girlish manner, but did not look up from his book.
She looked over her shoulder at the door, but Helm crossed to it and
turned the key in the lock, slipping the key into his pocket. She knew
she must show no weakness in front of these two, and, though she was
tired and afraid and her bladder ached, she feigned an air of confidence
and assurance and crossed to the nearest chair. She pulled it from the
table and sat down in it easily.
Nogo looked up at her and frowned. He had not expected her to react this
way.
'You know the shufta bandit Mck Nimmur the accused abruptly.
'No,' she said coldly. 'I know the patriot and democratic leader Mek
Nimmur. He is no shufta.'
'You are his concubine, his whore. Of course, you will say this.'
She looked away from him with disdain, and his voice rose shrilly.
'Where is Mek Nimmur? How many men does he have with him?' Her composure
was beginning to rattle him.'
She ignored the question, and Nogo scowled at her furiously. 'If you do
not cooperate with us, I will have to use stronger methods to make you
answer my questions,' he warned.
She turned in her chair and stared out of the window.
In the long silence that followed, Jake Helm crossed the room and went
to the door behind Nogo that led through to the rooms at the rebir of
the hut. He disappeared through it, and closed it behind him. The walls
of the hut were thin, and Tessay made out the murmur of voices from the
room beyond. The cadence and inflection were neither English nor
Amharic. They were using a foreign language in there. She guessed that
Helmw'as receiving instructions from a superior, who did not want her to
be able to recognize him at some later date.
After a few minutes Helm re-emerged and closed the door behind him
without locking it. He nodded to Nogo, who at once stood up. They both
came across to stand in front of Tessay.
I think that it will be better for all of us if we finish this business
as quickly as possible,' said Helm softly. 'Then you can go to the
bathroom, and I can go to my breakfast.' She raised her chin and stared
at him defiantly, but did not answer him.
'Colonel Nogo, has tried to be reasonable. He is bound by certain
niceties of his official position. Fortunately I do not have the same
restraints. I am going to ask you the same questions that he did, but
this time you will answer them.'
He took the dead cheroot from his mouth and examined the tip. Then he
threw the butt into a corner of the room and took a flat tin from his
hip pocket. From it he selected a fresh cheroot, long and black, and lit
it carefully, holding the match to it until it was drawing evenly. Then,
amid a cloud of pungent tobacco smoke, he waved the match to extinction
and asked, ',Ihere is Mek Nimmur?'
She shrugged and looked away, out of the side window of the hut.
Abruptly, without signalling the blow in any way, he hit her open-handed
across her face. It was a savage blow, delivered with a force that
snapped her head around, Then, before she could recover, he swung back
