wrapped around the propeller shaft and slowed the boat, bringing it to a gradual standstill.
They ran to the bows and, grabbing handfuls of papyrus, dragged themselves forward until abruptly they burst into a small patch of open water. Directly in front of the bows there was an enormous disturbance in the water. Sheets of spray were thrown into the sunlight, and splattered over their heads.
In the foam an enormous scaly body rolled and roiled, flashing its butter yellow belly, the long tail cock- scombed with sharp scales thrashing the water white.
For an instant a human arm was flung upwards. It was a gesture of entreaty, of terrified supplication. Isaac leaned over the side and seized the wrist. The skin was wet and slippery but Isaac reinforced his grip with both hands and leaned back with all his weight. He could not hold Sali and the weight of the reptile together. The wrist began to slip through his grip until one of the rangers leapt to his side and grabbed Sali's arm at the elbow.
Together, inch by inch, they dragged the man's body from the water.
like a man on the torture rack. He was stretched out between the men at one end and the dreadful reptile below the surface.
The other ranger leaned out over the gunwale and fired a burst of automatic fire into the water. The high- velocity bullets exploded on the surface as though they had hit a steel plate and had no effect except to send needles of spray into the eyes of Isaac and the ranger at the rail.
Stop id Isaac panted at him.
You'll hit one of us!
The ranger dropped the rifle and seized Sali's free arm.
Now there were three men taking sides in the gruesome tug of-war.
Slowly they dragged Sali's body from the water, until the reptile's huge scaly head was exposed.
Its fangs were buried in the front of Sali's belly. The crocodile's teeth lack shearing edges. It dismembers its prey by locking on and then rolling its entire body in the water to twist off a limb or a hunk of flesh. As they held Sali stretched over the gunwale, the creature flicked its tail and rolled. Ssali's belly was ripped open. The crocodile heaved backwards with its fangs still locked in his flesh and stripped Sali's entrails out of him.
With the release of the strain at one end, the three men were able to heave Sali's body on board. However, the crocodile still held its grip. Although his writhing form lay on the deck, Sali's entrails were stretched over the side, a glistening fleshy tangle of tubes and ribbons like some grotesque umbilical cord that linked him to his fate.
The crocodile jerked again with the full weight and strength of the long tail. The ribbon of guts snapped and Sali screamed for the last time and died on the bloody deck.
For a while there was silence in the boat broken only by the hoarse panting of the three men who had tried to rescue him.
They stared in horrified fascination at Sali's mutilated corpse until Isaac Mtwetwe whispered softly, I could not have chosen a more fitting death for you. He spoke in formal ceremonial Shana. Go not peacefully, O Sali , evil one, and may all your foul deeds accompany you on your journey. There were no prisoners, Isaac told Daniel Armstrong. Did you say none? Daniel shouted. The telephone connection was scratchy and faint, with heavy atmospheric interference from the thunderstorm raging further down the valley. None, Danny, Isaac raised his voice. Eight dead ones, but the rest of the gang were either eaten by crocs or escaped back into Zambia. What about ivory, Isaac? Did they have tusks with them?
Yes, they were all carrying ivory, but it was lost in the river when the canoes went down. Damn it to hell, Daniel muttered. It would be much more difficult now to convince the authorities that the bulk of the ivory was taken out from Chiwewe in the refrigerator trucks.
The trail to Ning Cheng Gong was growing colder with every hour that passed.
There is a police unit on its way from here to the headquarters camp at Chiwewe, he told Isaac. Yes, Danny. They are here at the moment.
I'm going to join them as soon as I have made arrangements to fly my wounded ranger out to Harare. I want to see what these bastards did to Johnny Nzou. Listen, Isaac, I, m going to follow up the only lead I've got.
on who was responsible for this business. Be careful, Danny. These people don't mess about. You could get badly hurt. Where are you headed? I'll see you around, Isaac. Daniel avoided the question. He dropped the telephone back on its cradle and went out to the Landcruiser.
He sat behind the wheel and thought about it. He realised that this was merely a respite. Pretty soon now the Zimbabwean police were going to want to talk to him again, a little more seriously than before.
There was only one place to be, and that was outside the country. In any event that was where the trail was leading him.
He drove down to the customs and immigration post and parked in the lot before the barrier. Naturally, he had his passport with him and the papers for the Landcruiser were all in order. The departure formalities took less than half an hour, which by African standards was almost record time.
Daniel drove out across the steel-girdered bridge that spanned the Zambezi and he was aware that he was not entering paradise.
Zambia was, after Uganda and Ethiopia, one of the poorest and sorriest countries on the African continent. Daniel grimaced. . A cynic might put that down to the fact that it had been independent from British colonial rule longer than most others.
There had been more time for the policies of structured chaos and ruination to take full effect.
Under private ownership the great mines of the Copper-belt had once been amongst the most profitable on the continent, rivalling even the fabulous gold mines further south. After independence, President Kenneth Kaunda had nationalised them and instituted his Anticanisation policy. This amounted to firing those skilled and experienced engineers and managers who did not have black faces, a kind of affirmative action.
Within a few short years he had miraculously transformed an annual profit of many hundreds of millions into a loss of the same magnitude.
Daniel steeled himself for his encounter with Zambian officialdom.
Can you tell me if a friend of mine passed through here last night on his way to Malawi, he asked the uniformed officer who sauntered out of the customs building to search his Landcruiser for contraband.
