Union Miniere Corporation, and this is my wife, Madame Boussier.' He was
a tall man, but unlike his wife, sparsely fleshed. His hair was
completely silver and his skin folded, toughened and browned by a life
under the equatorial sun. Bruce took an instant liking to him. Madame
Boussier pressed her bulk against Bruce and kissed him heartily. Her
mustache was too soft to cause him discomfort and she smelled of toilet
soap, which was a distinct improvement, decided Bruce.
'May I also present Madame Cartier,' and for the first time Bruce looked
squarely at the girl. A number of things registered in his mind
simultaneously: the paleness of her skin which was not unhealthy but had
an opaque coolness which he wanted to touch, the size of her eyes which
seemed to fill half her face, the unconscious provocation of her lips,
and the use of the word Madame before her name.
'Captain Curry - of the Katanga Army,' said Bruce. She's too young to be
married, can't be more than seventeen.
She's still got that little girl freshness about her and I bet she
smells like an unweaned puppy.
'Thank you for coming, monsieur.' She had a throatiness in her voice as
though she were just about to laugh or to make love, and Bruce added
three years to his estimate of her age. That was not a little girl's
voice, nor were those little girl's legs in the jeans, and little girls
had less under their shirt fronts.
His eyes came back to her face and he saw that there was colour in her
cheeks now and sparks of annoyance in her eyes.
My God, he thought, I'm ogling her like a matelot on shore leave.
He hurriedly transferred his attention back to Boussier, but his throat
felt constricted as he asked: 'How many are you?'
'There are forty-two of us, of which five are women and two are
children.' Bruce nodded, it was what he had expected. The women could
ride in one of the covered
coaches. He turned and surveyed the railway yard.
'Is there a turntable on which we can revolve the locomotive?' he asked
Boussier.
'No, Captain.' They would have to reverse all the way back to
Msapa Junction, another complication. It would be more difficult to keep
a watch on the tracks ahead, and it would mean a sooty and uncomfortable
journey.
'What precautions have you taken against attack, monsieur?'
'They are inadequate, Captain,' Boussier admitted. 'I have not
sufficient men to defend the town - most of the population left before
the emergency. Instead I have posted sentries on all the approaches and
I
have fortified the hotel to the best of my ability. It was there we
intended to stand in the event of attack.' Bruce nodded again and
glanced up at the sun. It was already reddening as it dropped towards
the horizon, perhaps another hour or two of daylight.
'Monsieur, it is too late to entrain all your people and leave before
nightfall. I intend to load their possessions this evening. We will stay
overnight and leave in the early morning.) 'We are all anxious to be
away from this place; we have twice seen large parties of
