Well, obviously we've come to the right men. Now, you seem to know all about this Tanis.
Jones:
No, no, not really. Ravenwood's the real expert. Abner did the first serious work on Tanis. Collected some of its relics. It was his obsession, but he never found the city.
Maj. Eaton:
Frankly, we're somewhat suspicious of Mr. Ravenwood. An American being mentioned so prominently in a secret Nazi cable.
Brody:
Rubbish. Ravenwood's no Nazi.
Col. Musgrove:
Well what do the Nazis want him for, then?
Jones:
Well obviously the Nazis are looking for the headpiece to the Staff of Ra and they think Abner's got it.
Maj. Eaton:
What exactly is the headpiece to the Staff of Ra?
Jones:
Well the staff is just a stick, [gestures with his hands to convey the length of the staff] I don't know, about this big, nobody really knows for sure how high. And it's... [he draws a diagram on a blackboard] it's capped with an elaborate headpiece in the shape of the sun with a crystal in the center. And what you did was you took the staff to a special room in Tanis, a map room with a miniature of the city all laid out on the floor, and if you put the staff in a certain place, at a certain time of day, the sun shone through here and made a beam that came down on the floor here... [[he contemplates the enormity of such a potential discovery] and gave you the exact location of the Well of Souls.
Col. Musgrove:
Where the Ark of the Covenant was kept?
Jones:
Which is exactly what the Nazis are looking for!
Maj. Eaton:
Well what does this Ark look like?
Jones:
Uh, there's a... picture of it right here. [He opens an old leatherback Bible to an illustration showing the Israelites holding the Ark above them, with great beams of light emanating from the Ark, piercing the ranks of the opposing army surrounding them, with the soldiers in various states of agony and death.] That's it.
Maj. Eaton:
Good God...
Brody:
Yes, that's just what the Hebrews thought.
Col. Musgrove:
[pointing to the firebolts] Uh, now, what's that supposed to be coming out of there?
Jones:
Lightning ... fire ... power of God or something.
Maj. Eaton:
I'm beginning to understand Hitler's interest in this.
Brody:
Oh yes. The Bible speaks of the Ark leveling mountains and laying waste to entire regions. An army which carries the Ark before it... is invincible.
