Already the sheen of the eyeball was clouded by the corrosive liquid.
At Jake"s touch there was no blinking reflex, and he knew that the animal was dead.
He turned to find that Vicky had not obeyed his instruction to run. She stood frozen where he had left her, naked and vulnerable, so that he felt his heart shift within him and he went to her quickly.
With a sob she flew into his arms and clung to him with startling strength. Jake knew that the embrace was the consequence of terror not affection, but as his own heart-beat slowed and the tingle of the adrenalin in his blood receded, he thought that he had achieved a solid advantage. If you save a girl"s life, she just has to take you seriously, he reasoned, and grinned to himself still a little unsteadily. All his senses were enhanced by the high point of recent danger. He could smell the perfumed soap and the stink of ammonia. He could feel with excruciating clarity the slim hard length of the girl"s body pressed to his and the smooth warmth of her skin under his hands.
"Oh Jake!" she whispered brokenly, and with sudden aching certainty he knew that in this moment she was his to take, to possess right here on the black rock bank of the Awash, beside the warm carca.s.s of the lion.
The knowledge was certain and his hands moved on her body, receiving instant confirmation her body was quick and responsive, and her face turned up to his. Her lips trembled and he could feel her breath upon his mouth.
"What the h.e.l.l is going on down there?" Gareth"s voice rang across the murky depths of the gorge. He stood at the top of the bank high above them. He had one of the Lee Enfield bolt-action rifles under his arm and seemed on the point of coming down to them.
Jake turned Vicky, shielding her with his own big body and slipping off his moleskin jacket to cover her nakedness.
The jacket reached halfway down her thighs and folded voluminously around under her armpits. She was still shivering like a kitten in a snowstorm, and her breathing was broken and thick.
"Don"t worry about it," Jake called up at Gareth. "You weren"t in time to help, and you aren"t needed now." He groped in his hip pocket and Produced a large, slightly grubby handkerchief, which Vicky accepted with a tearful, quivering smile.
"Blow your nose," said Jake. "and get your pants on, before the whole gang arrives to give you a hand." regorius was so impressed that he was speechless for several minutes. In Ethiopia there is no act of ivalour so highly esteemed as the single-handed hunting and killing of a full-grown adult lion, The warrior who accomplishes this feat wears the mane thereafter as a badge of his courage and earns the respect of all. The man who shoots his lion is respected, and the man who kil with a spear is venerated. - Gregorius had never heard of one killed with a single rock and a bottle of ammonia.
Gregorius skinned out the carca.s.s with his own hands.
Before he had finished, the black pinioned vultures were sailing in wide circles overhead. He left the naked pink carca.s.s lying in the river bed, and carried the wet skin up to the bivouac where Jake was fretting to continue the trek towards the Wells. He was irreverent in his disdain of the trophy, and Greg tried to explain it to him.
"You will gain great prestige amongst my people, Jake.
Wherever you go, people will point you out to each other."
"Fine Greg. That"s just fine. Now will you kindly haul a.r.s.e.
"I will have a war bonnet made for you out of the mane, Greg insisted, as he strapped the bundle of wet skin to the sponson of Jake"s car. "With the hair combed out, it will look very grand."
"It could only be an improvement on his present hair style," Gareth observed drily. "I agree it"s been a beautiful honeymoon, and Jake is a splendid lad but like he said, let"s move on, before I am violently ill." As they moved towards their respective cars, Gregorius fell in beside Jake and quietly showed him the mushroomed copper-jacketed bullet he had removed from its niche in the pelvic bone of the carca.s.s.
Jake paused to examine it closely, turning it in the palm of his hand.
"Nine millimeter, or nine point three," he said. "It"s a sporting calibre not military."
"I doubt if there is a single rifle in Ethiopia that would fire this bullet," said Greg seriously. "It"s a foreigner"s rifle."
"No need to blow the bugle yet," said Jake, and flicked the bullet back to him. "But we"ll bear it in mind." Gregorius almost turned away, then said shyly, "Jake, even if the lion was already wounded it"s still the bravest thing I ever heard of. I have often hunted for them, but never killed one yet." Jake was touched by the boy"s admiration. He laughed roughly and slapped his shoulder.
"I"ll leave the next one for you," he promised.
They followed the windings of the River Awash through the savannah gra.s.sland, moving in towards the mountains so that with each hour travelled the peaks stood higher and clearer into the sky. The ridges of rock and the deep-forested gorges came into hazy focus, like a wall across the sky.
Suddenly they intersected the old caravan road, hitting it at a point where the steep banks of the Awash flattened a little. The ford of the river had been deeply worn over the ages by the pa.s.sage of laden beasts of burden and the men who drove them, so that the many footpaths down each bank were deep trenches in the red earth, that jinked to avoid any large boulder or ridge of rock.
The three men worked in the brilliant sunlight and swung shovel and mattock in a fine mist of red dust that powdered their hair and bodies. They filled in the uneven ground and deeply worn trenches, levering the boulders free and letting them roll and bounce down into the river bed, and slept that night the deathlike sleep of utter exhaustion that ignored the ache of abused muscle and burst blisters.
Jake had them at work before it was fully light the next morning, clearing and levelling, shovelling and packing the dry hard-baked earth, until at last each bank had been shaped into a rough but pa.s.sable ramp.
Gareth was to take the first car through and he stood in the turret, somehow managing to look debonair and sartorially elegant, under the fine layer of red dust. He grinned at Jake and shouted dramatically, "Noli il legitimi carborundum," and disappeared into the steel interior The engine roared and he went bounding and sliding down the steep ramp of newly turned earth, bounced and jolted across the black rock bottom and flew at the far bank.
When the wheels spun viciously in the loose red earth, blowing out a storm of grit and pebbles, Jake and Gregorius were ready to throw their weight against it and this was just sufficient to keep the vehicle moving. Slowly it ground its way up the almost vertical climb, the rear end kicking and yawing under the thrust of the spinning wheels, until at last it burst out over the top, and Gareth shut down the power and jumped out laughing.
"Right, now we can tow the other cars up the bank," and he produced a celebratory cheroot.
"What was that piece of dog Latin you recited just then Jake asked, as he accepted the cheroot.
"Old family war cry," Gareth explained. "Shouted by the fighting Swales at Hastings, gin court and in the knocking shops of the world."
aW hat does it mean?"
"n.o.b Xegidmi carborundum?" Gareth grinned again as he lit the cheroots. "It means, "Don"t let the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds grind you down"." One at a time, they brought the other three cars down into the ravine, and hitched them up to the vehicle on the far bank. Then with Vicky driving, Gareth towing, and Jake and Gregorius shoving, they hauled them up on to the level, sunbaked soil of Ethiopia. It was late afternoon when at last they fell panting in the long shadow thrown by Miss Wobbly"s cha.s.sis, to rest and smoke and drink steaming mugs of hastily brewed tea. Gregorius told them: "No more obstacles ahead of us now. It"s open ground all the way to the Wells," and then he smiled at the three of them with white teeth in a smooth honey-coloured face.
"Welcome to Ethiopia!"
"Quite frankly, old -chap, I"d much prefer to be sitting at Harry"s Bar in the rue Daunou," said Gareth soberly which is exactly what I will be doing not long after Toffee Sagud presses a purse of gold into my milk-white hand." Jake stood up suddenly and peered out into the dancing heat waves that still poured from the hot earth like swirling liquid. Then he ran quickly across to his own car and leapt up into the turret, emerging seconds later with his binoculars.
The others stood up uneasily and watched him focus the gla.s.ses.
"Rider," said Jake.
"How many? "Gareth demanded.
"Just the one. Coming this way fast. "Gareth moved across to fetch the Lee-Enfield and work a cartridge into the breech.
They saw him now, galloping through the dizzy heat mirage, so that at one moment horse and rider seemed to float free of the earth, and then sink back and swell miraculously, growing to elephantine proportions in the heat-tortured air. Dust drifted behind the running horse and it was only at close range that the rider came into crisp focus.
Gregorius let out a bellow like a rutting stag and raced out into the sunshine to meet the newcomer. In a brilliant display of horsemanship the rider reined in the big white stallion so abruptly that he plunged and reared, cutting at the air with his fore hooves With white robes billowing, he flung himself from the horse, and into Gregorius"s widespread arms.
The two figures joined together rapturously, the stranger suddenly seeming small and delicate in Gregorius"s arms, and the cries of laughter and greeting high and birdlike.
Then hand in hand, looking into each other"s faces, they came back to the group that waited by the cars.
"My G.o.d, it"s another girl," said Gareth with amazement, setting the loaded rifle aside, and they all stared at the slim, dark-eyed child in her late teens with a skin like dusky silk and immense dark eyes fringed with long curling lashes.
"May I introduce Sara Sagud?" asked Gregorius. "She is my cousin, my uncle"s youngest daughter, and she is also without doubt the prettiest lady in Ethiopia."
"I see what you mean," said Gareth. "Very decorative indeed." As Gregorius, introduced each of them to her by name, the girl smiled at them, and the long aristocratic face with the serenity of an Egyptian princess, the delicate features and chiselled nose of a Nefert.i.ti, changed instantly to a sparkling childlike mischievousness.
"I knew you must cross the Awash here, it is the only place and I came to meet you."
"She speaks English also," Gregorius pointed out proudly.
"My grandfather insists that all his children and his grand.
children learn to speak English. He is a great lover of the English."
"You speak it well," Vicky congratulated Sara, although in fact her English was heavily accented, and the girl turned to her, smiling anew.
"The sisters at the convent of the Sacred Heart in Berbera taught me," she explained, and she examined Vicky with frank and unabashed admiration. "You are very beautiful, Miss Camberwell, your hair is the colour of the winter gra.s.s in the highlands," and Vicky"s usual composure was rocked.
She blushed faintly and laughed, but Sara"s attention had flicked away to the armoured cars.
"Ah, they also are beautiful n.o.body has spoken of anything else, since they heard these were coming." She hoisted the skirts of her robe up over her tight-fitting embroidered breeches, and hopped agilely up on to the steel body of Miss Wobbly. "With these we shall throw the Italians back into the sea. Nothing can stand before the courage of our warriors and these fine war machines." She flung her arms wide in a dramatic gesture and then turned.
to Jake and Gareth. "I am honoured to be the first of all my people to thank you."
"Don"t mention it, my dear girl," Gareth murmured, "our pleasure, I a.s.sure you." He refrained from asking if her father had remembered to bring the cash with him, but asked instead, "aAre your people waiting for us at the Wells?"
"my grandfather has come with my father and all my uncles. His personal guard is with him, and many hundreds of others of the Harari, together with their women and animals."
"My G.o.d," growled Jake "It sounds like a h.e.l.luva reception committee." They camped that last night of the journey on the bank of the Awash under the spreading umbrella branches of a camel thorn tree, sitting late and talking in the ruddy flickering glow of the fire, secure within the square fort formed by the four hulking steel vehicles. At last the talk died away into a weary but friendly silence, and Vicky stood up.
"A short walk for me, and then bed." Sara stood with her. "I"ll come with you." Her fascination with and admiration for Vicky was increasingly apparent, and she followed her out of the laager like a faithful puppy.
Away from the camp, they squatted side by side in companionable fashion under a night sky splendid with star shot, and Sara told Vicky seriously, "They both desire you greatly Jake and Gareth." Vicky laughed awkwardly again, once more discomposed by the girl"s direct manner.
"Oh, come now."
"Oh yes, when you come near them, they are like two dogs, all stiff and walking around each other as though they will sniff each other up the tail." Sara giggled, and Vicky had to smile with her.
"Which one will you choose, Miss Camberwell?" Sara demanded.
"Lardy, do I have to? "Vicky was still smiling.
"Oh no," Sara rea.s.sured her. "You can make love with both of them. I would do so."
"You would? "Vicky asked.
"Yes, I would. What other way can you tell which one you like best?"
"That"s true." Vicky was becoming breathless with suppressed laughter, but fascinated by this bit of logic. The idea had a certain appeal, she admitted to herself.
"I will make love with twenty men before I marry Gregorius. That way I will be sure I have missed nothing, and I will not regret it when I am old," declared the girl.
"Why twenty, Sara?" Vicky tried to keep her voice as serious as the girl"s. "Why not twenty-three or twenty-six?" Oh no," said Sara primly. "I would not want people to think me a loose woman," and Vicky could hold her laughter no longer.
"But you-" Sara returned to the immediate problem.
"Which of them will you try first?"
"You pick for me," Vicky invited.
"It is difficult," Sara admitted. "One is very strong and has much warmth in his heart, the other is very beautiful and will have much skill." She shook her head and sighed. "It is very difficult.
No, I cannot choose for you. I can only wish you much joy." The conversation had disturbed Vicky more than she realized, and although-she was exhausted by the long hard driven day, she could not sleep, but lay restlessly under a single blanket on the hard sun-warmed earth, considering the wicked and barely thinkable thoughts that the girl had sown in her mind. So it was that she was still awake when Sara rose from beside her and, silently as a wraith, crossed the laager to where Gregorius lay. The girl had discarded the robe and wore only the skintight velvet breeches, encrusted with silver embroidery. Her body was slim and Polished as ebony in the light of the stars and the new moon. She had small high b.r.e.a.s.t.s and a narrow moulded waist. She stooped over Gregorius and instantly he rose, and hand in hand, carrying their blankets, the pair slipped out of the laager, leaving Vicky more disturbed than ever. She is of the desert. Once she lay and listened to the night sound thought she heard the soft cry of a human voice in the darkness, but it may have been only the plaintive yelp of a Jackal. The two young Ethiopians had not returned by the time Vicky at last fell asleep.
The radio message that Count Aldo Belli received from General De Bono on the seventh day after leaving Asmara caused him much pain and outrage.
"The man addresses me as an inferior," he protested to his officers. He shook the yellow sheet from the message pad angrily before reading in a choked voice, "I hereby directly order you"." He shook his head in mock disbelief "No "request", no "if you please", you notice." He crumpled the message sheet and hurled it against the canvas wall of the headquarters tent and began pacing in a magisterial manner back and forth, with one hand on the b.u.t.t of his pistol and the other on the handle of his dagger.
"It seems he does not understand my messages. It seems that I must explain my position in person He thought about this with burgeoning enthusiasm. The discomfort of the drive back to Asmara would be greatly reduced by the superb upholstery and suspension designed by Messrs Rolls and Royce and would be more than adequietely offset by the quasi-civilized amenities of the town. A marble bath, clean laundry, cool rooms with high ceilings and electric fans, the latest newspapers from Rome, the company of the dear and kind young hostesses at the casino all this was suddenly immensely attractive.
Furthermore, it would be an opportunity to supervise the curing and packaging of the hunting trophies he had so far acc.u.mulated. He was anxious that the lion skins were correctly handled and the numerous bullet holes were properly patched. The further prospect of reminding the General of his background, upbringing and political expendability also had much appeal.
"Gino," he bellowed abruptly, and the Sergeant dashed into the tent, automatically focusing his camera.
"Not now! Not now!" The Count waved the camera aside testily.
"We are going back to Asmara for conference with the General. Inform my driver accordingly." Twenty-four hours later, the Count returned from Asmara in a mood of bile and thunder. The interview with General De Bono had been one of the low points in the Count"s entire life. He had not believed that the General was serious in his threat to remove him from his command and pack him off ign.o.bly back to Rome until the General had actually begun dictating the order to his smirking aide de-camp, Captain Crespi.
The threat still hung over the Count"s handsome curly head. He had just twelve hours to reach and secure the Wells of Chaldi or a second-cla.s.s cabin on the troopship GaribaLdi, sailing five days later from Ma.s.sawa for Napoli, had been reserved for him by the General.
Count Aldo Belli had sent a long and eloquent cable to Benito Mussolini, describing the General"s atrocious behaviour, and had returned in high pique to his battalion completely unaware that the General had antic.i.p.ated his cable, intercepted it and quietly suppressed it.
Major Castelani did not take the order to advance seriously, expecting at any moment the counter-order to be given, so it was with a sense of disbelief and rising jubilation that he found himself actually aboard the leading truck, grinding the last dusty miles through rolling landscape towards the setting sun and the Wells of Chaldi.
The heavy rainfall precipitated by the bulk of the Ethiopian ma.s.sif was shed from the high ground by millions of cascades and runners, pouring down into the valleys and the lowlands. The greater bulk of this surface water found its devious way at last into the great drainage system of the Sud marshes and from there into the Nile River, flowing northwards into Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.
A smaller portion of the water found its way into blind rivers like the Awash, or simply streamed down and sank Without trace in the soft sandy soils of the savannah and desert.
One set of exceptional geological circ.u.mstances that altered this general rule was the impervious sheet of schist that stretched out from the foot of the mountains and ran in a shallow saucer below the red earth of the plain. Runoff water from the highlands was contained and channelled by this layer, and formed a long narrow underground reservoir stretching out like a finger from the base of the Sardi Gorge, sixty miles into the dry hot savannah.
Closer to the mountains, the water ran deep, hundreds of feet below the earth"s surface, but farther out, the slope of the land combined with the raised lip of the schist layer forced the water up to within forty-five feet of the surface.
Thousands of years ago the area had been the grazing grounds of large concentrations of wild elephant. These indefatigable borers for water had detected the presence of this subterranean lake. With tusk and hoof they had dug down and reached the surface of the water.
Hunters had long since exterminated the elephant herds, but their wells had been kept open by other animals, wild a.s.s, oryx, camel, and, of course, by man who had annihilated the elephant.
Now the wells, a dozen or more in an area of two or three square miles, were deep excavations into the bloodred earth. The sides of the wells were tiered by narrow worn paths that wound down so steeply that sunlight seldom penetrated to the level of the water.
The water itself was highly mineralized, so that it had a milky green appearance and a rank metallic taste, but nevertheless it had supported vast quant.i.ties of life over the centuries. And the vegetation in the area, with its developed root systems, drew sustenance from the deep water and grew more densely and greenly than anywhere else on the dry bleak savannah.
Beyond the wells, in the direction of the mountains, was an area of confused broken ground, steep but shallow wadis and square hillocks so low as to be virtually only mounds of dense red laterite. Over the ages, the shepherds and hunters who frequented the wells had burrowed into the sides of ravine and hillock, so that they were now honeycombed with caves and tunnels.
It was as though nature had declared a peace upon the wells. Here man and animal came together in wary truce that was seldom violated.
Amongst the grey-green thorn trees and dense scrub goat and camel grazed in company with gazelle and gerenuk, oryx and greater kudu.
n In the hush of noo", the column of four armoured cars came in from the east, and the hum of their engines carried at distance to the mult.i.tude that awaited their arrival.
Jake led, as usual, followed by Vicky, then came Gregoritis with Sara riding in the turret of his car and the white stallion trailing them on a long lead rein. In the rear rode Gareth. Suddenly Sara shrieked at such a high pitch that her voice carried over the engine noise and she pointed ahead to the low valley filled with green scrub and taller denser trees. Jake halted the column and climbed up into the turret.
Through his binoculars he studied the open forest, and then.