'Tessay has gone to him,'Royan whispered softly.
'For tonight at least,'Nicholas agreed.
'No,' Royan denied. 'You saw her face, Nicky. She belongs to Mek Nimmur
now.'
The dawn was flushing the serrated crests of the escarpment to the
colours; of port wine and roses when they reached camp and separated at
the door to Royan's hut.
'I am bushed,' she told Nicholas. The excitement has been too much for
me. You won't see me again before noon.'
'Good thinking! Sleep as long as you wish. I want you scintillating and
perceptive when we start going over the material which we gathered last
night.'
It was long before noon, however, when Nicholas was woken from a deep
sleep by the harsh and intrusive bellows of Boris as he stormed into the
hut.
'English, wake up! I must talk to you. Wake up, man, wake up.'
Nicholas rolled over and thrust one arm out from under the mosquito net
as he groped for his wrist-watch.
'Damn you, Brusilov! What the hell do you want?'
'My wife! Have you seen my wife?'
'Now what has your wife got to do with me?'
'She has gone! I have not seen her since last night.'
'The way you treat her, that comes as no stunning surprise. Now go away
and leave me to sleep.'
'The whore has run off with that black bastard, Mek Nimmur. I know all
about them. Don't try and protect her, English. I know everything that
goes on around here. You are trying to cover for her - admit it!'
'Get out of here, Boris. Don't try an involve me in your sordid private
life.' saw you and that shufta bastard talking in the skinning hut the
other night. Don't try to deny it, English.
You are in this thing with them.'
Nicholas flung back the mosquito net and jumped out of his bed. 'Kindly
moderate your language when you talk to me, you great oaf'
Boris backed off towards the door. 'I know that she has run away with
him. I searched for them all last night at the river. They have gone,
and most of his men with them.'
'Good for Tessay.- She is showing some taste in men for a change.'
'You think I will let the whore get away with this? You are wrong, very
wrong. I am going to follow them and kill them both. I know which way
they are headed. You think I am a fool. I know all about Mek Nimmur. I
was head of intelligence-' He broke off as he realized what he had said.
'I will shoot him in the belly and let that whore Tessay watch him die.'
'If you are going after Mek Nimmur,.then my bet is that you won't be
coming back.'
'You don't know me, English. You beat me up one night when I had a
bottle of vodka in my belly, so you think I am easy, da? Well, Mek
Nimmur will see now how easy I am.'
Boris dung out of the hut. Nicholas pulled on a shirt over his shorts
and followed him.
Back in his own hut, Boris had flung a few essential items into a light
