TWO ON SAFARI

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 126, 29 May 1937, Page 13 (Supplement)

TWO ON SAFARI

CHAPTER XXV.—(Continued.) Bongo had saddled Swayback. She mounted and was off before the sun had yet risen, pressing hard while the air was still cool. Only when she was well on her way did she remember Abdul. What had become of him? Why had he not caught up during the night? It never occurred to her Bongo could have no idea of where she wished to go; his business was not to lead, but only to follow. As a result she missed completely the trail, faint to such inexperienced eyes as hers,' by which she and Ballard had entered the wide swath of the beaten track and which would have led her back to Wemba. Unconscious of having overshot the mark she continued until she met a strange contraption —a bowed canopy on wheels drawn by six oxen. Passing it, she heard a call. She looked back and caught a glimpse of two shoe-button eyes peering out from within a round expanse. That face was unforgettable —Ibn-ben-Dur. He called to her again. She frowned, hesitated, but finally turned back. The creaking of the cart wheels ceased as she approached to gaze into a tent-like interior where Ibn squatted in the kneeling pose of a Buddha. Crouched in one corner behind him was his child wife; in the other a second corpulent banian. She scarcely perceived them. All she saw was a nest of mats and cushions over a layer of cases of supplies and in the centre a low tabouret laden with food. Mouth watering, eyes dimmed by longing, all her senses drugged with desire, she stepped directly from her stirrup to the tail of the cart and fell on her knees before the flat table. The flaps of the rear curtain closed behind her and the next instant a heavy silk scarf swirled about her face and drew tight around her throat. Her first impulse, defeated by the instantaneous tightening of the scarf, was to cry out; her next to throw her arms around Ibn and drive her heels against his shins. But she could get no grip on his round body, and his shins, while he remained in the position of a kneeling Buddha, were safe from attack. Prompt realisation of her helplessness brought her to her senses, actually gave her time to think. She relaxed utterly, exactly as she had done under Ballard's violent kisses. Her body went liquid and nothing could have disarmed Ibn more completely. Convinced he had choked her into insensibility he slackened the tension around her throat, but kept one hand in readiness over her mouth and nose. Holding her breath, she listened. She was amazed at the clarity with which she could understand what was happening—it was almost as if her blindfolded eyes had added power to all her remaining senses. She heard Ibn call in a natural tone through the closed curtains to Bongo, uttering the magic word chocula. She heard Bongo's answering grunt and his footsteps as he walked forward toward the head of the long string of oxen. Then she heard Ibn plunge into a violent whispered argument, doubtless in Arabic, with the banian behind him. Apparently the man protested, but gradually his tone changed until it became sickeningly unctuous. He rose. Through the senses of hearing, smell and touch she became aware of his passing over her prostrate body. What was he doing now? She heard the creak of saddle gear. Cautiously he was mounting J3wayback, for once ncglected by the starving Bongo. She heard the pounding of the man's naked heels against Swaybaek's hollow barrel —he was riding the horse away! Now, indeed, she was tempted to scream for Bongo, but realised just in time the futility of such

a move. What could Bongo do if he were seized? Let him trot after Swavback as soon as he found out the horse was gone; then, discovering the substitution, he would be free to run for help. Some minutes passed before she heard the boy come around to tend to the horse, give an amazed grunt and cast a question up at Ibn who answered almost sleepily. With a guttural erv Bongo was off and scarcely had the sound of his thudding footsteps died in the distance than the smothering folds of silk were lifted from her face.

CHAPTER XXVI. Beast in the Cart. Jo struggled to her knees, flung open the closed curtains and sent her eyes down the broad trail toward the south. She thought she caught a glimpse of Bongo's bobbing head, but Swavback and his rider had long since passed behind a screen of flat-topped acacias. Ibn waved blandly toward the food. She wanted to cry but started to laugh. That she, of all people, should be 011 the verge of hysteria proved a sobering thought. How silly to get excited! Why be of this fat banian more than of any other man? Making herself comfortable she proceeded to eat. To her ravenous hunger the strange foods were uniformly delicious and the sickening Greek wine had become nectar. The cart got under way again and presently turned off into a narrow track that led due west. Ibn and the little girl in the corner, motionless as an idol, did not share the meal. They sat watching her, one with huge empty eyes, the other with two unwavering points of jet. She asked for a cigarette. Ibn rolled one expertly and passed it to her. Watching his stubby fingers she remembered that though strong they were cold as stone, that no blood had seemed to stir within their veins. Memory went further; it reminded her of a feeling of powerlessness. Even with Ballard present she had felt, back in that inner room in Inhambane. that should Ibn fail to unclasp his hands she could never stir from where she stood. Abruptly revulsion seized her and she. threw the cigarette away. "Do you Know what I'm thinking?" she asked. 2so,' he answered with an indifference so complete it took her breath. 'I was wondering," she continued, just what Mr. Mallory will do to your filthy carcase when he catches up with us." "Xo can fool Ibn," remarked the banian placidly. "Mr. Mallory dead." "He isn't dead at all," she* stated. "Lies," remarked Ibn * calmly and rambled on, his words naively betraying his innermost thoughts, for she was a ' woman and he scorned to waste finesse.

By GEORGE AGNEW CHAMBERLAIN

"You very dirty. At Mutambe we give you bath, rub you with sandalwood oil. Nice. You be pretty again. You amiga to him, soon be friend to me. Plenty time. Ibn-ben-Dur never hurry; no good when you hurry." The leer on his face revolted her. She tore her eyes away and resumed her calculations. Thia oily beast was clever, and evidently prepared to stop at nothing. She had better watch her step sine© he was of a breed she had ne\ er been called upon to handle. Only the intensity of her thinking kept her awake. She cast a measuring glance at Ibn Rocking gently backward and forward to the swaying of the cart a film seemed to descend like a veil across his eyes and he began to nod. She waited, her breath in suspension, T ■ J Wae sure he sle Pt. then straightened one leg and then the other preparatory to dropping from the end of l! d in the c °rner, whom she had entirely forgotten, uttered a <mtteral sound. Instantly Ibn's eyelids snapped open. Abandoning po»e Josephine changed her position £ K.V d e d T.? rinß ' r " the «<" d^^n^f ÜBhe UBhe Mke<i ' and whe n to Ibn. '?Wh°o a ia n Th e eV OSephine tU ™ d , ,® e R h ru gged his round shoulders h »Tfi» d ;x »gi

"You think too small, eh?" Something in his expression rather than in the words themselves shocked her so profoundly that she shrank as if from a physical blow. Her body twisted away as though intent on escaping at least from the sight of Ibn. She threw herself face down on the cushions and no sooner had her head come to rest than she fell asleep with the suddenness of a stone dropping into water. With a sigh G f relief Ibn also disposed himself for slumber, but the girl in the corner still kept vigil as if her eyes had forgotten how to close. Darkness fell, the cries of the drivers ceased, but the oxen kept on.

1 here is no sound quite like the sound of a rifle bullet that finds no mark; it sings a long, shrill son", venomous with disappointment. Josephine found herself half erect, her head splitting with the pain of too sudden awakening. From far down the back trail came a puff of white, then a report and again the wasp-like screech of an arching bullet, high overhead. Ibn was already on his feet. In the moonlight which flooded the rear of the canopy she could see his face. It wore a bewildered blubbery look as if its fat were turning rancid. Suddenly he went into action with an alacrity amazing to one of his bulk. He snatched off the top of a great ngula basket, seized Josephine by the throat and simultaneously started to choke and to thrust her head-foremost into the ample receptacle.

In tackling an exceedingly healthy young English girl he was guilty of a gross miscalculation. Quite easily she rose to her feet. Dropping her head sharply to the right she sank her teeth into his wrist and bit with all her might. What was it 6he had planned to do? She remembered. the heel of her boot almost knee high" she raked the flesh from one of his spindlin« T shin bones and then from the other. Now it was she who had miscalculated. '1 he excruciating agony, overstepping the limits of bearable pain, endowed its victim with maniacal stiength. His thumbs dug into her windpipe and he shook her flaccid hotly back and forth as if it were a rag. She was conscious of a burst of light like a thousand stars, followed instantly by utter darkness—a bottomless pit of darkness into which she plunged headlong.

■\\ lion next slie awoke she was convinced she had merely passed from a niglitmaie into a dream. Apparently f.lie days that intervened since the' departure from Wemba had been wiped off the slate. Was this Wemba? No; the trees were different. But it was Ballard who was holding her head in the crook of liis arm, bathing her temples and her bruised throat. A blanket lavover her and somebody was busy at her feet. Under slanted eyelids she watched Abdul unlatch her boots, slip them off and then start to tug at her jodhpurs. Ballard placed his right 'hand under the email of her back and lifted; Abdul gripped the ground with his bare toes and pulled. The tight calves of the breeches dragged slowly over her heels but immediately that obstruction was passed resistance ceased so suddenly that the boy went rolling over backward. She felt a tremendous alleviation, a blessed release of her whole body, and now laughter rippled through her in a warm Hood. "Oh, oh!" she gasped, "oil, oh!" "\ou mustn't." murmured Ballard. "Stop that. You're too weak to laugh." She rolled her head from side to side in faint denial. "\o, no; I—l want to laugh. Where are we ?" Xcar a place called Mutambe. You're lying on my bed that I had made into a litter like Smith-Brandon's." "Smith-Brandon *" 6he repeated with a frown. "Oh, of course; I remember now. Well, what happened to Erie after I left?" "He s dead—dead and buried." "So you killed him after all." "I didn't. I knew I wouldn't have to from the minute I laid eyes on him. He was a goner with black water fever." "What did he tell you?" "Nothing. After he called out to you. lie never spoke." "Then how did you find out his name?" she asked quickly. "There was a paper in his wallet promising him £10,000 for proof of Morland's death."' "Twice as much as you," she murmured. He frowned. Was she reminding him deliberately of the night he had said good-bve to her forever? What he knew now about what she must liave known then made that talk while they shared one pillow seem doubly strange.- In spite of the revelation which had seemed to clear up every puzzle mystery clung to her still. A suspicion stirred within him and he decided to put it to the test. "Jo," he asked, "will you do something for me?" "Yes. What is it ?" "I've kissed you a lot; I want you to kiss me—just once." "All right. When?" "Now."

She looked straight into his eves, but lie did not lower his head, so she' slipped her arras around his neck and drew him down. For an instant their lips met lightly, but abruptly her arms tightened and, lifting toward him she gave herself mouth and body. He laid her back, and leaning over, studied her face intentlv. "Did you mind doing that?" he asked. "-No," she answered, her eves buried in his. "I loved it." "Then you lied in your throat when you told me He broke off, his eves suddenly wide. "Is Laurence Morland your brother?" he asked. "Is that it?" For an instant she hesitated, torn between pity for Ballard and allegiance to the fixed purpose of her entire pilgrimage. So long had she stuck to her one gun that constancy had become a habit not easily cast aside. Besides power over a fellow being has its own peculiar ecstasy. Why relinquish it so soon ? ' No; he isn't," she answered sharplv, and pushed him away. "I want to get up. 1 want tea. and a bath and something to eat. What's become of that beast, Ibn? What did you do to him?" "Nothing—yet," said Ballard absently. loward dawn Bongo staggered into the silent camp. Tired as he was he made for the unspanned ox cart and peered within its canopy. Only the little girl was there, no longer staring out of enormous empty eyes, but fallen forward, sleeping the sleep of exhaustion, lurnuig from the wagon he caught the gleam of familiar tents, perceived their air of peacc, and read a dozen other signs that all was well. On his way to the nearest fire he stumbled against an obstruction, and as he fell heard an agonised moan. Glancing back he made out the silhouette of Urn's bulbous body manacled to a tree. Without troubling to rise he crawled to the embers, tumbled forward and buried his face in his arms. In the morn in he made his report. Swayback wa!s dead, ridden to death by a heavy man with small feet who had subsequently fled. "You have don© well," said Ballard to Bongo's amazement. "Go get food and lest." At that moment Josephine issued from her tent looking as fresh «ls a new pin. "That was Bongo, wasn't it? Where's Swayback?" she asked. "Xever mind," said Ballard. "Sit down and eat. After breakfast I'd like you to attend a trial." "Whose trial?" "Ibn's." Half an hour later two chairs were placed in front of the banian still seated on the ground with his back against the tree behind which his wrists were securely tied with a thong. He presented such a figure of misery that Josephine's heart might have softened had the sight of his obese body been less repulsive. As a matter of fact she had completely lost interest in Ibn, feeling she had paid him back twice over for what he had done to her. Her mind was very much elsewhere and scarcely had Ballard begun his interrogation when she slipped from the chair at his side and 6tole away, beckoning to Abdul to follow. "You're a prisoner, Ibn," said Ballard, "charged with assault and attempt to kill a British subject. Think that out. Do you know what I'm going to do with you?" "Xo," moaned the banian, waving his pendulous head from side to side. Ballard leaned over and ripped open Ibn's outer jacket, disclosing the vest encrusted with pearls. "I'm not going to hand you over to any local commandant; I'm not such a fool. What would it cost you if I did?" Tears rolled down the banian's cheeks. "Plenty," he whispered. "Who rode away on the horse?"asked Ballard, sharply. "Agyah, father of my wife." "Robbery," said Ballard. "The thing to do is to take you to the capital, where the British Consul-General will see to it that 110 amount of money bails you out. Robbery and assault with intent to kill. Do you know what you'll get for that ? As sure as Mecca lies due north, though you do your bobbing to the east, you'll get 10 years in jraol." The tears rained down the banian's jowls. Suddenly he lifted wide eyes to Mallory's face. "Master!" he implored, "save Ibn, who was once your good friend!" "That's what I was coming to," said Ballard. "What did you promise Agyah ? Tell the truth or you'll get a ta«te of the sjambok." "Twenty-six pearls." whispered Ibn. "For riding a horse to death?" "Xo, no; for assistins me to gain the mem-sahib whom I thought you had discarded or never would I have raised my eyes to her unveiled face." "Well, you didn't her. so you needn't pay him. I'll tell you exactly what it's going to cost you to get clear. Twenty-six pearls plus the price of two salted horses. I'll pick out the horses —and the pearls." _ Ibn's tears ceased instantly, his thick lips pursed and then began to curve: his round face became wreathed in beatific sfiiiles. "All praise to Ormazd." he murmured, "who wars upon the evil spirits that dwell in darkness. Friend, free the hands of your friend that he may pay." (To be continued Saturday next.)