take you with me to the land of shadows!' He drew the knife from the sheath on his belt and rushed at Bakkat who was still on his knees. He lifted the knife, but when Bakkat tried to dodge the blow his legs caught in the folds of the heavy cape and he toppled backwards.
'You will die with me,' Xhia screamed, as he stabbed at his adversary's chest. Bakkat flung himself aside and the knife point grazed his upper arm. Xhia poised for the next blow, but Letee came to her feet behind him. Her ankles were still tied but her hands were free, and she held the axe. She took one hop forward and swung the axe from overhead. The blade glanced off Xhia's skull, shaving away a thick slice of his scalp and one of his ears, then went on to bite deeply into the joint between his shoulder and knife arm. The knife dropped from his paralysed fingers and the arm dangled uselessly at his side. He whirled round to face the tiny girl, clutching his wounded scalp with one hand, blood springing from between his fingers in a fountain.
'Run!' Bakkat shouted at her and started to his feet. 'Run, Letee!'
Letee ignored him. Although her ankles were tied, she jumped straight at Xhia. Fearless as a honey badger, she flew at his face and swung the axe again. Xhia reeled backwards and lifted his other arm to protect himself. The axe blade crunched into his forearm just below the elbow and the bone snapped.
Xhia staggered back, both arms maimed and useless. Letee bent swiftly and hacked away the ropes that held her ankles. Before Bakkat could intervene, she rushed at Xhia again. He saw her coming, a small fury, naked and outraged. Grievously wounded, he was tottering on the eJge of the cliff. As he tried to dodge her next attack he lost his balance and went over backwards. He had no arms to save himself and he rolled down to the lip of the overhang, his blood staining the rock. pounds e reached the edge and went over, disappearing from their view. hey heard his scream receding in volume until there was a meaty thump and silence.
Bakkat ran to Letee. She dropped the axe and threw herself into his embrace. They clung together for a long time, until Letee had stopped shaking and shivering. Then Bakkat asked, 'Shall we go down, woman?' She nodded vehemently.
He led her to the head of the pathway, and they climbed down to the bottom of the hill. They paused beside Xhia's corpse. He lay on his back, and his eyes were wide and staring. His own arrow-head still protruded from his chest, and his half-severed arm was twisted under his back at an impossible angle.
'This man is of the San, as we are. Why did he try to kill us?' Letee asked.
'I will tell you the story one day,' Bakkat promised her, 'but for now let us leave him to his totem, the hyenas.' They turned away, and neither looked back as they broke into the quick trot that eats the wind.
Bakkat was taking his new woman to meet Somoya and Welanga.
Jim Courtney woke slowly in the semi-darkness before sunrise, and stretched voluptuously on the car dell bed. Then, instinctively he reached for Louisa. She was still asleep but she rolled over and threw an arm across his chest. She mumbled something that might have been either an endearment or a protest at being awakened.
Jim grinned and held her closer, then opened his eyes fully and started up. 'Where in God's name do you think you have been?' he roared. Louisa shot bolt upright beside him and they both stared at the two tiny figures perched on the foot of the bed, like sparrows on a fence pole.
Bakkat laughed merrily. It was so good to be back and have Somoya bellowing at him again. 'I saw you and Welanga from afar,' he greeted them.
Jim's expression softened. 'I thought the lions had got you. I rode after you but I lost your spoor in the hills.'
'I have been able to teach you nothing about following tracks.' Bakkat shook his head sadly.
Both Jim and Louisa turned their attention to his companion. 'Who is this?' Jim demanded.
'This is Letee, and she is my woman,' Bakkat told them.
Letee heard her name mentioned and broke into a sunny golden smile.
'She is very beautiful, and so tall,' said Louisa. Since leaving the colony she had learned to speak the patois fluently. She knew all the expressions of San courtesy.
'No, Welanga,' Bakkat contradicted her. 'She is truly very small. For my sake, it is best that Letee is not encouraged to believe that she is tall. Where might such a notion lead us?'
'Is she not at least beautiful?' Louisa insisted.
Bakkat looked at his woman and nodded solemnly. 'Yes, she is as beautiful as a sunbird. I dread the day she looks into a mirror for the first time, and discovers just how beautiful she is. That day might mark the beginning of my woes.'
At that Letee piped up in her sweet treble.
'What does she say?' Louisa demanded.
'She says she has never seen such hair or skin as yours. She wants to know if you are a ghost. But enough of woman's talk.' Bakkat turned to Jim. 'Somoya, a strange and terrible thing has happened.'
'What is it?' Jim became deadly serious.
'Our enemies are here. They have found us out.'
'Tell me,' Jim ordered. 'We have many enemies. Which ones are these?'
'Xhia,' Bakkat answered. 'Xhia stalked Letee and me. He tried to kill us.'
'Xhia!' Jim looked grave. 'Keyser and Koots's hunting dog? Is it possible? We have come three thousand leagues since we last laid eyes on him. Could he have followed us that far?'
'He has followed us, and we can be sure that he has led Keyser and Koots to us.'
'Have you seen them, those two Dutchmen?'
'No, Somoya, but they cannot be far off. Xhia would never come so far if he were alone.'
'Where is Xhia now?'
'He is dead, Somoya. I killed him.'
Jim blinked with surprise, then said in English, 'So he will not be answering any questions, then.' Then he reverted to the patois: Take your beautiful little woman with you and let Welanga and me dress without the benefit of your eyes upon us. I will talk to you again as soon as I have my breeches on.'
Bakkat was waiting by the campfire when Jim emerged from his wagon a few minutes later. Jim called him and they walked away into the forest were no one would overhear them.
Tell me everything that happened,' Jim ordered. 'Where and when did Xhia attack you?' He listened intently to Bakkat's account. By the time the little man had finished, Jim's complacency had been shaken, oakkat, if Keyset's men are after us, you must find them. Can you backtrack Xhia and find where he came from?'
'That I know already. Yesterday, while Letee and I were on our way back to you, I came upon Xhia's old spoor. He had been following me for days. Ever since I left the wagons to follow a honey-guide I found.'
'Before that?' Jim demanded. 'Where did he come from before he began to follow you?'
That way.' Bakkat pointed back at the escarpment, which was now only a faint, hazy line against the sky. 'He came along our wagon tracks, as though he had been shadowing us all the way from the Gariep river.'
'Go back!' Jim ordered. 'Find out if Keyset and Koots were with him. If they were, I want to know where they are now.'
It is eight days since Xhia left,' said Captain Herminius Koots bitterly. 'I truly believe he has made a run for it.' 'Why would he do that?' Oudeman asked reasonably. 'Why now, when we are on the very brink of success, after all these hard and bitter months? The reward you promised him is almost in his hands.' A crafty look came into Oudeman's eyes. It was time to remind Koots about the reward once again. 'All of us have earned our share of the reward. Surely Xhia would not desert at this point, and forfeit his share?'
Koots frowned. He did not enjoy discussing the reward. These last months he had been pondering every possible expedient to avoid having to make good his promises in that regard. He turned to Kadem. 'We cannot wait here longer. The fugitives will get clean away from us. We must go on after them without Xhia. Do you not agree?' Since their first meeting the two had swiftly forged an alliance of convenience. Koots had in the front of his mind Kadem's promise to open the way for him into the favoured service of the Caliph of Oman, the power and riches that would spring from that position.
Kadem knew that Koots was his only chance of finding Dorian Courtney again. 'I think you are right, Captain. We no longer need the little barbarian. We have found the enemy. Let us go forward and attack them.'
'Then we are in accord,' Koots said. 'We will ride hard and get well ahead of Jim Courtney. We will lay an ambush for them on ground where we have the advantage.'
It was a simple matter for Koots to keep track of Jim's caravan without closing in on him and disclosing his own presence. The dust kicked up by the cattle herds could be seen from leagues away. Having convinced himself that he no longer needed Xhia, Koots led his troop down the escarpment, then made a wide, cautious detour into the south
to come out ten leagues ahead of the caravan. Now they started back to intercept it head-on. This way they would leave no tracks for Jim Courtney's Bushman tracker to pick up before they had a chance to spring their ambush.
