sandbags and mattresses large enough to accommodate ten men and
their equipment, with embrasures sited to command both ends of the
bridge.
'We'll be back early tomorrow, Kanaki. Let none of your men leave this
post for any purpose; the gaps between the timbers are sufficient for
purposes of sanitation.'
'We shall enjoy enviable comfort, Captain.
But we will lack that which soothes.' Kanaki grinned meaningly at
Bruce.
'Ruffy, leave them a case of beer.'
'A whole case?' Ruffy made no attempt to hide his shocked disapproval of
such a prodigal order.
'Is my credit not good?'
'You credit is okay, boss,' and then he changed to French to make his
protest formal. 'My concern is the replacement of such a valuable
commodity.'
'You're wasting time, Ruffy!
from the bridge it was thirty miles to Port Reprieve.
They met the road(] again six miles outside the town; it crossed under
them and disappeared into the forest again to circle out round the high
ground taking the easier route into Port Reprieve. But the railroad
climbed up the hills in a series of traverses and came out at the top
six hundred feet above the town. On the stony slopes the forest found
meagre purchase and the vegetation was sparser; it did not obscure the
view.
Standing on the roof Bruce looked out across the Lufira swamps to the
north, a vastness of poisonous green swamp grass and open water,
disappearing into the blue heat haze without any sign of ending. From
its southern extremity it was drained by the Lufira river. The river was
half a mile wide, deep olive-green, ruffled darker by eddies of
wind across its surface, fenced into the very edge of the water by a
solid barrier of dense river bush. In the angle formed by the swamp and
the river was a headland which protected the natural harbour of
Port Reprieve. The town was on a spit of land, the harbour on one side
and a smaller swamp on the other. The road came round the right-hand
side of the hills, crossed a causeway over the swamp and entered the
single street of the town from the far side.
There were three large buildings in the centre of the town opposite the
railway yard, their iron roofs bright beacons in the sunlight; and
clustered round them were perhaps fifty smaller thatched dwellings.
Down on the edge of the harbour was a long shed, obviously a workshop,
and two jetties ran into the water.
The diamond dredgers were moored alongside; three of them, ungainly
black hulks with high superstructures and blunt ends.
It was a place of heat and fever and swamp smells, an ugly little
village by a green reptile river.
'Nice place to retire,' Mike Haig grunted.
'Or open a health resort,' said Bruce.
Beyond the causeway, on the main headland, there was another cluster of
buildings, just the tops were showing above the forest.
