little engine driver clambered up and sat astride the boiler as
he fitted the hose.
A shout behind him made Bruce turn quickly, and he saw Hendry's patrol
coming back from the cottages. They were dragging two small prisoners
with them.
'Hiding in the first cottage,' shouted Hendry. 'They tried to leg it
into the bush.' He prodded one of them with his bayonet. The child cried
out and twisted in the hands of the gendarme who held her.
'Enough of that.' Bruce stopped him from using the bayonet again and
went to meet them. He looked at the two children.
The girl was close to puberty with breasts like insect bites just
starting to show, thin-legged with enlarged kneecaps out of proportion
to her thighs and calves. She wore only a dirty piece of trade cloth
drawn up between her legs and secured around her waist by a length of
bark string, and the tribal tattoo marks across her chest and cheeks and
forehead stood proud in ridges of scar tissue.
'Ruffy.' Bruce called him down from the coach. 'Can you speak to them?'
Ruffy picked up the boy and held him on his hip. He was younger than the
girl - seven, perhaps eight years old. Very dark-skinned and completely
naked, as naked as the terror on his face.
Ruffy grunted sharply and the gendarme released the girl.
She stood trembling, making no attempt to escape.
Then in a soothing rumble Ruffy began talking to the boy on his hip; he
smiled as he spoke and stroked the child's head. Slowly a little of the
fear melted and the boy answered in a piping treble that
Bruce could not understand.
'What does he say?' urged Bruce.
'He thinks we're going to eat them,' laughed Ruffy. 'Not enough
here for a decent breakfast.' He patted the skinny little arm, grey with
crushed filth, then he gave an order to one of the gendarmes. The man
disappeared into the coach and came back with a handful of chocolate
bars. Still talking, Ruffy peeled one of them and placed it in the boy's
mouth. The child's eyes widened appreciatively at the taste and he
chewed quickly, his eyes on Ruffy's face, his answers now muffled with
chocolate.
At last Ruffy turned to Bruce.
'No trouble here, boss. They come from a small village about an hour's
walk away. just five or six families, and no war party. These kids
sneaked across to have a look at the houses, pinch what they could
perhaps, but that's all.' 'How many men at this village?' asked Bruce,
and Ruffy turned back to the boy. In reply to the question he held up
the fingers of both hands, without interrupting the chewing.
'Does he know if the line is clear through to Port Reprieve? Have they
burnt the bridges or torn up the tracks?' Both children were dumb to
this question. The boy swallowed the last of his chocolate and looked
hungrily at Ruffy, who filled his mouth again.
'Jesus,' muttered Hendry with deep disgust. 'Is this a creche or
something. Let's all play ring around the roses.'
'Shut up,' snapped
Bruce, and then to Ruffy, 'Have they seen any soldiers?' Two heads
