Didn't you see him, hey? Didn't you see him, man?'
'Come here, Hendry.'
'I got the bastard,' rejoiced Hendry.
'Are you deaf? Come here!' While Hendry climbed down from the truck and
came towards them Bruce asked Haig:
'Did he hit him?'
'I'm not sure. I don't think so, I think he jumped. If he had been hit
he'd have been thrown backwards, you know how it knocks them over.'
'Yes,' said Bruce, 'I know.' A .300 bullet from an FN struck with a
force of well over a ton. When you hit a man there was no doubt about
it. All right, so the Baluba was still in there.
Hendry came up, swaggering, laughing with excitement.
'So you killed him, hey?' Bruce asked.
'Stone dead, stone bloody deadv 'Can you see him?'
'No, he's down in the bush.'
'Do you want to go and have a look at him, Hendry? Do you want to go and
get his ears?' Ears are the best trophy you can take
from a man, not as good as the skin of a blackmaned lion or the great
bossed hams of a buffalo, but better than the scalp. The woolly cap of
an
African scalp is a drab thing, messy to take and difficult to cure.
You have to salt it and stretch it inside out over a helmet; even then
it smells badly. Ears are much less trouble and Hendry was an avid
collector. He was not the only one in the army of Katanga; the taking of
ears was common practice.
'Yeah, I want them.' Hendry detached the bayonet from the muzzle of his
rifle. 'I'll nip down and get them.'
'You can't let anyone go in there, Bruce. Not even him,' protested Haig
quietly.
'Why not? He deserves it, he worked hard for it.'
'Only take a minute.' Hendry ran his thumb along the bayonet to test the
edge. My
God! He really means it, thought Bruce; he'd go into that tangled stuff
for a pair of ears - he's not brave, he's just stupendously lacking in
imagination.
'Wait for me, Bruce, it won't take long.' Hendry started back.
'You're not serious, Bruce?' Mike asked.
'No,' agreed Bruce, 'I'm not serious,' and his voice was cold and hard
as he caught hold of Hendry's shoulder and stopped him.
'Listen to me! You have no more chances - that was it.
I'm waiting for you now, Hendry. just once more, that's all.
Just once more.' Hendry's face turned sullen again.
'Don't push me, Bucko.'
'Get back to the train and bring it across,' said Bruce contemptuously
and turned to Haig.
'Now we'll have to leave a guard here. They know we've gone across and
they'll burn it for a certainty, especially after that little
fiasco.'
'Who are you going to leave?'
'Ten men, say, under a sergeant.
