She bowed her head and hurried on into the shed, into the stench and
the low hubbub of groans and wails. She saw that Sara was still
assisting at the plain wooden table, inadequately screened by a
tattered curtain of canvas, and lit by a pair of Petromax lamps.
The German doctor was removing a shattered limb, cutting below the knee
while the young Harari warrior thrashed weakly under the weight of the
four orderlies who held him down.
Vicky waited until they carried the patient away and she called to
Sara. The two of them went out and stood breathing the sweet mountain
air with relief as they leant close together under the overhanging roof
of the veranda while Vicky repeated the conversation she had held
with
Lij Mikhael.
'Then we were cut off. The line just went dead.'
'Yes,' Sara nodded. 'They have cut the wires. It is only a surprise
that Ras
Kullah did not do so before. The wires cross over the top of Ambo
Sacal. Perhaps it has taken this long for them to reach it.'
'Will you go down the gorge, Sara, and give the message to Major
Swales? I would go down in Miss Wobbly, but there is almost no fuel in
the tank, and I
have promised Jake not to waste it. We will need every drop later--2
'It will be quicker on horseback anyway,' Sara smiled, and I will be
able to see Gregorius.'
'No, it won't take long,' Vicky agreed.
'They are very close.' Both of them paused to listen to the Italian
guns. The thumping detonations of the high explosive reverberated
against the mountains, close enough to make the ground tremble under
their feet.
'Don't you want me to give a message to Mr. Bartonr Sara demanded
archly. 'Shall I tell him that your body crave, 'No,' Vicky cut her
short, her alarm obvious. 'For goodness sake don't go giving him one
of your salacious inventions.'
'What does 'salacious' mean, Miss
Camberwell?' Sara's interest was aroused immediately.
'It means lecherous, lustful.'
'Salacious,' Sara repeated,
memorizing it. 'It's a fine word,' and with gusto she tried it out.
'My body craves you with a great salacious yearning.'
'Sara, if you tell Jake that I said that, I will murder you with my
bare hands,'
Vicky warned her, laughing for the first time in many days, and her
laughter was cut off in mid flight by the single ringing scream of
terror, and the wild animal roar that followed it.
Suddenly the goods yard was filled with racing figures; they poured out
of the thick stand of cedar trees that flanked the railway line, and
they crossed the tracks in a few leaping bounds. There were hundreds
of them and they poured into the warehouse and fell like a pack of
wolves on the rows of helpless wounded.
'The Gallas,' whispered Sara huskily, and for a moment they stood
