forehead above startlingly white eyes and flat nose. The
long gleaming blade of a panga. Clusters of humanity clinging to the
wooden piles like ticks on the legs of a beast. Legs and arms and shiny
trunks merged into a single organism, horrible as some slimy
sea-creature.
Bruce fired into it. His rifle shuddered against his shoulder and the
long orange spurts from its muzzle gave the picture a new flickering
horror. The mass of bodies heaved, and struggled like a pack of rats
trapped in a dry well. They dropped splashing into the river, swarmed up
the timber piles, twisting and writhing as the bullets hit them,
screaming, babbling over the sound of the rifle.
Bruce's weapon clicked empty and he groped for a new magazine.
Ruffy and his gendarmes were hanging over the guard rails of the bridge,
firing downwards, sweeping the piles below them with long bursts, the
flashes lighting their faces and outlining their bodies against the sky.
'They're still coming!' roared Ruffy. 'Don't let them get over the
side.' Out of the hole at Bruce's feet thrust the head and naked upper
body of a man. There was a panga in his hand; he slashed at
Bruce's legs, his eyes glazed in the beam of the flashlight.
Bruce jumped back and the knife missed his knees by inches. The man
wormed his way out of the hole towards Bruce. He was screaming
shrilly, a high meaningless sound. Bruce lunged with the barrel
of his empty rifle at the contorted black face. All his weight was
behind that thrust and the muzzle went into the Baluba's eye. 'The
foresight and four inches of the barrel disappeared into his head,
stopping only when it hit bone. Colourless fluid from the burst eyeball
gushed from round the protruding steel.
Tugging and twisting, Bruce tried to free the rifle, but the foresight
had buried itself like the barb of a fish hook.
The Baluba had dropped his panga and was clinging to the rifle barrel
with both hands. He was wailing and rolling on his back upon the
floorboards, his head jerking every time Bruce tried to pull the muzzle
out of his head.
Beyond him the head and shoulders of another Baluba appeared through the
aperture.
Bruce dropped his rifle and gathered up the fallen panga; he jumped over
the writhing body of the first Baluba and lifted the heavy knife above
his head with both hands.
The man was jammed in the hole, powerless to protect himself. He
looked up at Bruce and his mouth fell open.
Two-handed, as though he were chopping wood, Bruce swung his whole body
into the stroke. The shock jarred his shoulders and he felt blood
splatter his legs. The untempered blade snapped off at the hilt and
stayed imbedded in the Baluba's skull.
Panting heavily, Bruce straightened up and looked wildly about him.
Baluba were swarming over the guard rail on one side of the bridge. The
starlight glinted on their wet skins. One of his gendarmes was lying in
a dark huddle, his head twisted back and his rifle still in his hands.
Ruffy and the other gendarmes were still firing down over the far side.
'Ruffy!' shouted Bruce. 'Behind you! They're coming over!' and he
