Part 25 (1/2)
”Bath,” she ordered ”And then we'll talk again, ht, a rider had co, and then hitting the level ground and galloping into the Ras's caud took theup to the cluster of tents under the flat-topped ca the folded cablegra her entrance
Vicky was deep in a bearlike enfolding embrace into which Jake Barton had taken her moments before, and the interruption ca herself to the pleasure of theof carbolic soap, with his hair still wet and newly combed Vicky broke out of his arirl
”Oh!” exclaimed Sara, with the natural interest and fascination of a born conspirator discovering a fresh intrigue
”You are busy”
”Yes, I am, ”snapped Vicky, cheeks aflame with embarrassment and confusion
”I'e must be iraht you would want it” Vicky snatched it froer faded as she read, and she looked up with shi+ning eyes at Sara
”You were right thank you,up to hiay
”Hey,” Jake laughed with her, holding her aardly in front of the girl, ”What's this all about?”
”It's from my editor,” she told him
”My story about the attack at the Wells was an international scoop
Headlines around the world and there is to be an eue of Nations” Sara snatched the cable forht
”This is what my father believed you could do for us, Miss Ca, fat oily tears breaking fro lashes ”Now the world knows Now they will coirl's faith in the triuood over evil was childlike, and she pulled Vicky froiven us a chance again We will always be grateful to you” Her tears s wetly, and wiped her own tears froet you,” she said, and then srandfather” They found it impossible to convey to the Ras the exact nature of this new advancement of the Ethiopian cause He was very hazy in his exact understanding of the role and iue of Nations, or the power and influence of the international press After the first few pints of tej he had made sure in his own reat Queen of England had espoused their cause, and that the armies of Great Britain would soon join hiorius and Sara spoke to hi to explain his error, and he nodded and grinned benevolently at them but remained co Gareth Swales,hilishman and a comrade in arms Then, before the speech ended, the Ras fell suddenly and dra face forward into a large bowl ofof his new and powerful ally, and the large quantities of tej were too uard lifted hi loudly to his household tent
”Do not worry,” Sara told his guests ”My grandfather will not be gone for long after a small rest he will return”
”Tell him not to put himself out,” h of hilow of the bonfires turned the sky ruddy and paled the moon that sailed above the mountain peaks It shone on the steel and polished wood of the huge pile of captured weapons, rifles and pistols and ammunition bandoliers, that were heaped triumphantly in the open space before the royal party
The sparks froht and the laughter and voices of the guests becaourds circulated
Farther along the valley, also within the acacia grove, the Gallas of Ras Kullah were celebrating the victory also, and there was the occasional faint outburst of drunken shouts and a fusillade of shots from captured Italian rifles
Vicky sat between Gareth and Jake She had not arranged it so, and if given the choice would have sat alone with Jake, but Gareth Swales had not been as easily discouraged as she had believed he orius Crossing the squatting circle of feasting guests, she knelt on the pile of leather cushi+ons beside Vicky, pushi+ng herself in between Gareth and the girl and she leaned close to Vicky, an ar her ear
”You should have told me,” she accused her sadly ”I did not know that you had decided on Jake first I would have advised you-” At that instant a sound carried from the camp of the tance and Gallas to where they sat It was muted by ths al Harari filling yet the terrible heart-stopping quality of it pierced Vicky so that she gasped and clutched Sara's wrist
Beside her Jake and Gareth had stiffened and were listening also, their heads turned to catch the sound that rose and died in a long-drawn-out rending sob
”You have not handled the as if she had heard nothing
”Sara, what is it as that?” Vicky shook her aresture of disdain and contempt ”That fat pervert Ras Kullah has co-place
the victory, he has come to enjoy Now that we have won the booty
He arrived an hour ago with his fat milch cows and now he feasts and entertains hih pitched screech that tore across Vicky's nerves It rose higher and higher, until Vicky wanted to cover her ears with both hands At the instant that it seemed her nervessilence had fallen upon the revelling throng around the bonfires, and the silence persisted for a few then there was a seconds longer after the scream had ended, murmur of cohter
”What is it, da?”
”Ras Kullah is playing with the Italians,” Sara said quietly, and Vicky realized that she had thought no further of the prisoners taken that day fro, Sara? What do you esture of utter disgust
”They are animals, those beasts of Ras Kullah They willthey will cut away their ain ”Before they can s what do you call thes in the little sac?”
”testicles,” said Vicky hoarsely, alreed Sara ”They must kill a man and take his testicles to the bride It is their custom, but first they will make sport with the Italians”
”Can't we stop them? ”Vicky asked
”Stop them?” Sara looked amazed ”They are only Italians, and it is the Galla custoain there was coh into the silent desert air, shriek upon shriek, so that it see, and their souls cringed at the diive vent to that pinnacle of agonized sound
”Oh God! Oh God!” whispered Vicky, and she lifted her eyes from Sara's face to that of Gareth Swales who sat beyond her
He was silent and still, his face turned half away from her, so that she saw the Godlike profile, perfect and cold As the cry of agony died away, he leaned forward, took a burning twig fro black cheroot between his white teeth
He drew deeply and held the sh his nostrils Then he turned deliberately to Vicky
”You heard what the lady said It's the custom” He spoke to Vicky, but the remark was addressed to Jake Barton, and his eyes flicked ly to him, a half-smile on his lips
The twoand expressionless
The cry of agony ca tone reduced to a sobbing echo on the dark night
Jake Barton rose to his feet, co erect with one fluid movement, and in a continuation of the same movement he crossed to the piles of captured Italian weapons He stooped and picked up an officer's automatic pistol, a 7 men Beretta, still in its polished leather holster, and he unbuckled the flap and drew the weapon, discarding the leather holster and waist belt He checked the loaded azine and then, with a slap of his palm, thrust it back into the recessed butt, pumped the slide to throw a round into the breech, flicked the safety-catch across and slipped the pistol into the pocket of his breeches
Without looking again at any of the others, he strode away, disappearing beyond the firelight into the darkness, in the direction of the Galla encao that sentimentality is an oldfashi+oned luxury an expensive one in this age, and especially in this place,”
murmured Gareth, and inspected the ash of his cheroot