I will not spoil this, this thing that is between this girl and me.
That was the last time; now I am a man I will put away childish things,
like temper and selfpity.
He ate the food, suddenly aware of his hunger. He ate quickly, wolfing
it. Then he stood up and walked back to the camp.
A sentry challenged him on the perimeter and Bruce answered with
alacrity. At night his gendarmes were very quick on the trigger; the
challenge was an unusual courtesy.
'It is unwise to go alone into the forest in the darkness,' the sentry
reprimanded him.
'Why?' Bruce felt his mood changing. The depression evaporated.
'It is unwise,' repeated the man vaguely.
'The spirits?' Bruce teased him delicately.
'An aunt of my sister's husband disappeared not a short throw of a spear
from my hut. There was no trace, no shout, nothing. I was there. It is
not a matter for doubt,' said the man with dignity.
'A lion perhaps?' Bruce prodded him.
'If you say so, then it is so. I know what I know. But I say only that
there is no wisdom in defying the custom of the land.'
Suddenly touched by the man's concern for him, Bruce dropped a hand on
to his shoulder and gripped it in the old (expression of affection.
'I will remember. I did it without thinking. He walked into the camp.
The incident had confirmed something he had vaguely suspected, but in
which previously he had felt no interest. The men liked him. A
hundred similar indications of this fact he had only half noted, not
caring one way or the other. But now it gave him intense pleasure, fully
compensating for the loneliness he had just experienced.
He walked past the little group of men round the cooking fire to where
the Ford stood at the head of the convoy.
Peering through the side window he could make out Shermaine's
blanket-wrapped form on the back seat. He tapped on the glass and she
sat up and rolled down the window.
'Yes?' she asked coolly.
'Thank you for the food.'
'It is nothing.' The slightest hint of warmth in her voice.
'Shermaine, sometimes I say things I do not mean. You startled me. I
nearly shot you.'
'It was my fault. I should not have followed you.'
'I was rude he persisted.
'Yes.' She laughed now. That husky little chuckle. 'You were
rude but with good reason. We shall forget it.' She placed her hand on
his arm. 'You must rest, you haven't slept for two days.'
'Will you ride in the Ford with me tomorrow to show that I am forgiven?'
'of course,' she nodded.
'Good night, Shermaine.'
'Good night, Bruce,' No, Bruce decided as he spread his blankets beside
the fire, I am not alone. Not any more.
What about breakfast, boss?'
'They can eat on the road. Give them a tin of bully each - we've wasted
enough time on this trip.' The sky was paling and pinking above the
