Part 28 (1/2)
Together with the nificent enamelled cross around his neck, they had added ie and correct sense of self-importance
For the first feeeks he never tired of reviewing andhis armoured forces The six speedy machines, with their low rakish lines and Aided turrets, intrigued hi on their spinning tracks, delighted hi held theaht CV3 tanks, in extended line abreast, could sweep a thirty-ame before them, down to where the Count waited with the Mannlicher It was the greatest sport of his hunting career
The scope of this activity was such that even in the limitless spaces of the Danakil desert, it did not pass unnoticed
Like their Ras, the Harari warriors wereinactivity bored theroups of horsemen, followed by their wives and pack donkeys, drifted away froan the steep rocky ascent to the cooler equable weather of the highlands, and the comforts and business of home Each of them assured the Ras before departure of a speedy return as soon as they were needed but nevertheless it irked the Ras to see his ar ahile his eneed upon the sacred soil of Ethiopia
Tensions in the encaroundswell of the ocean, when storht up in the suppressed violence, in the boiling pot of emotion, were both Gareth and Jake Each of them had used the lull to set his own departht behind a screen of Ethiopian scouts to the deserted battlefield, where he had stripped the carcass of the Huht of a hooded bull's-eye lantern, and assisted by Gregorius, he had taken the big Bentley engine to pieces, sed it all ho the replaceine of Tenastefin ruined by the Ras in his first flush of enthusiasm Then he had stripped, overhauled and reassembled the other two cars The Ethiopian armoured forces were now a squadron of three, all of them in as fine fettle as they had been for the past twenty years
Gareth, in the meantiuns, and then exercised theunners to lay down sheets of covering fire
Foot soldiers were taught to advance or retreat in concert with the Vickers
Gareth had also found tie, ing of the un nests and support trenches in the steep rocky sides of the gorge An ene hairpin track would come under fire around each bend of the road, and would be open to the steae of the foot warriors frost the lichen-covered rocks above the track
The track itself had been sradients altered to allow the escape of the armoured cars once the position on the plains was forced by the overwhel build-up of Italian forces Now all of thee of time eroded all their nerves
It was, then, with a certain relief that the scouts ere keeping the Italian fortifications under day and night surveillance reported back to the Ras's war council that a host of strange vehicles that s or wheels had arrived to swell the already forainst theed in furious activity, fro in circles and aimless sweeps across the vast empty spaces of the plains
”Without wheels,” mused Gareth, and cocked an eyebrow at Jake
”You knohat that sounds like, don't you, old son?”
”I'o and take a look” Half a ht to show up clearly the deeply torn runners of the steel tracks, like the spoor of gigantic centipedes in the soft fluffy soil
Jake squatted on his haunches, and regarded thely He kne that what he had dreaded was about to happen He was going to have to take his beloved cars and ainst tracked vehicles with heavier ar-bored, quick-firing guns Guns that could crash a ine block, through the hull coh the rear arain to the car behind
”Tanks,” he le scout in ourco ”A tenderfoot ht those tracks were made by a dinosaur but you can't fool old hawk-eye Barton, son of the Texas prairies,” and he reached out to stub his cheroot against the”
side of the turret, an action which he kneould annoy Jake intensely
Jake grunted and stood up ”I' to buy you an ashtray for your next birthday” His voice was brittle It did not ht be shot at by rifle, un and now by cannon that they had been scarred by flying gravel and harsh thorn The deliberate crushi+ng of burning tobacco against the fighting steel annoyed him, as he kneas rinned easily ”Slippedup the side of the car and dropped into the driver's seat Keeping the engine noise down to a low murmur, a sound as sweet and melodious in his ears as a Bach concerto, he let Priscilla ilded plain
When Jake and Gareth were alone like this, out on a reconnaissance or working together in the gorge, the dagger of rivalry was sheathed and their relationshi+p was relaxed and co for position It was only in Vicky Camberwell's physical presence that the knife caht about the three of thereat deal each day He knew that, after that ht when he and Vicky had known each other on the hard desert earth, she was his woman It was too wonderful an experience to have shared with another hued both of them profoundly
Yet in the weeks since then there had been little opportunity for reaffir waterfall in the gorge, a narrow ledge of black rock, cool with shadow and green with soft beds ofof the precipice The moss had been as soft as a feather bed, and afterwards they swa cauldron of the pool, and her body had been sliain, he had watched her with Gareth Swales the way she laughed, or leaned close to him to listen to a whispered coeous sallies, the laughter in her eyes and on her lips
Once she touched his aresture while in conversation with Gareth, a gesture so intier fill his head
There was no cause for it, Jake knew that He could not believe she was fool enough or so naive as to walk into the obvious web that Gareth eaving she was Jake's wo was so wonderful, so completely once in a lifetime, that it was not possible she could turn aside to anyone else
Yet between Vicky and Gareth there was the laughter and the shared jokes So on a rock -prorove of ca towards each other as they talked Once or twice they had both been absent fro But it , he knew that
Sure, she liked Gareth Swales He could understand that
He liked Gareth also more than liked, he realized It was, rather, a deep co of affection You could not but be drawn by his fine looks, hissense of the ridiculous, and the deep certainty that below that polished exterior and the overplayed role of the foppish rogue was a different, a real person
”Yeah ”Jake sardonically grinned in the darkness, steering the car south and east around the sky glow that uy I don't trust hi as he keeps the hell away from my woman”
Gareth stooped out of the turret at that moment and tapped his shoulder
”There is a ravine ahead and to the left It should do,” he said, and Jake swung towards it and halted again
”It's deep enough, ”he gave his opinion
”And we should be able to see across to the ridge and cover all the ground to the east once the sun cohts and then swept his arm widely across the open desert beyond
”That looks like where they hold their fun and garandstand view froet under cover now” They intended to spend the whole of that day observing the activity of the Italian squadron, pulling out again under cover of darkness, so Jake reversed Priscilla gingerly down the steep slope of the ravine, backing and filling carefully, until she was in a hull-down position below the bank with just the top of her turret exposed but facing back towards the ith her front wheels at a point in the bank which she could climb handily, if a quick start and a fast escape were necessary
He switched off the engine, and the two of them armed the down the s it over the exposed turret, until from a hundred yards it blended into the desert landscape
Jake spilled gasoline from one of the spare cans into a bucket of sand, then placed the bucket in the bottom of the ravine and put atheainst the desert chill, while the coffee brewed They were silent, thawing out slowly, each thinking his own thoughts
”I think we've got a problem” said Jake at last, as he stared into the fire
”With oes back as far as I can rereed politely ”But apart from the fact that I aes and bleeding hearts for co to kill me, broke except for a post-dated cheque of dubious value, not a bottle of the old Charlie within a hundred miles, and no iood shape”
”I was thinking of Vicky”
”Ah!
Vicky!”
”You know that I arinned devilishly in the flickering firelight ”Is that why you have beenlike a bull uessed, old boy”
”I' serious, Gary”
”That, old son, is one of your proble too seriously I am prepared to offer odds of three to one that your hastly brats”