country.
Cheng watched the procedure with a lively interest. One pair of tusks, although not heavy or massive, was of particular beauty. They were delicately proportioned shafts with fine grain and elegant curves, an identical and perfectly matched pair.
Cheng stepped forward and squatted beside them as they lay on the scale.
He stroked them with a lover's sensual touch. Perfect, he purred. A natural work of art. He broke off as he noticed Daniel watching him.
Daniel had been vaguely repelled by this display of cupidity, and it showed on his face.
Cheng stood up and explained smoothly. I have always been fascinated by ivory. As you probably know, we Chinese consider it to be a highly propitious substance. Few Chinese households are without any ivory carving; it brings good luck to its owner.
However, my family interest goes even deeper than common superstition. My father began his working life as an ivorycarver, and so great was his skill that by the time I was born he owned shops in Taipei and Bangkok, Tokyo and Hong Kong, all of them specialising in ivory artefacts. Some of my earliest memories are of the look and feel of ivory. As a boy, I worked as an apprentice ivory-carver in the store in Taipei, and I came to love and understand ivory as my father does. He has one of the most extensive and valuable collections he stopped himself. Forgive me, please. I sometimes get carried away by my passion, but that is a particularly beautiful set of tusks. It is very rare to find a pair so perfectly matched. My father would be ecstatic over them. He watched longingly as the tusks were carried away and packed with the hundreds of others in the warehouse.
Interesting character, Daniel remarked, after the last tusk had been registered and locked away, and he and Johnny were making their way up the hill to the bungalow for lunch. But how does the son of an ivory-carver get to be an ambassador? Johnny chuckled. Wing Cheng Gong's father may have come from a humble background, but he didn't remain there. I understand he still has his ivory shops and his collection, but those are merely his hobbies now. He is reputed to be one of the richest men, if not the richest man. in Taiwan, and that, as you can imagine, is very rich indeed. From what I hear he has his fingers in all the juiciest pies around the Pacific rim as well as some in Africa. He has a large family of sons and Cheng is the youngest and, they say, the brightest. I like him, don't you?
Yes, he seems pleasant enough, but there is just something a little odd.
Did you notice his face as he fondled that tusk? It was, Daniel searched for the word, unnatural? You writers! Johnny shook his head ruefully. If you can't find something sensational, you make it up.
And they both laughed.
Ning Cheng Gong stood with one of the black rangers at the foot of the hill and watched Daniel and Johnny disappear amongst the msasa trees. I do not like the white man being here, said Gomo. Under Johnny Nzou, he was Chiwewe's senior ranger. Perhaps we should wait until another time.
The white man leaves this afternoon, Cheng told him coldly. Besides which you have been well paid. Plans have been made that cannot be altered now. The others are already on their way and cannot be sent back. You have only paid us half of what we agreed, Gomo protested.
The other half when your work is done, not before, Cheng said softly, and Gomo's eyes were like the eyes of a snake. You to do, Cheng went on.
know what you have Gama was silent for a moment. The foreigner had indeed paid him a thousand US dollars, the equivalent of six monthssalary, with the promise of another year's salary to follow after the job was done.
You will do it? Cheng insisted. Yes, Gomo agreed. I will do it.
Cheng nodded. It will be tonight or tomorrow night, not later. Be ready, both of you. We will be ready, Gomo promised, and climbed into his Landrover, where the second black ranger waited, and they drove away.
Cheng walked back to his rondavel in the deserted visitors' camp.
The cottage was identical to the other thirty which during the dry cool season usually housed a full complement of tourists. He fetched a cool drink from the refrigerator and sat on the screen porch to wait out the hottest hours of the noonday.
He felt nervous and restless. Deep down he shared Gomo's misgivings about the project. Although they had considered every possible eventuality and planned for each of them, there was always the unforeseeable, the unpredictable, such as the presence of Armstrong.
It was the first time he had attempted a coup of this magnitude. it was his own initiative. of course, his father knew about and thoroughly approved of the other lesser shipments, but the risk was far greater this time, in proportion to the rewards. If he succeeded he would earn his father's respect, and that was more important to him even than the material profits.
He was the youngest son, and he had to strive that much harder to win his place in his father's affections. For that reason alone he must not fail.
In the years that he had been at the embassy in Harare, he had consolidated his place in the illicit ivory and rhino-horn trade. It had begun with a deceptively casual remark at a dinner-party by a middle-ranking government official about the convenience of diplomatic privilege and access to the diplomatic courier service. With the business training that his father had given him, Cheng recognised the approach immediately for what it was, and made a non-committal but encouraging response.
A week of delicate negotiations followed and then Cheng was invited to play golf with another higher official. His driver parked the ambassadorial Mercedes in the car park at the rear of the Harare golf club and as instructed left it unattended while Cheng l4as out on the course. Cheng was officially a tenhandicap golfer but could play well below that when he chose.
On this occasion he allowed his opponent to win three thousand US dollars and paid him in cash in front of witnesses in the club house.
When he returned to his official residence he ordered the driver to park the Mercedes in the garage and then dismissed him. In the boot he found six large rhino horns packed in layers of hessian cloth.
He sent these out in the next diplomatic pouch to Taipei and they were sold through his father's shop in Hong Kong for sixty thousand US dollars. His father was delighted with the transaction and wrote Cheng a long letter of approbation and reminded his son of his deep interest in, and love of, ivory. Cheng let it be known discreetly that he was a connoisseur of ivory as well as of rhino horn, and he was offered at bargain prices various pieces of unregistered and unstamped ivory. It did not take long for the word to spread in the small closed world of the
