his neck as he imagined this sprawling rabble caught in a crossfire of
modern machine guns, and he fretted for the arrival of their own
weapons which were lost somewhere amongst that ragged army.
He felt a touch on his shoulder and turned quickly to find Lij Mikhael
beside him.
'Thank you, Mr. Barton,'said the Prince quietly, and Jake shrugged and
turned back to his scrutiny of the distant plains.
'It was not the correct thing but I thank you all the same.' How is
she?'
'I have just left her with Miss Camberwell. She is resting and I think
she will be well.' They were silent a while longer, before Jake spoke
again.
'I'm worried, Prince. We are wide open. If the Italians chase now it
will be bloody murder. Where are the guns?
We must have the guns.' Lij Mikhael pointed out on to the left rear
flank of the approaching host.
'There,' and Jake noticed for the first time the ungainly shapes of the
pack camels, almost obscured by dust and distances, but standing taller
than the shaggy little Harari ponies that surrounded them, and
lumbering stolidly onwards towards where the cars waited. 'They will
be here in half an hour.' Jake nodded with relief. He began planning
how he would arm the cars immediately, so that they could be deployed
to counter another Italian attack but the Prince interrupted his
thoughts.
'Mr. Barton, how long have you known Major Swales?' Jake lowered the
glasses and grinned.
'Sometimes I think too long,' and regretted it, as he noticed the
Prince's immediate anxiety.
'No. I didn't mean that. It was a bad joke. I haven't known him
long.'
'We checked his record very carefully before ' he hesitated.
'Before tricking him into taking on this commission,' Jake suggested,
and the Prince smiled faintly and nodded.
'Precisely,' he agreed. 'All the evidence suggests that he is an
unscrupulous man, but a skilled soldier with a proven record of
achievement in training raw recruits. He is an expert weapons
instructor, with a full knowledge of the mechanism and exploitation of
modern weapons.' The Prince paused.
'Just don't get into a card game with him.'
'I will take your advice, Mr. Barton.' The Prince smiled fleetingly,
and then was serious again. 'Miss Camberwell called him a coward. That
is not so. He was acting under my direct orders, as a soldier
should.'
'Point taken,' grinned Jake. 'But then I'm not a soldier, only a
grease monkey.' But the Prince brushed the disclaimer aside.
'He is probably a better man than he thinks he is,' said Jake, and the
Prince nodded.
'His combat record in France is impressive. The Military Cross and
three times mentioned in despatches.'
'Yeah, you have me convinced,' murmured Jake. 'Is that what you
