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 Posted - June 12 2008 : 04:07:50 AM
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It was at this critical time that they sensed movement in the grass even as they heard a slithering noise.
Upon on looking around, they saw a slender olive-gray snake raise itself above the long grass and look at them, its tongue flickering, transmitting the information that it smell-tasted to Jacobson's organ in the roof of its mouth.
It stood a good four feet above the grass and was within 15 feet of the couple. Their blood ran cold as both recognized it in an instant.
"Black mamba!" breathed Challenger. "Stay still. Maybe it will leave."
But the snake reared even higher and hissed violently. It seemed on the verge of gliding forward, and they knew that it was widely considered to be the fastest snake on Earth, and very venomous. Virtually everyone bitten by one died, unless they received antivenin. Even then, survival was by no means certain. And its reputation for aggressive behavior was on par with that of the Asian King Cobra, if not worse!
Both Challengers thought of their revolvers, but the snake would be on them by the time that they could draw and fire. The slim silhuette, as compared to the spread hood of the related cobra, was a small target. Finn's powerful rifle was an even more remote hope.
They were at a loss for what to do when they heard steps in the grass.
The mamba whipped around, hissing even more loudly. It started to move forward, its speed surprising to one who had never seen one of these athletic snakes move.
BLAM! spoke a shotgun and the head and neck of the mamba spurted red over the grass as a charge of No. 6 (US size)shot from a 12 gauge shell shredded the first foot of the body and the head. They heard the sound of a slide-action shotgun being worked vigorously to load the next shell from the magazine.
Ned Malone rushed over and gave the dying reptile another shot into the head region as it twisted and thrashed barely 10 feet from the startled Challengers. Finn seized her Holland & Holland rifle and moved quickly away, pulling her husband by the hand. Not that he was slow in following her!
Blacklaws had seen what was happening and had run over. "Lets vacate the premises promptly", he suggested. "When mambas are that aggressive, sometimes another is around, and they tend to be in a bad mood at mating season."
"I can't think why," said Ned Malone, pumping a third shell into the chamber of his Winchester Model 12. It was a fancy version, ordered with select walnut stock and forearm, with finely checkered patterns on the stock. He was quite proud of it. "I never mind mating, when I can get Veronica into the mood."
"Tell jokes later," blurted Challenger. "Finn, bring that other bag and lets get back to the car. Ned, I don't know what brought you over here with that Winchester, but I'm glad that you came!"
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
976 Posts |
Posted - June 12 2008 : 04:42:40 AM
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In the car they moved off as Blacklaws said, "I saw that bloody snake. It must have been ten, even 11 feet long. They grow to over 14 feet, but even the young ones are lethal if they bite."
The black boys were jabbering about the incident, and Hamilton, driving, looked back and translated their speech. "The boys say that if we kill one snake like this, its mate will find us and bite us all. Even many whites believe this."
"Well, I don't, and you shouldn't, either," declared Challenger.
"What happens in those cases where you kill one and the other shows up in the same camp is that the mate just follows the scent trail of the first. We've driven off from where it was shot, and no way is another mamba going to track us down and bite us."
"That's good to know," mumbled Marguerite Roxton. "The only thing that I want biting me is John, tenderly, when I'm in the mood. George, I'm surprised that you didn't try to keep that thing and store it in formaldahyde."
Challenger chuckled. "I was too frightened to do anything but follow the Girl Guide here when she bolted, holding me by the hand!"
Finn looked at her man primly, "You're not going to fool around with any snakes that fast in future, either, Genius. That damned thing scared me out of a year's growth."
"Ned, how is it that you were there?" wondered the male Challenger. "I thought that you had stayed back at the car."
"Wanted to see if there were any rabbits in that grass," replied the American author. "It looked like a good place for some. I'm glad that I went over to see what you'd caught just before that snake reared up. What did you catch?"
Challenger proudly displayed the new species of vole, mentioning that he planned to name it after his wife.
"Oh, great," exclaimed Marguerite. "What's that going to be, Rattus finnykinses?"
"Um, probably, after her real first name, nicolensis. Or, maybe challengeri. Perhaps both, depending on which new species we find."
"Just don't name any rats after me," Marguerite countered. "Maybe we can find an especially graceful new antelope. That's more my style."
"Indeed it is," agreed her husband. He took her hand, and Marguerite smiled back, no longer sarcastic. Her green eyes glowed, and Lord John Roxton smiled back into them, wondering for the thousandth time whether he might someday drown in them.
"Look," said Veronica, "I think Ned deserves congratulations for saving you two, Finn."
"Sure does, Vee," agreed her best friend. She was sitting by Ned and swung around to face him on the car seat. She leaned over, hugging Malone, kissing him. "Thanks, Ned," she exclaimed. "You sure saved the Genius and me. I thought we were done for!"
Veronica Malone cleared her throat. "Finny, I said to congratulate Ned. I'll handle the kissing." But she was smiling.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
976 Posts |
Posted - June 13 2008 : 01:01:37 AM
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After stopping off in camp long enough to unload Veronica's leopard and Challenger's scientific specimens, the party went off to a nearby waterhole to gun the incoming flocks of birds. Both sand grouse and francolin partridge were available.
They set up in clumps of brush that concealed them from the flocks of birds, and had good shooting. There were no limits, as existed in the USA, and one could shoot as many birds as he or she wished. The huge numbers were hardly dented by hunting, and the birds were very tasty.
In spite of the liberal regulations, no one wanted to shoot more birds than they could use, so they were done in a little over an hour.
The Roxtons shot the same matched pairs of Purdey shotguns that they used on grouse and pheasants in Britain. The Challengers owned the same type of guns, but had left them at home. George used his Holland & Holland 12 gauge over-and under gun, and Finn used both a Greener 12 gauge and a Remington M-17 20 gauge slide-action repeater. She found less difference in recoil than expected, as the light weight of the Remington let it kick almost as much as the heavier Greener. She was grateful that both stocks were fitted with rubber recoil pads. Besides, she rather liked the looks of the dull red pad at the end of each stock.
The Malones shot repeaters, Ned his Winchester M-12 and Veronica a Remington like Finn's. It had been ordered with extra cost fine wood and nicer checkering patterns, like her friend's, and was a joy to behold as well as to shoot. Finn spent some time in just admiring the beautifully grained wood as the sun played over it. Twice, Challenger had to warn her of incoming birds, so pleased was she in running her hand over the stock of her gun, drawing deep satisfaction and joy from its beauty. All of her firearms were first class and were well cared for. Even here, she checked the cleaning done by the gunbearers, and never let them touch her revolver or her .275, which she insisted on cleaning herself. Unless "Johnny" Roxton offered to do it, usually as they sat and talked... Finn remembered when her only weapon had been a crossbow improvised from scrap materials, and she relished fine guns, knives, boots, and binoculars. She and Roxton were the primary admirers of guns in their group, but all took care of their equipment, having learned the hard lesson that if you took care of your guns, they'd take care of you...
The white hunters shot only a few birds, "to keep our hand in, you know". Hamilton shot an Army & Navy Cooperative Stores gun made by some famous maker for that officers' shopping society. Their guns were excellent quality, but perhaps had plainer wood and less engraving than if the famous makers' names were on them. Blacklaws had a pair of fine Belgian guns by Auguste Francotte, of which he shot only one that day. "Saves the boys having to clean the pair," he explained.
The sportspersons had noted that the white hunters treated their staffs well, and the boys were usually cheerful. Actually, the "bwanas wa safari" and their ladies found that they liked and respected both hunters. They ran a good, efficient operation with fine cooks and gunbearers, and the skinners were first rate, treating trophies well, having them ready for the taxidermist. And both men had droll, witty senses of humor.
Back in camp again, waiting for dinner, John Roxton and "Finn" Challenger and her distinguished husband had cornered Lady Roxton and had pretty much gotten her to agree to return here next year, with the same hunters. She hadn't gone quietly, threatening her husband with the need to buy her a new diamond brooch or an emerald necklace if she agreed to hunt again in Africa. But she had smirked a bit when he agreed. It had been a game with her.
"I'd have probably come, anyway," she admitted to the other women later. "But it gave me a good chance to test John's love and his willingness to buy me something worthwhile."
Veronica was appalled. "Do you really measure his love for you by what he'll buy you? Neddy buys me some nice things, and it's because he loves me. But his love is free and true. He just expresses it sometimes with gifts. I don't insist on them. If they're spontaneous expressions of his affection, I love them. But what I love is the man, not the material things that I can get him to give me!"
"Right on, Vee!" And Finn slapped hands with Mrs. Malone.
Marguerite was hurt. "Oh, I know that he loves me. He loves our children, more than I'd realized that a man can. But when you come home from a trip, isn't the first thing that the kids ask, 'what did you bring me'?"
Mrs. Challenger took Marguerite's hand and looked into her eyes. "Marguerite, they're little, and that's all that they understand, until they want a hug before bed. But you're a grown woman. You have one of the finest men who has ever lived, and you're jerking him around, demanding jewelry for doing what you should be willing to do because he loves you? That's not right. You know it, too."
Marguerite blushed. "Finnykins, I know. I'm ashamed. But I'm insecure. Unless a man will buy me things, I have trouble relating to him loving me. If John gets me expensive jewels, I know that he cares."
Veronica snorted. "Just cuddle with him and give him great blow jobs and fuck the way that he really likes some of the time, and bring him tea and a snack at night when the servants are off duty. He'll probably get you the jewels anyway, because he cares. Especially if he feels that he can talk to you about whatever troubles him, or just things that interest him. Men are easy, if you get a good one. Just nurture them and make them feel taken care of, and they'll fall all over themselves telling you how much they love you. It won't always be vocal, but you'll know!"
Finn glowed, "Gosh, Vee, that's a really cool way to sum it up! It works, too, Marguerite. Give it a try. Just open yourself up to John. He really wants to get you things because he cares, not to buy you."
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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976 Posts |
Posted - June 13 2008 : 03:54:55 AM
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"But I enjoy my little games with men," Marguerite persisted. "I think that John understands what I'm doing, really. It probably even amuses him to buy me off this way. He has the money. I've gotten us all especially good prices for that Tecamaya treasure. (See "The Crystal Skull" on the OLD Orth board, www.americanbty12.proboards62.com). And his family fortune is enormous; he has more investments than some banks. Well, nearly. Look: you said to have sex his favorite way. Lets us girls compare notes. What position is the favorite for George and for Ned? I'm curious to see if John's is the same." She sipped her gin and tonic, looking mischievously over the rim of her glass.
Veronica was shocked. "Well, actually, Marguerite, that's pretty personal, isn't it?"
Finn snickered. "Vee, it's just us, not Mrs. Average Snooty Broad being asked in church. For George, I think it's doggy. You know, with me kneeling low, with my butt up for him to exploit. I get off on that, too, so it's good for us. But we both like missionary, too, so we can look at one another and talk. We actually carry on conversations while we do it sometimes. Do you girls do that? I know the Genius is probably not like other men that way, especially when he's thinking of some new lab project."
"Well, Ned doesn't talk lab experiments, but he does like 'doggy', if I have to reveal our personal life. And he likes it when I get on top and kneel upright, where we can talk and he can reach everything that he wants to play with." Veronica blushed crimson. Of the three, she was the most reserved about discussing such things, although she had certainly joined in on similar conversations in the past.
"He likes telling me how hot I look while we do it that way, too, " she admitted. "Okay, Kruxlahoo: you started this. What does John want?"
Marguerite flushed, but she had begun this inquiry. "Men must all have a secret bestiality desire. Maybe it makes them feel like cave men or something, rooted in their primeval past. Conquering their mate. John does like what Finny so charmingly calls 'doggy', and he takes me that way a lot, especially if I've just gotten him to do something nice for me, like that jewelry. Maybe that's his payoff for the jewels. But..."
"Hush," said Finn. "Here come the guys, with Stuart and Geoff."
So, the trio poised themseves as if they had been chatting about routine matters, and smiled at their men.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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976 Posts |
Posted - June 13 2008 : 05:34:53 AM
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Dinner was a major success, with breast of francolin for a first course, and venision steaks for a second. Potatoes and locally bought vegetables completed their repast, served with a splendid white burgundy for the fowl and Chateau Haut-Brion in Bordeaux for the meat.
"I love this. I could get used to this life," admitted Marguerite, swirling the last of the Chateau Coutet in her glass. The chilled bottle of Sauternes had been opened to accompany dessert of green grapes and cheese. "Geoff, pour me some more of this. I am going to be so stinking drunk that Roxton here is almost guaranteed to have his way with me tonight."
Smiling at her ribald humor, the hunter obliged, and offered the wine around the table. The Challengers accepted, and Lord Roxton. The Malones begged off and soon departed for bed. The others lingered for tales of the African bush.
Both hunters told hair-raising accounts of elephant hunting, narrow escapes from lion and buffalo, and Blacklaws narrated his war career, in the former German Southwest Africa, now a protectorate of the Union of South Africa. He had been born near Johannesburg, and moved to Kenya only after the war. He was charming, dramatic in the right places, and grimly stirring in others.
Marguerite was enchanted. "Geoff, why aren't you married? I should have thought that some woman would have taken you off the market by now."
Both hunters looked uncomfortable, and Blacklaws said that he had been married, and very much in love. "My wife died two years ago," he said sadly. "Got blackwater fever, and there was nothing the doctor could do. I miss her, enormously. Haven't met a suitable replacement yet. Keep hoping that some rich client will come out here with a luscious daughter panting for my embrace."
"Geoff, we didn't know," said Finn Challenger. She put her hand over his, and he sensed the genuine sympathy in her touch.
Her husband said, "I lost a wife, but only after Finn and I had decided to marry, and I would have had to divorce her. I suppose that things worked out best that way. I didn't want to hurt Jessie. But I still cared for her and do mourn her loss. It must be especially painful to love a woman and lose her as you did."
The revelation of loss put a sad note on the evening. No one was surprised when Blacklaws, then Hamilton, took their leave.
"Don't stay up too much longer, you lot," cautioned Blacklaws. "Dawn comes early, and we want to get on to Stuart's fiancee's father's farm today. I think you'll find the leopard and bushbuck there as impressive as any in Africa, and Diana sets a wonderful table. She'll love meeting you ladies. She's the only white woman for some miles around here."
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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976 Posts |
Posted - June 13 2008 : 06:05:47 AM
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In their tent, Lady Roxton asked her husband why no one ever mentioned Mrs. Hardy. Did he know anything of her?
"Died of flu, in the war," he replied. "I asked that of Hamilton, and he told me that Angus Hardy and his young daughter came out here the year after the fighting ended. His parents stayed a few years, too, then gave up on Africa. But Angus and Diana love it. She's 21 now, and as much as she'd like other white women for company, she seems content here. Of course, she goes into Nairobi and other towns rather often, a couple of times a month. Angus was first out here for some years after the Boer War. I knew him slghtly then."
"Gad, how dreary for Diana," commented his spouse. "It's not like having Harrod's at hand."
He shrugged. "Some women manage without. Look at Veronica. She and Ned spend most of each year on the Plateau. Look here, what was that you said about getting so drunk that I'd surely have my way with you? And about how you could get to like this, when you made me promise you jewels to come back next year?"
"Good thing that I held your feet to the fire and got the promise of jewels before I admitted that I enjoy this," she smiled.
"Now, see here, Marguerite," Roxton began.
She smiled sweetly at him. "Don't get upset, John. Just get even. Make me undress for you and do whatever you want for the rest of the night. I'll earn those jewels, even if I choose some that cost you a bundle."
"Well, if you put it that way...Get that skirt and those boots off and get over here. I'll finish undressing you, and we'll soon see whether you're worth gems of the value that I think you have in mind."
Hours later, she wriggled against him and asked, "So, have I earned my jewels?"
He smiled, playing with her right breast as he ran an appreciative hand down her body. "A king's ransom worth. But I want this nightly for the rest of the safari."
"Your heart wouldn't stand this every night for that long, John," she giggled. "But I'll let you go for it as long as your stamina lasts."
It seemed very little later that the personal boy was tapping at the tent entrance. "Mimi lette chai, Bwana, mem'Sahib."
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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976 Posts |
Posted - June 14 2008 : 12:26:46 AM
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The day was largely spent in travelling directly to Hardy's substantial farm. But breakfast was exceptional,with meat from the birds shot the day before, with the last of their eggs. More would have to be obtained from the Hardy family, who could also supply ice from their freezers.
But they had oranges, so there was fresh squeezed orange juice, and there was toast for Finn to butter for George, grinning at Marguerite as she did it. The latter lady rolled her eyes in mock disgust at the way that Mrs. Challenger pampered her husband.
Mrs. Malone smiled back at Finn and both looked deeply amused. The hunters noticed, and had to be told why this was funny. They were getting gradual bits of life on the Amazonian Plateau where these six people had met and become almost family.
Finally, they were on their way, Veronica having paused first to visit the pelt and skull of her leopard. She handled the paws, again noting the long sharp claws that must have ended the lives of many animals. Finn stood by her, and said that if she had to be an animal, she might like to be a leopard.
"Why, pray tell?," asked Geoff Blacklaws. "Why not a chimpanzee, or something similar?"
"Because the leopard is such a skilled survivor. They exist in places where people never realize that they're there. I was once like that: I had to hide and forage carefully, and take what I could. I identify with leopards."
"And you're both beautiful," commented Stuart Hamilton. "You and the leopard. You have golden hair, and it has a golden hide. Spotted, of course, but the basic analogy is there."
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
976 Posts |
Posted - June 14 2008 : 03:07:02 AM
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Shortly after noon, having survived an encounter with a rhino that must go untold lest the story be further slowed, they came at last to the Hardy farm.
They entered the gate in a long wooden fence topped with barbed wire and came in time to a substantial stucco house with a thatch cover over a tile roof. The styling was somewhat Mediteranean, with overtones of the Boer farms in Blacklaws's native South Africa.
He felt slightly homesick on seeing it, although he had moved permanently to Kenya years before.
Angus Hardy and his daughter were warned of their coming by the black staff and by a quartet of dogs that swarmed around the cars.
"Rhodesian ridgebacks," said Hamilton, gesturing at the large canids. "Men use them in some areas to bay lions. Sit tight: here come Angus and Diana. They'll call them off. You can take your hand away from your pistol, Mr. Malone. You'll be safe." His eyes twinkled as he noticed that Ned had pulled Veronica back from the car door and unsnapped the flap on the holster to his Colt .45 automatic.
The dogs were soon herded aside and made to sit. Hardy greeted his future son-in-law with enthusiam. He was a big man, hard-boned and with little fat, a couple of inches over six feet. The black hair had gone gray around the temples, and there were lines at the edges of his eyes, but they crinkled into smile lines as he introduced Diana and met the safari.
Hardy knew Blacklaws, who had visited several times before, and who was a good friend of Hamilton's.
Diana Hardy had the complexion associated with an English rose, tanned a bit by the African sun. She was outdoorsy, but slim and would look elegant in an evening gown. She had chestnut hair, worn halfway to her waist. In spite of having few other white women nearby, she wasn't at all "butch", but seemed delightfully feminine and charming. She was ecstatic over meeting other ladies of her kind, if rather more wealthy than her own well-to-do father.
She shook hands with everyone, then herded them into her substantial home, where they sat in a spacious living room while servants brought in tea and cakes. She took their hats, and asked whether they had eaten lunch.
"We'd rather hoped to sponge off of you, Angus," said Hamilton. "But we can have our boys slap together some cold cuts and whatnot, if need be."
Hardy and his lass would not hear of this, and they summoned the headboy and sent him on his way to the cook, with orders to make ready something suitable.
"Shot a buffalo recently," said Hardy, "and the meat has been hanging to ripen a bit. Should be tender by now. We'll know soon enough. Have it for supper, if you'll stay. In the meantime, our cook can heat up some lamb from the refrigerator and make up a decent lunch. Stuart, my lad, you're looking well. I see that Diana thinks so. She all but worships you, you know."
He chuckled as his daughter blushed. She had gone to stand by Hamilton, and held his hand, looking at him with evident pleasure.
As the men got acquainted, Diana asked the ladies to follow her and see the house. "I want to get some decorating tips from you. Mum did well, I think, but I need to know how I can improve. Daddy will be left to his own devices after Stuart and I marry. I want him to have a house that is more than a man's den."
And so it went, everyone getting caught up on one anothers' news and feeling each other out, as new acquaintances must.
Roxton admired the elephant tusks that framed the main doorway into the rear portions of the house, and a huge mounted buffalo head above the fireplace. Finn escaped from the other women after a time and joined him in studying these and other trophies of the hunt, including lion rugs and a leopard hide larger than Veronica's.
Hardy noticed her interest and announced that this cattle killer had also taken two children from a native village. "Got him last year, with a .275 just at dusk," he related. "Over 180 pounds, one of the biggest cats of his kind that I've seen. And I've seen a good many."
And so the conversation went.
But back at the safari cars, one man looked craftily at the house and listened to the laughter and talk from the bwanas and their women with a degree of smugness not usual in one of his duties. Soon, he would see those women naked and in chains, and pocket more money than he had had before in his life. Khalid awaited him on the morrow, when he would betray the mem'Sahibs. He wondered what white women looked like with their clothes off. He had heard that some parts of them were pink! Khalid had promised him a chance to see. The money was more important, but the fringe benefits of this job were nonetheless good to anticipate. He wondered whether the bwanas would have to be killed to get their women. Maybe they would all be away hunting. He hoped so. He had no desire to get shot, if his treachery became known and a battle ensued...
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
976 Posts |
Posted - June 15 2008 : 03:15:27 AM
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Although much good cheer and new companionship was achieved during that night at Angus Hardy's farm, we must move on to more dramatic events.
After a night in which they were shown excellent hospitality, the explorers met after breakfast the next day to discuss their plans.
They laid out a map of the area, and Hardy told them over a second cup of tea all around that if they wanted to shoot Greater Kudu, they would be better off to travel some 40 miles to the northeast.
"You can hunt them here," he said, noting on the map the right area, "then swing back by here and take some fine leopard and bushbuck, as you wanted. Spend a few days here, if you like, and we'll enjoy the company. Roxton, I remember you from before the war. Pity about your brother. My condolences." He referred to Lord Roxton having accidentally shot his elder brother while saving him from a great ape that sought to kill him. Alas, the bullet had passed through the ape and into William Roxton. John was cleared of any wrongdoing in the coroner's inquest, and received the title of Earl of Avebury. But the incident had tormented him ever since.
He hated the mention of it, but realized that Hardy was trying to be sympathetic. And he was clearly a generous host and a nice man, whose acquaintance might prove valuable when the Roxtons made future safaris here.
As the hunters chatted and made their plans, no one noticed that a servant lurked just beneath the open window of the room where they talked. He then went to the grove of gorgeous jacaranda trees that flanked one side of the house, some 100 yards from the home. He was met there by two Arabs whom he knew as Ahmed and Selim.
These worthies listened carefully, making notes as the traitor told them the schedule that he had overheard.
"Tomorrow afternoon, we shall be here, at the springs near the river you see on the map. The springs are not shown, but are here," he gestured on the map. "It is a brushy area with clearings. I know it well. They will doubtless camp there, and it is one of the few places where the women can swim. They have been complaining about not being able to do that. Here, a big pool has no crocodiles, and they will likely swim tomorrow afternoon as the men hunt. So they have said. Miss Diana wishes to come along, and they have agreed. Thus, we will have her in camp too, along with the other three. This is joyous news. We will not have to come here later to collect her. Is this not good fortune, brothers?" He smiled, an evil aura of triumph on his features.
"Indeed so," agreed Ahmed, the senior of the two uninvited guests.
"We will continue to shadow them, out of sight, and they will see no dust trail. When they have camped, we will bring up the camels and the horses, and strike when the moment is ours. This swim and rest outing that they plan is ideal for our purposes. Soon, these spoiled infidel girls will be in our hands."
"We may not use them, but can do all but enter them. I look forward to taking amusement from proud Western women. Their sale will bring much money. But I will know added satisfaction from seeing them squirm in our clutches and struggle to accept that they have become slaves, as is proper for such pretty, arrogant females. The Sultan of Amarrah will be pleased. Perhaps we shall even receive a bonus. This will surely be the best shipment of girls that he will see this year. Normally, only one or two girls are sent to him at a time."
"What of the ivory and the black girls?", asked the traitor.
"They will come with the camels. The whole caravan will then move as quickly as we can to meet the motor transport at the dukka. (Writer's note: trading post, a backcountry store, usually run by Indians.) The cars here will rerurn to Nairobi. They would be too easily stopped by the police if we used the roads. With the animals to carry us, we can operate far from roads, and they will soon lose our trail. Their own vehicles will be unable to follow us over rough ground. Brother, take care. We will hopefully see you tomorrow afternoon. The time is approaching. "
And they parted, the servant hastening back to the safari before he was missed. He helped to load equipment onto the trucks, and seemed happier than usual, thought the whites.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Explorer
976 Posts |
Posted - June 16 2008 : 09:11:21 AM
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They camped that night at the springs they had been told about, and all got a good nights rest, some after a bit of nocturnal exercise.
Diana Hardy was glad to have the company of the other women, and pressed them to tell her all about life in Britain, fashion, men, and other issues that she could not discuss with any but her fair sex.
After breakfast, Marguerite tried to make Roxton sit nearby with his rifle while she and the other girls swam. He was obstinate, pointing out that they needed to hunt awhile for kudu, then kill several animals to set out as leopard baits.
"Just come with us, Marguerite, and swim this afternoon. We'll all take a rest then, and nothing urgent will be on the agenda." He almost swayed her, but she was in one of her moods where she wanted her way, right then. They argued, making everyone else ill at ease.
Finally, Ned Malone had had enough. "Look," he said, "Marguerite, I'll stay in camp and guard you ladies as you swim. Veronica and Diana want to play bridge, too, and we can do that while we wait for the others to get back. I enjoy bridge, so I don't mind being the fourth player. Okay?"
A little embarrassed now that she felt everyone else looking apprehensively or resentfully at her, Marguerite agreed. She even walked Roxton to the car and kissed him goodbye. "Just get back here as soon as you can," she said. "I want to take a walk with you while the sun is still well up."
"You'll be all right with Ned," he said, as if reassuring himself that this was true. "The pros say that there aren't any crocs around that pool, but watch for them, anyway. One may have moved in, even if the water is too clear and moves faster than they like. The pools are too small for hippos, but watch for snakes."
"John, I'm not the village idiot," she protested. "Of course, I'll watch for snakes. We'll be careful. Just get back here so we can have some time together before it gets too dark."
"We can't have time together after it gets dark?" He raised his eyebrows playfully to her, smiling his smile that always devastated her, making her a litle weak in the knees.
She was exasperated. Men! One track minds! "Oh, we'll manage that, too, but if you want me in the mood for it, don't aggravate me by staying out all day playing Great White Hunter. We'll have dinner ready early, about five, I should think. Be here before then. Understand?"
"Yes, Mommy," he retorted. He kissed her and got into the truck. She handed him his rifle and some full water bottles, his binocular.
"Wait for me! I'm coming, too!" And Finn ran up, rifle, binocular, and a bag of other items with her. She had been planning to swim and get better acquainted with Diana Hardy, but the lure of the hunt, and that she'd miss sharing the companionship of her husband and her best pal Johnny, had gotten to her. The squabble between the Roxtons had decided her. This was not a day in which she wanted to sit around camp with Marguerite when she could be hunting, seeing how leopard baits were hung. Taking photos for her next book...
"We've plenty of lunch for another," observed Hamilton. "Glad to have you aboard, Mrs. Challenger. Anyone else coming?"
No one was, and they were off in a flurry of red dust.
"Well, " said Veronica, "it's just us girls and Neddy. Lets' enjoy ourselves to the max, as Finn says. We won't get another chance to swim while we're out in the bush, so lets' make the most of it."
"Maybe I should swim, too. I can leave my rifle on the bank, just in case." Ned knew the likely answer to his suggestion, but wanted to needle Marguerite.
"Actually, Ned, I'd like that," said his wife. "Wait until we girls are done, then join me while the others have their hair done by the personal boys. We haven't swum alone together in months."
Ned felt good about that, and wasn't too unhappy as he joined the girls at the spring, carrying their bathing attire, towels, and the like.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - June 17 2008 : 09:26:52 AM
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The girls frolicked in the widest pool, happy to be wet, together, and getting to know each other. Diana found that she had much in common with her two new friends, and she had read Ned's and Finn's books on their time in the Amazon. She was intrigued with the mysterious plateau that had held the Challenger expedition trapped for over four years, for all but Finn. Even she had been there for over two years before they had found an escape route. What Diana did not know was that Finn had come not just from a war-ravaged city, but was also from the future. And the discovery of dinosaurs and certain other aspects of the adventures that the expedition had experienced were carefully omitted. They had chosen to protect the Plateau and its dreadful secrets from outside interference.
Even so, both the Malone and the Challenger volumes were chockfull of jungle derring-do and narrow escapes, all of them true. Miss Hardy was thrilled to actually know the persons who had experienced - and written about - such deeds.
"What are Brazilian bathing suits like?" she wanted to know. "Or, did you all just use British styles?"
Veronica and Marguerite looked at each other and blushed. "You tell her," said the blonde lass.
"Well, we didn't exactly have real bathing suits," the other lady confessed. "We just swam nude. Of course, we all knew one another quite well. Finny was our new member, but she just thought it was fun. What she called, 'way cool' in the strange dialect of English that she grew up speaking."
Diana was initially shocked, but found herself laughing as Veronica and Marguerite told her added tales of their swims and some of their misadventures.
Ned sat just out of sight, a .30/06 Springfield sporting rifle across his lap, a book in his hand. He rolled his eyes occasionally as new peals of feminine laughter erupted from the reeds behind him. But he enjoyed his book and watching a Nile monitor lizard that was searching for crocodile eggs or birds' nests. He decided to shoot the three foot reptile if it went toward the women. Otherwise, he rather liked seeing it until it became aware of him and scuttled off into the water and swam downstream.
Finally, the women were through, and he escorted them back to camp.
There, he and Veronica decided to lie down for awhile in their tent, while Diana Hardy and Marguerite Roxton had their hair washed and groomed by the personal boys. As Diana wasn't a client, she used Finn's boy, Joseph. Juma, as usual, attended to Lady Roxton.
The sun was warm, the breeze mild, and none of them had any idea that tragedy was about to strike.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - June 18 2008 : 10:20:50 AM
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Marguerite's hair was done, and she was lying back in a reclining camp chair, her eyes closed, talking to Diana. That girl's hair was being brushed by the the boy who had washed it. Juma had worked faster, and Marguerite's hair had already been brushed.
She had a drink on a small folding table at her side, and had set it down after sipping it and leaned back. She was just answering some question from Diana, when she sensed a shadow approaching. She opened her eyes, but it was only Juma.
Marguerite felt him lift something from the table, and sat up to tell him to leave her drink; she wasn't done with it. But it wasn't the gin and tonic that he had taken. Instead, he held her Smith & Wesson .38, the same basic model as Finn's. Marguerite's had the optional rounded butt, with a four-inch barrel, an inch shorter than on Finn's gun, but a bit handier, which Marguerite liked. It was more powerful and easier to shoot well than her old hammerless model, and she had grown quite fond of this newer gun.
She had hidden the revolver under a small towel, and didn't even know that Juma knew it was there. Since the episode with the snake at the table, she had kept a pistol at hand. This was, after all, the African bush. Who knew what might appear?
"Here!", she exclaimed. "Juma, put that back. Don't be meddling with it. It's loaded. Someone might get hurt!"
"I will not put it back. This is mine now, Lady Roxton. Stand and raise your hands. You are my prisoner."
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - June 18 2008 : 10:48:24 AM
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"You cheeky wog! Put that down, as Lady Roxton says!" Diana was standing now, sure that she knew how to control the situation. She had been ordering black servants around for most of her life.
Diana, like Marguerite, wore only lingerie beneath her robe. The women had wanted to wait until their hair was done before dressing. Now, she felt vulnerable. But a "boy" was still a boy, and this one was far out of line. She should really speak to Stuart about him when her fiance returned...
"You, too, Miss Hardy!", retorted Juma. "Get your hands up. Lady Roxton, you heard me. Stand and raise your hands, now! I do not bluff!" His voice sounded different. There was no deference left in it, and there was a hardness that was new. His face was grim, and his eyes flashed. He was serious!
"What the hell is this?" demanded Marguerite, rising, raising her hands. "Is this a holdup? If I give you my jewels, what good will it do you? Where do you think you can go?"
"Give me that gun, you bloody savage!", snapped Diana. She came around the chair and slapped Juma so fast that he was taken aback. But he recovered at once and backhanded the Hardy girl so hard that she tripped over Marguerite's chair and fell.
"Both of you stand here and take off those robes," Juma ordered.
As he spoke, other black men and a number of Arabs, all armed, swarmed from the bush and ran over to the women. It was becoming obvious that this was real and that Juma was a traitor, in cahoots with this gang.
One of the Arabs ran into the Malone tent, where he had seen the occupants go after they had come back from the springs above the camp. Within, Ned and Veronica had been talking, she lying on her cot as he rubbed her back. She wore only a sky blue bra and bikini panties, with pretty lace trim. Ned had taken off his gun belt and his shirt. Neither Malone was dressed for trouble, and there was no reason to expect any.
They had just heard some of the noise from outside. As the man entered, Malone sprang up, lunging for a rifle in a corner of the tent, behind his own cot.
The Arab struck downward with a club, hitting Malone on the head. He dropped like a rock, sprawling across his bed.
His wife rolled over and snatched her revolver, like Finn's, from the holster that hung on the end of her cot. A second Arab bounded over and twisted it from her grasp. As he did so, it fired, the shot passing harmlessly through the canvas top of the tent.
Veronica was stronger than they had expected, and she kneed one invader in the stomach and smashed the heel of her hand into his face. He went over backward, screaming a thin howl of pain. The second grabbed her around the body, pinning her arms to her sides. Calling for aid, he dragged her past his incapacitated friend. Another man ran over to help.
Marguerite and Diana could do nothing. They were now covered by a dozen guns, and both raised their hands as ordered. The boy who had dried Diana's hair lay on the ground, struck down by the butt of a rifle as he tried to defend the women.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - June 18 2008 : 11:06:14 AM
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Everyone in camp heard the shot from the Malone tent, and all ran to see what had happened. It did no good.
The Wakamba tracker drew his native sword and cut down one African who was tryng to subdue Veronica, but another shot him through the body with a Webley revolver. The heavy bullet dropped him as quickly if he was a French noble being guillotined during the Revolution.
It was over as quickly as it had begun. The other African staff were rounded up and made to sit in a circle, with their hands on their heads. Veronica was held by one man while another tied her wrists behind her, then bound her ankles.
She was made to kneel near Marguerite and Diana, while they removed their robes at the command of an Arab who seemed to be in charge.
Marguerite had seen him before, at the New Stanley Hotel in Nairobi. He wore a green turban. And now, seeing him close, she realized with a shock why he had seemed familiar. She had frequently danced before him as a slave girl, owned by the Sultan of Amarrah!
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - June 18 2008 : 8:31:54 PM
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The intruders quickly began gathering up guns, jewelry, money, and anything else that took their fancy.
"Be careful to take only what you can carry," reminded Khalid. "The camels will not transport more than their limits!" Then, he felt foolish. There was no need to have told the surviving Africans from the safari that he had camels nearby.
He could simply kill them, and the thought crossed his mind. But there was one man dead, shot, and another would probably die, his head smashed in with a rifle butt. If he was caught, that would add murder to kidnapping, slave trafficking, ivory poaching, and any other charges that the British thought to make. More murders would be even worse. And he saw no real reason to slay them all. Some were even fellow Muslims.
He turned to the two brunette women. "Remove your clothing. Put it in Marguerite's chair. Do not delay. We must soon be gone."
"Undress for you, you dirty Arab dog? I most certainly will not!" Diana was shocked and angered.
Khalid shrugged. "You will strip, or it will be done for you. And you are now a slave girl. Keep that in mind when speaking to me, your captor."
"Wait!" said Marguerite. "If you're going to sell us or hold us for ransom, my husband will pay it, have no fear. Please let us keep what little clothing we have. You can see that we have no weapons. If you are crude with us and are captured, it will go hard with you to have stripped European women!"
"Enough!," snapped Khalid. "Ahmed, Yusuf, remove their clothes. Get help to hold them, if need be."
"Wait!," yelped Lady Roxton. "If you put it that way, I'll take off my own clothes." And she peeled off her lacy white camisole and again raised her hands.
"Remove the knickers, too, Lady Roxton," demanded Ahmed, the second in command of the gang. "Then, stand with your hands raised until you can be bound."
Marguerite shrugged, stepped out of her brief white panties and did as told.
Diana stood stunned, then, seeing men move toward her, she did the same, removing her bra and panties. She noticed that her companions wore quite brief knickers for the times, and wondered where they had gotten them. She had never seen any lingerie so provocative. It wasn't quite respectable, she thought, but she wondered whether Stuart would enjoy seeing her in similar styles. Oh! Poor Stuart! He would be so worried when he returned to camp, and found what had happened. And the other ladies' husbands... They all seemed so much in love, despite the argument that morning between the Roxtons.
She felt her hands being pulled behind her and submitted as they were cuffed. She saw Marguerite place her hands behind her, and saw her handcuffed, also. She noticed that the handcuffs used were the Irish 8 sort, which held the wrists tightly together, with the lock off to the right of one bracelet. There were no links. Marguerite had also noticed, recalling having once worn such bracelets when accused of being a highwaywoman in a quaint little village on the Plateau some years before. She had nearly been hanged before being rescued by her man and their friends. (See the TLW episode, "The Outlaw".) At least, this bunch wasn't going to hang her!
Then, Khalid commanded Marguerite to come to him and turn her back.
"Why?" She wanted to know. "Most men prefer looking at my front. Don't my breasts please you? What do you want; some heifer whose udders would win a blue ribbon at the county fair?"
In spite of her situation, Diana laughed. Someone swatted her on the bottom for it.
"Just turn, Marguerite," said Khalid, "Or..."
"I know. It will be done for me. I surrender." And she turned, hoping that he wasn't looking for what she suspected.
He looked at the back of her left shoulder, confirmed that she was marked from birth with the symbol that he sought, and had her turn.
"Marguerite, I know who you are," he said. He showed her the detailed sketch of her birthmark. "You are an escaped slave, despite all of your present pretensions, and you will soon be returned to your rightful owner. Your master died in the war, but his son now sits on the throne of Amarrah, and he will be pleased to meet you." He smirked.
Marguerite had been thinking. Now she said, "You imbecile! I am now Lady Roxton, and my husband is not only a lord; he is an Earl! The XVIIIth Earl of Avebury! And for the past year, he has sat on the Monarch's Privy Council. He is a personal advisor to King George! For the Sultan of a foreign state to have me kidnapped is probably tantamount to an act of war! If you know what is good for you, release us at once and go! If you are fortunate, you may escape. But if you take us, British women and the wife of an Earl, the search will be swift and relentless. You will spend the rest of your life in prison, or hang! I will give you what money and jewels I have, but release us, and go, while you can!"
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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976 Posts |
Posted - June 19 2008 : 12:47:21 AM
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He scoffed. "Obviously, I have thought of this. I undertook your capture, anyway. We move ivory and black girls routinely between here and Amarrah. Why should we not get away with transporting you?" He looked to his men. "Here you! Put those guns in their cases. We do not want them scratched up. They will sell for good prices where they will go."
To others, he said, "Take these Africans and tie them securely in the tents, where they will not be quickly seen when the men return here."
He turned back to Marguerite and Diana. "Where is the other blonde, Mrs. Challenger? She is worth some ten thousand pounds to me."
Told by Juma that Finn had gone with her husband and the other men, Khalid sighed theatrically. "Oh, well: we have the others. We cannot hope for perfection. Marguerite, Diana: kneel, and spread your thighs widely. Make yourselves look humiliated and decorative. Bring Veronica and untie her hands. If she fails to strip, just rip her bra off and remove her pretty blue knickers. But I want her wrists in steel, not just those ropes."
"Marguerite! Where do you girls get these pretty, small, knickers? Is it a new fashion thing in England?" He picked up her bikini panties and studied them.
"We make them ourselves, after the fashion of a city where our friend Mrs. Challenger used to live. She and I design them and have them sewn for ourselves and a select clientele of friends and acquaintances who appreciate such styles. We tried to sell them to major stores, but the buyers felt that the moral temper of the nation wouldn't allow them to sell them. We actually raised some eyebrows among those prim merchants." In spite of her circumstances, she managed to smile wryly as she recalled the reaction of some store owners.
Her ankles freed, Veronica was marched over to the others, and her bonds removed until she had stripped, glowering at their captors. She then offered her hands and felt them being locked behind her back.
Khalid watched, then said, "Turn the cuffs vertically, and have this girl's wrists locked in the bracelets one above the other, not side-by-side. This will further restrain her movements. She has a sullen, defiant look about her. I do not trust her. In fact, stand Marguerite up and fasten her that way. She is known to be tricky."
He looked at Diana, realized that she wore conventional American police cuffs, if with only one link between the bracelets, and decided that she was well enough confined. She was less crafty or violent than the safari client girls, and looked frightened out of her wits. She would be less likely to try to slip her hands around in front or otherwse cause trouble.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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976 Posts |
Posted - June 19 2008 : 02:17:07 AM
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"Get these girls fastened in coffle. I will oversee packing the jewels and counting their cash. Is the Malone man dead?"
"Who knows? He is unconcious, at least. We can be gone before he wakes. If he is dead, we cannot change that." Ahmed was irritated by the question.
"Please see if my husband is alive! I will do anything you ask, but I have to know. I love that man!" Veronica was about to weep, and it showed. She was also uncomfortable with her hands locked well up her back, above waist level. One wrist was confined above the other, in a "stacked" effect. It reminded her of trying to zip a dress when Ned wasn't handy to help. Even with the greater flexilibity of womens' arms, it was somewhat stressful to endure. It made her feel even more helpless than she had been. The Irish 8 cuffs were designed to hold prisoners well, and she was becoming discouraged, although usually an optimist. But, although frightened about being a totally naked, helpless prisoner, her first concern was for poor Ned, whom she had seen as he was struck down.
Khalid nodded, and a man went to check. He returned to say that Malone was alive, but that his pulse was thready.
"Leave him," demanded Ahmed. "We need to be underway. Mrs. Malone, will you pleasure me as I wish if I agree not to kill your husband?"
Veronica nodded, crying. "I will do whatever you ask of me, but please let Ned live."
Ahmed laughed. "Very well, he will live. But tonight, when we camp, I will have you whipped for your resistance. One of my mens' hand was badly burned when your gun discharged as you were disarmed. For this, you will serve as an example to the other girls of how disobedient females are dealt with."
Veronica nodded. "Yes, sir. I will obey, if Ned lives. I swear that I will!" This was against her nature, for she was independent and bold. But her love for Ned was strong, and she was surprised to realize just how much she feared for him. I'll never take Neddy for granted again, she promised herself. That's if I ever get to see him again, have him hold me in his arms. Not that I took him for granted, anyway. I was just so secure with him.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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976 Posts |
Posted - June 19 2008 : 02:37:15 AM
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Khalid disappeared into the tents, looking for valuables. The three girls were lined up, Veronica in front, then Diana, then Marguerite. Ahmed wished to have the local girl between the two who knew one another so well. It might discourage them from plotting.
A long, stout stick was brought, with a deep vee fork in each end. The forward-facing fork was placed behind Veronica's neck and a piece tied in front over her throat, locking her neck in the wooden triangle thus created. The forward piece had a metal ring, through which a chain could be locked, to attach one girl to another.
The rear fork went around Diana's throat, and a piece was fastened behind her neck. A chain went from there to the forward piece attached to Marguerite's throat as her assembly was put in place.
Being the last girl in the coffle or string of girls, Marguerite had only a wooden triangle enclosing her neck, with no stick extending behind her. Only a short fork was behind her neck. With the connecting chains in place, the three girls were chained together by the neck. They were allowed to don their boots before being coffled, for their feet would not withstand walking over this ground barefoot. Ahmed made a note to take their boots again as they were loaded onto the camels.
Finally, Khalid came out, and the raiders left, taking the girls with them. A man walked beside them, occasionally switching any girl who tried to walk slowly. They set a brisk pace, for they needed to disappear from here before any help could arrive for the safari.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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Posted - June 19 2008 : 03:25:31 AM
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After walking for about half a mile, they met the caravan of camels and horses, and the coffles of African girls and ivory, as Khalid's main column located the raiders.
They loaded the loot onto certain camels, and the white girls were taken out of their neck harnesses. Their handcuffs were removed and their wrists bound in front, with new lines then used to tie them again, this time running loops of rope around their waists. Their hands were thus tied to their bellies, with less than an inch of room to lift their wrists. Their boots were removed, and their knees and ankles bound.
They were then placed into large hammocks, one girl to a hammock. The hammocks were padded with a blanket, and white sheets were placed over each girl, to shield her from the sun. The white cotton would reflect some of the sun's heat. Marguerite had feared that they would be blindfolded or gagged, but neither happened,. Khalid cautioned them to speak softly, if they needed to mention anything important. Otherwise, they would be gagged. He would wait until much later to bindfold them, after it was obvious that the caravan was bound for the dukka. He did not wish them to know that they would be kept there for a few hours, or until the cars arrived to take them to the coast.
A problem arose when it was found that there were not enough camels to carry all of the new black slaves. There were two too many. And all must ride; anyone walking would soon be left behind.
"Parade the African slaves before me. I will choose the two least atractive. They will be left behind." Khalid was loath to leave any valuable girls, but camels were well known to refuse to travel if overloaded.
The black maidens were all attractive by African standards, for he captured only lovely girls. Ugly ones would not sell on the slave blocks in Arabian countries. But two were chosen, and he had them unbound.
They were made to sit with their legs spread, then they were made to place their arms through their legs, with the outer sides of their elbows and wrists against the inside of their knees and ankles. They were tied tightly in this position. This forced them to remain sitting, with their thighs open, to humiliate them, leaving their most intimate areas open to view.
"Shall I strangle them?", asked Ahmed.
"No," said Khalid. "I have a better idea. Tie them together by the neck, with about three feet of rope between them. They cannot go anywhere. We can pass time on the trail in speculation about whether thirst will take them before lions or hyenas eat them." He chuckled evilly.
"But, Khalid," protested the other villain, "if the white men find them first, they will tell them which way we have gone."
Khalid smiled and said softly, "Yes, brother. But when we pass from their sight, we will change direction and brush out our trail. If these slaves speak, the information that they give will mislead our pursuers."
Both men grinned, for this was good fun, and might aid their cause.
Finally, with everyone having been allowed water, a whip cracked, the camels rose, and the caravan trekked off, taking three white girls and 14 black ones to captivity in a far land.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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976 Posts |
Posted - June 19 2008 : 10:58:07 PM
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Ned Malone woke with his head feeling as if a thunderstorm was going on inside of his skull. He lay still until his mind focused on his situation, then staggered up and looked around. Realizing what had happened, he sought a firearm. Either wild animals might come, or the slavers might return.
The guns were gone, and so were his watch and his wallet. Then, he remembered that he had fallen across his pillow when he had been struck. He lifted the pillow, and found his spare Colt .45 automatic pistol! Rummaging through some blankets beside Veronica's cot, he found her spare pistol, a Colt .32 automatic. But the ammunition was gone, and he had only the loaded magazines already in the guns.
He had evidently not been searched, once his money and watch were stolen, and his pocketknife was still in his right trouser pocket. It was a Case brand stockman's pattern, with three sharp blades and a handsome stag antler handle with nickle silver bolsters at each end of the handle.
His handkerchief was there, and some coins and a nail clipper were in his other pocket. He never carried anything but his knife and the handkerchief in the right pocket, to keep coins from chewing up the finish on his fine knife. He thought bitterly that he could use the handkerchief to dry his eyes, for he felt like crying. Some hero I was! He was bitter as he cursed himself for not saving his wife and their friends. From what he had heard, he knew that they had been attacked by bandits, and he had heard the brunette women being told to remove their robes. He wondered if they had been killed after rape, but saw no one. So, they had been taken.
That figured. If he was a robber, he would have taken such desirable women, too. Probably, they would be used to entertain their captors. They might even be sold, but Ned couldn't be sure that the raiders were slavers. He had heard only a little of their conversation.
Then, he heard a snuffling sound behind him and a wail arose from one of the distant tents. He saw a hyena trying to open the tied flap of the tent. He drew the heavier .45 and sent a bullet through its shoulder. It yelped, spun around, and fell down, snapping at the wound. Several others galloped out from behind two other tents, and he heard native voices crying out to him.
"Bwana! Free us! We are tied within the tents!" Doubtless, they had not called out earlier, not knowing if he was one of the Arabs. And they may simply not have heard him. Now, they had decided to chance calling for help.
Ned finished off the dying hyena with a head shot as it lunged at him. He ran over to the large cook tent, opened the flap, and saw the prisoners. His knife soon freed them, and they went to the other tents.
In all, they freed 15 men, and found the bodies of the two who had been killed earlier.
Without a watch, Ned had no idea how long he had been unconcious. But the Africans pointed to the position of the sun, and one who spoke some English told him that perhaps an hour or two had passed.
They confirmed that all three women had been taken, marched off in coffle, their hands cuffed behind them. It was obvious from the neck harnesses that they wore that their captors were organized slavers, who frequently used that means of fastening their prisoners in line. Also, the fact that the "boys" had seen the girls being handcuffed meant that these were more than simple bandits, who would have probably just tied the beauties.
Ned treated some wounds suffered by the Africans, and they set about finding food and water for lunch. No one had eaten, and doing so would pass the time until the others returned. And Ned knew that they needed to eat. He meant to be ready to leave as soon as possible. These fiends might have Veronica and their friends for now, but he meant to have his wife back, as soon as possible! He thought of how she and the other girls must feel, and shuddered as he donned his shirt. Damn, I love that woman! he reflected.
He walked into his tent so that the Africans wouldn't see him cry as he wept for Veronica and for his shame at having failed to protect her.
"There is nothing quite so exhilarating as to be shot at without effect." Sir Winston Churchill |
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