Part 22 (1/2)
”Makes hiave his opinion, and revved the engine, carefullythe car into a hull-down position below the bank from where he could keep the Italians under observation Gareth brought the other car up alongside and grinned at hirin, and Jake realized that the English clash with anticipation
It was no longer necessary to use binoculars The Italian colu swiftly on a course that was carrying it parallel to the dry river-bed, beyond the curved horns of the ambush into the open unprotected funnel of flat land between the mountains
Another fifteen minutes at this rate of advance and it would have turned the Ethiopian flank and would be able to drive without resistance to the e and Jake knew better than to hope to be able to reorganize the rabble of cavalry once their formations were shattered Instinctively he knew that they would fight like giants as long as the tide carried them forward, but any retreat would become a rout, and they would race for the hills like factory workers at five o'clock They were accusto set piece battles, but snatching opportunity as it was offered, swift as hawks, but giving instantly before any determined thrust by an ene his fist against his thigh i of alarm Unless the bait was offered within the next few ht as individuals, each eneral, and because the art of ambush and entrapment came as naturally to the Ethiopian as the feel of a rifle in his hand, Jake need not have fretted
See to rise fro Italian vehicles, a s knot of horse to float above it like a flock of dark birds Their shapes wavering and indistinct, wrapped in pale streamers of dust, they cut back obliquely across the Italian line ofhard for the centre of the hidden Ethiopian line
Alle vehicle detached itself fro course with the flying horse, and it closed so swiftly that the squadron of cavalry was forced to veer away, forced to edge out towards where the two ar vehicle the Italian colu away in a long untidy line abreast in pursuit of the horseh, canvas-covered cupolas, and their progress was ponderous and so slow that they could not gain perceptibly on the galloping horses
However, the sher to give hinized instantly the big open Rolls-Royce tourer that he had last seen at the Wells of Chaldi Its polished ht, its low rakish lines enhancing the impression of speed and power, as the dust boiled out fro central bosses
Even as he watched, the Rolls braked and skidded broadside, coure tumbled from the rear seat
Jake watched the unsmoke from the muzzle as he fired seven shots in quick succession, the rifle kicking up abruptly at the recoil and the thud thud of the discharge reaching Jake only seconds later
The horse swiftly away froe nor the dust and e affected the ainst the earth, legs kicking to the sky or plunging and rolling, as it struggled to regain its legs, falling back at last and lying still
Then the rifleain, and the pursuit was continued, gaining swiftly on the survivors, the heavy phalanx of trucks and troop transports lu on behind it the wholesteadily deeper into the killing-ground that Gareth Swales had so carefully surveyed and laid out for them
”The bastard!” whispered Jake, as he watched the Rolls skid to a standstill oncethe horsee of their ancient weapons, and he was picking theunner at a grouse shoot in fact, the whole bloody episode was being played out in the spirit of the hunt
Even at the range of almost a thousand yards, Jake seemed able to sense the blood passion of the Italian e to kill ut thrill of it
If they intervened now, cutting into the flank of the widespread and disordered coluht save the lives ofhorsemen But the Italian column was not yet fully enmeshed in the trap that had been laid Swiftly, Jake traversed the glasses across the dust-swirling and heat-distorted plain and for the first tiuard had not joined the mad, tear arse helter-skelter staroup had halted, seely under some strict control, and now they had been left two , dusty avalanche of heavy vehicles Jake could spare nocontinued, the wildly flying horse cut down by the crack rifleman from the Rolls
The temptation to intervene now overwhelmed Jake He kneas not the correct tactical eneral, and those poor bastards out there need help” He shoved his right foot down hard on the throttle and the engine bellowed, but before he could pull forward and run at the bank, he was forestalled by Gareth Swales He had been watching Jake, and the play of emotion over his face was plain to read At thethe front end of the Hu him effectively
”I say, old chap, don't be an idiot,” Gareth called across the narrow space ”Cale breast, you'll spoil the whole show”
”Those poor, Jake shouted back angrily
”They've got to take their chances ”Gareth cut him short
”I told you once before your sentiet us both into trouble” At this stage the argu tall in the turret above Gareth He had armed himself with the broad, two-handed ord, and now the exciteer in silence He let out a series of shrill ululating war cries, and swung the sword in a great hissing circle around his head both the silver blade and his brilliant set of teeth catching the sun and flashi+ng like semaphores
He punctuated his shrill war cries ild kicks at his driver, urging him in heated Amharic to have at the ene feet
”A bunch of ot myself mixed up with a bunch of orius, unable to stay out of the argurandfather orders you to advance!”
”You tell your grandfather to-” but Gareth's reply was cut short as a foot caught hiorius
”Come on, for chrissake,” yelled Jake
”Yaahooo!” hooted the Ras, and swung around in the turret to wave on his men at arms They needed no further invitation In a loose mob, they spurred their ponies past the sty their rifles above their heads, robes streaed up the steep bank into the open and galloped furiously on to the flank of the scattered Italian coluhed Gareth ”Every eneral-”
”Look!”
shouted Jake, pointing back down the course of the dry river-bed, and they all fell abruptly silent at the spectacle
It see rank upon rank of wildly galloping horsemen Where a moment before the sweep of land below the mountains had been empty and silent, now it swarmed withheadlong upon the lu over it all, rolling forward like the fog off a winter sea, shrouding the sun, so that horses and machines were dark infernal shapes below the solinted dully on the steel of rifle and sword
”That does it,” Gareth agreed bitterly, and reversed his car to clear Jake's front, before swinging away, engine roaring and the wheels spinning for purchase in the steep loose earth of the river-bank
Jake turned wide of the other car and took the bank at an angle to lessen the gradient, and the two cumbersome machines burst out into the plain, wheel to wheel
Before them was the open flank of et as they had ever been offered in their long and warlike careers The two iron ladies swept forward together, and it seeine note as though they sensed that once again they were fulfilling the true reason for their existence Jake glanced quickly at the Huular steelwork, with its flat abrupt surfaces froly old-maidish silhouette, but there was a new ht Ethiopian colours fluttered gaily as a cavalry pennant and the high thin, rimmed wheels spurned the sandy earth like the hooves of a thoroughbred Beneath hiamely, and Jake felt a warm flood of affection for his two old ladies
”Have at theirls!” he shouted aloud, and Gareth Swales, head protruding from the driver's hatch of the Hump, turned towards him
There was a freshly lit cheroot cla to have sprouted there rinned around it
”nob Xegitind carboht the words faintly above the roar of wind andthe racing aping breach in the Italian line
Abruptly the pattern ofItalian warriors had realized belatedly that the roles had been neatly switched
The Count picked up the horseht, and led off just a touch, a hair's breadth, for the Mare was not more than a hundred metres
He saw the hit clearly, the man lurched in the saddle and sprawled forward over the horse's neck, but he did not fall The rifle dropped from his hands and cartwheeled across the earth, but thedesperately to the horse's mane while quick crimson spread across the shoulder of his dirty white robe
The Count fired again, ai for the junction of the horse's neck and shoulder, and saw the jarring impact spin the animal off its feet, so that it fell heavily upon its wounded rider, crushi+ng the air frohed, ith exciteht, ed, as he swung the rifle, seeking the next target, peering eagerly over the open vee sight Then suddenly he froze, the rifle barrel wavering and sinking to point at his glossy toe caps His lower jaw unhinged and slowly sank, as if in syotten in the excitement of the chase, returned suddenly with a force that turned his bowels to water and his legs to rubber
”Merciful Mary!” he whispered
The entire horizon was e of his vision to the other It took hi, to realize that instead of fifteen horsemen, there were suddenly thousands upon thousands, and that rather than running before hi towards him at a velocity which he would not have believed possible As he stared, he saw rank upon rank of the ene fro towards hi sun glint red as blood upon the naked blades, and the druiant waterfall Yet faintly through the thunder, he heard the blood-freezing war shrieks of the horseasped ”Take us away from here fast!