Jake draiwed himself back on board and steadied himself against the
turret, as he rose to his knees. Beside him a Galla clung like a tick
to the back of an ox, wailing in terror while his sham ma swirled over
his head in the stream of racing air. Jake put one foot against the
man's raised buttocks and thrust hard. The man shot head first over
the side of the speeding car, and hit the earth with a crunch that was
audible even above the roaring engine.
Jake crawled back along the heaving, violently rocking hull and with
fist and foot he threw over side one at a time her deck cargo of
terrified Gallas. Vicky took the car down the slope under full
throttle, weaving wildly through the trees of the grove and at last out
on to the open moonlit plain.
Here at last, by pounding with his fist on the driver's hatch,
Jake managed to arrest Vicky's wild drive, and she braked the car to a
cautious halt.
She came out through the hatch and embraced him with both arms wound
tightly around his neck. Jake made no attempt to avoid the circle of
her arms, and a silence settled over them disturbed only by their
breathing. They had both almost forgotten about their prisoners in the
pleasure of the moment, but were reminded by the scuffling and
muttering in the depths of the car. Slowly they drew apart, and
Vicky's eyes were soft and lustrous in the moonlight.
'The poor things,' she whispered. 'You saved them from that-' and
words failed her as she remembered the one they had been too late to
save.
Yes, 'Jake agreed. 'But what the hell do we do with them now!'
'We could take them up to the Harari Camp the Ras would treat them
fairly.'
'Don't bet money on it.' Jake shook his head. 'They are all
Ethiopians and their rules of the game are different from ours. I
wouldn't like to take a chance on it.'
'Oh Jake, I'm sure he wouldn't allow them to be-, 'Anyway,' Jake
interrupted, 'if we handed them over to the Hararil Ras Kullah would be
there the next minute demanding them back for his fun and if they
didn't agree, we'd all be in the middle of a tribal war. No, it won't
do.'
'We'll have to turn them loose, 'said Vicky at last.
'They'd never make it back to the Wells of Chaldi.' Jake looked to the
east, across the brooding midnight plain. 'The ground out there is
crawling with Ethiopian scouts. They would have their throats slit
before they'd gone a mile.'
'We'll have to take them,' said Vicky,
and Jake looked sharply at her.
'Take them?'
'In the car drive out to the Wells of Chaldi.'
'The
Eyeties would love that,' he grunted. 'Have you forgotten those
flaming great cannons of theirs?'
'Under a flag of truce,' said Vicky.
