I will be back.' Then Big Dolly lifted her belly ramp like an old lady
hoisting her knickers and headed away westwards.
Nicholas and Mek ran down into the valley, where the monks were already
jabbering and laughing. around the pallets. Quickly the two of them took
control, sorting the men into gangs and directing them as they broke
down the loads and carried them away.
Nicholas and Sapper had planned that the pallets should be dropped in
the order that their contents would be needed. The first pallet
contained canned and dried food, all their personal effects and camping
equipment, along with those other little creature comforts that Nicholas
had allowed, including mosquito nets and a case of malt whisky. He was
relieved to see that there was no leakage from the precious case: not
one of the bottles had been broken in the drop.
Sapper took charge of the building material and heavy equipment. With
Tessay relaying his orders, it was dragged and manhandled away to the
ancient quarry where it would be packed and stored until needed on site.
Darkness fell with More than half the pallets still not unpacked, lying
where they had fallen. Mek placed an armed guard over them, and they all
traipsed wearily back up the valley to the camp.
That night, with a dram of whisky and a decent meal warming his belly, a
mosquito net over his head and a thick foam mattress under him, Nicholas
drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face. They were off to a good
start.
The chanting of the monks at their matins woke him, 'We won't need an
alarm clock here,' he groaned, and staggered down to the river to wash
and shave.
As the sun gilded the battlements of the escarpment, he and Mek were
already at their post on the heights, searching the western sky. The
plan had been for Jannie to spend the night at Roseires, while Mek's men
assisted him with the loading of the cargo they had stored-there on
their first flight out from Malta. This was one of the vulnerable stages
of the operation. Although Mek had assured them that there was little
military presence in the area at the moment, it needed only a stray
Sudanese government patrol to stumble on Big, Dolly while she was on the
ground to plunge them all into disaster. So it was with a leap of the
heart that they heard the familiar drone of the turbo-props
reverberating off the cliffs.
Big Dolly lined up again for her first pass down the valley, and as she
flew over the quartz crosses the huge yellow front'end loader tumbled
out of her hold. Instinctively Nicholas held his breath as he watched it
come the parachute hurtling down and then jerk up short on shrouds. it
swayed wildly all over the sky, yoyoing on the nylon ropes, and the
monks howled with amazement and excitement as they watched it drop in.
it struck in a cloud of dust.
Sapper was standing next to Nicholas, groaning and covering his eyes so
that he did not have to watch the 'Shit!' he said in a hollow cloud of
dust rising into the air.
voice.
'Is that a command, or merely a request?' Nicholas asked, but he wasn't
really amused.
