Chapter 32

The next morning David opened the rifle cases that Martin had brought and gazed at the workmanship of each rifle. Their balance was amazing coming up to his shoulder like an extension of his body. The deep lustre of the figured mahogany furniture with its chequered pistol grip and cheek rest made each weapon a thing of beauty. David had a gun cabinet already made; his .303 was in it along with the Winchester. He fitted in each rifle and put the ammunition in the drawers below, along with the tools and equipment that came with them.

Ali in one of his visits to Nairobi returned one day with twenty Rhode Island Red chickens and two cocks. He found David beside the stable and asked where he could put them. They finally agreed upon a spot alongside his vegetable plot, but before he left he said he had met a Maasi woman with a small child who had tried to get medical help for the child, but had been turned away.

Susan looked up at this. “Where is the woman now Ali?” she asked.

“I left her when I turned up the path to the hills, Mrs.”

“Saddle my horse David while I get my bag!”

“You’re not going alone,” he said firmly. “Hanga, saddle Tana and Khan!” as they both rushed into the house, returning with his pistol belt and rifle slung on his shoulder with Susan carrying her medical bag. He saw N’debi admiring the Jerseys and called for him, explaining about the woman as they mounted. N’debi started off in a long looping run as the two of them trotted behind. They found the woman staggering five miles from the crater. She crouched down, terrified of them and trying to protect the child. N’debi spoke to her and reluctantly she let Susan examine the small boy.

While Susan was attending to him N’debi questioned the woman. It seemed she was the daughter of a chief of the Maas. The child had been wounded when slavers had attacked the village, many had been killed and wounded, and twenty-eight women and children taken by the slavers.

“This child has a nasty cut and is running a fever. We need to get back to his home so I can treat him properly,” Susan said firmly. N’debi passed the child to Susan once she was mounted and then the woman up to David. When they arrived at the village they were surrounded by fierce looking warriors, but Susan handed down the child to N’debi and leapt down from her horse, then followed the woman who had slid down off Khan and gone into a hut.

A man in his fifties approached and the warriors made an avenue for him. He started talking rapidly to N’debi who translated for David. Over twenty Arab slavers had attacked a village killing and wounding thirty and taking women and young children captive and driving off fifty cattle. This had happened five days ago. The witch doctor had been one of those killed. The chief had gathered three of the villages together for better protection.

“Ask the chief how fast were they moving when they left?” David said.

N’debi translated then turned to David, “They move slowly since it’s hard to move cattle and prisoners.”

David thought for a moment. “N’debi, return to the crater and tell my warriors I need them and to come swiftly with their weapons. Also tell Bwana Martin and his woman what has happened here, and that my woman may need help. Can the chief send out trackers to follow the slavers?”

N’debi told the chief and four of his men set off at a run, whilst N’debi set off back to the Crater. David entered the hut finding Susan on her knees bathing the small boy as his mother looked on anxiously.

“How is he doing?” he asked her.

“I’ve dressed the wound, but need to get his fever down,” she replied.

He told her he had sent for Martin and Jill. “There’s probably more wounded in the village, Susan,” he murmured. Through a series of miming and speech she got the woman to understand she wished to see the other wounded. David helped to move those that could be moved into the hut, whilst Susan organised hot water to be boiled.

“Those bastards even killed children and old people,” she hissed.

An hour later Rham arrived with his ten man squad along with N’debi and six of his warriors. Rham handed David his cartridge belt with a smile, “Are we going to have a fight Sahib?” he asked cheerfully.

David nodded grimly, “N’debi we go to see these slavers and have a harsh word with them. You may stay here.”

N’debi looked disdainfully at David, “We have a wish to wash our spears in the blood of the killers of children, Bwana.”

“You may not be able to keep up with us N’debi,” David replied. N’debi gave a slow smile and then with a yell of “Amber!” to his men then set off in a blistering run following the trackers. By the time David was mounted they were already a mile away.

That night they camped without making a fire, chewing on biltong that Ali had made from eland meat. The next day before dawn had broken they were off again. It was late afternoon when they caught up with one of the trackers. From questions posed by N’debi they found out that the slavers were only an hour away, their pace slowing as they entered the hilly country leading to the coast.