Part 10 (2/2)
In thewhale-backed dunes throwing lovely lyrical shadows in the hollows between The colour of the sand varied from dark purple to the softest pinks and talcu sorius's direction they turned northwards, and within half an hour they had found the long narrow ridge of ironstone that bisected the sand desert and for dunes They crept following its winding course slowly across this rocky bridge, for twelve miles, while the dunes rose on each side of thee of the Red Sea by the fleeing Israelites Even the dunes seeht at eachdown to swamp them and she despaired that she could ever adequately describe the wild and disordered beauty of this ed at last and with startling suddenness into the dry flat grasslands of the Ethiopian lowlands The desert proper was at last behind theh this was a harsh and and savannah, there was, at least, the occasional thorn tree and an alrass was so ast the low thorny scrub Altho fine and dry that all colour had been bleached froh coated with hoar frost
Most cheering of all was the distant but discernible blue outline of the far e of their awareness, a far beacon calling therass, the four vehicles roared forward joyously, bu the clued ahead
In the last gli of the day, just when Jake had decided to halt the day's march, the flat land ahead of them opened miraculously and they looked down into the steep boulder-strewn gorge of the Awash River fifty feet below theathered stiffly in a sroup on the lip of the ravine, ”There is Ethiopia, two hundred yards away It's two years since last I stood upon the soil ofthe last of the light
He stopped hih country near Addis Ababa and coes into the lowland A short distance downstream from here it ends in a shalloamp There its waters sink away into the desert sand and disappear
Here we are standing on French territory still, ahead of us is Ethiopia, there far to the north is Italian Eritrea”
”How far is it to the Wells of Chaldi?”Gareth interrupted
That for hiorius shrugged ”Another forty et across this lot?” Jakedown into the dilowed dull silver
”Upstreaorius told hi out the banks a little, but I think we'll be able to cross”
”I hope you are right,” Gareth told hio back” The vieater that she had glimpsed in the depths of the ravine haunted Vicky Cawaterfalls, of reen ferns about a deep cold pool, and she awoke, restless and tired, with sweat plastering her hair to her neck and forehead There was just the first proht that she was the only one awake and she crept into the vehicle and fetched her towel and toilet bag, but as she juround she heard the clink of spanner on steel and she saw Jake stooped over the engine compartment of his car
She tried to sneak away before he saw her, but he straightened suddenly
”Where are you going?” he demanded ”As if I didn't know Listen, Vicky, I don't like you wandering around out of camp on your own”
”Jake Barton, I feel so filthy I can s down to the river” Jake hesitated ”I'd better co&e, ue with this lady He watched her hurry to the lip of the ravine and disappear down the steep slope with vague s, for which he could find no real substance
The earth and loose stone rolled easily underfoot, and Vicky restrained her impatience and picked her way carefully towards the water, until she reached a narrow gale, and she followed it with relief Her footsteps, falling silently on to the soft earth, followed faithfully the string of round five- toed pad ed deeply by the heavy weight of the animal that had made them Vicky did not look down, however, and if she had, it was doubtful if she would have recognized what she was seeing The faintly reflected light of the pools drew her like a beacon
When she reached the bottom of the ravine, she found that the river was so shrunken that it was no longer flowing
The pools were shallow, stagnant and still warm from the previous day's sun The storh the softer upper layers of earth until they exposed the sheet of hard black ironstone that formed the floor of the ravine
Vicky stripped off her sweat-da and stepped down into one of the shallow pools, sighing with the pleasurable feel of water on her skin She sat waist-deep and scooped handfuls of water over her face and breasts, washi+ng away the dust and salt-sticky sweat of the desert
Then she waded to the edge of the pool and selected a bottle of sha The water was so soft that she swiftly worked up a thick coating of white suds that covered her head and ran down her neck on to her bare shoulders
She rinsed the soap off and bound the towel around her wet head like a turban, before kneeling in the shallow pool and soaping her entire body, delighting at the slipperiness of the suds and their fragrance By the tithened and she knew that the others would be up and chafing to resume the march
She stepped out on to the flat black rock that surrounded the pool and stood for abreeze against her naked skin, and suddenly she had a strong sensation that she was being watched She, turned swiftly, half crouching, her hands flying instinctively to cover her bosoroin
The eyes that watched her were of a savage golden colour, and the pupils were glistening black slits The stare was steady and unblinking
The huge reddish-gold beast crouched on a level ledge of rock, halfway up the far bank of the ravine It lay with its forepaws drawn up under its chin, and there was a sense of deadly stillness about it that was chilling, although Vicky did not readily recognize what she was seeing
Then very slowly the dark ruff of theits already ian to slash back and forth with the steady beat of a ain in her iht and she screamed
Jake had just conition of his car and closed the engine cowling He picked up the fluted bottle of Scrubbs Cloudy Arease froan to run without a conscious thought
The screah and shrill, an expression of mortal terror, that Jake's heart raced in sy shriller still, he leaped the bank and went sliding and running down the steep slope of the ravine
It was only seconds fro and sliding down on to the rocky floor of the ravine beside the pool
He saw the naked girl crouching at the edge of the pool, both hands pressed to her ht round buttocks of a lad and long graceful legs
”Vicky,” he shouted ”What is it?” And she turned quickly to hi heavily at theout tightly with cold and shock Even in the extrelance down at the sle at its base Then she was running towards his, and her face was deadly white, and the speckled green eyes huge and swi with rampant terror
”Jake,” she cried ”Oh God, Jake,” and then he saw movement beyond her, halfway up the bank of the water course
The wound had stiffened during the night, al the lion's hindquarters, and the torn entrails were leaking poison and infection into the belly cavity It had slowed the anier which the sight of a huh to precipitate the charge
However, the sound of the human voice immediately invokedagony ”and the anger flared higher
Then suddenly there was another of the hated two-legged figures, h to counter the stiffness and paralysing lethargy The lion rose slightly out of his crouch and he growled
Jake ran four paces to meet Vicky and she tried to throw her arms about his neck for protection, but he avoided the eers digging so deeply into her flesh that the pain steadied her Using the i her on towards the path that cli” And he turned back to face the crippled anie into the bed of the river
It was only then that Jake realized that he still carried a full bottle of Scrubbs Ah the shallow stagnant pool towards him Despite the wounds, it folloith lithe and sinuous menace it was so close that he could see each stiff white whisker in the curled upper lip and hear the rattle of air in its throat He let it come on, for to turn and run was suicide
At the last moment he reared back like a baseball pitcher and hurled the bottle It was an instinctive action, using the only weapon however puny that was at hand
The bottle flew straight at the lion's head, catching it in the direct centre of its broad forehead as it lunged se where Jake stood
The bottle exploded in a burst of sparkling glass splinters and a creaent liquid It filled both the lion's eyes, blinding it instantly, and the stench of concenits opennostrils killed trated ammonia in its sense of smell and shocked its whole syste with the agony of scalded eyeballs and burning throat, into the shalloater where it rolled helplessly on its back
Jake ran forward, seizing the few seconds of advantage he had gained He stooped to pick up a water-worn ironstone boulder the shape and size of a football, and swung it up above his head with both hands
As he poised hie above the pool, the lion recovered its balance and cah and, like a cannon ball, it smashed into the back of the animal's neck, where the soddenboth so that the dreadfully mutilated beast collapsed and rolled on to its side, half in the water and half on the black rock ledge
For long seconds Jake stood over it, panting with exertion and reaction, then he leaned forward and touched with his fingertip the long pale lashes that fringed the lion's open staring golden eye