Chapter 34

The rains came a month later and the hills resounded to the harsh crack of thunder, whilst the night sky was lit with jagged sheets of lightning. The rain came in a downpour that within seconds drenched anyone out in it.

The track became a road of cloying mud, which made the use of wagons impossible.

The cattle and horses were brought into the paddocks for safety against stampeding.

For two weeks the rains never let up by day or night until one day it dawned with clear blue skies, and the sun was seen again. As the sun climbed into the cloudless sky steam rose from the buildings and ground. Everyone was busy repairing roofs that had leaked or where fences had collapsed.

Martin along with two Gurkhas took the wagon into Nairobi to buy canvas and wood.

When he returned a week later, he told David that he had heard, from a train conductor that four Arab dhows had been sighted moored up in Zanzibar by the steamship from England. According to the train conductor the dhows were known to belong to slavers.

“The news was over three weeks old, but if they were slavers then the dhows would be making slow progress up the river against the flooded waters,” David thought.

David consulted his maps and from what he had learned of the slavers, he knew they would want to be well away from any local authority before setting out on their murderous raids.

He called for N’debi and between them they decided on a spot on the river where it narrowed; a hundred and ninety miles from the sea. N’debi said that it was normally full of rocks, but with the high river water it would be possible to pull the dhows through, but would take time to do so.

David issued orders to Rham to have the Gurkhas ready for a week’s travel the following day. With N’debi as their guide they set off next morning. Along with them they took two mules to carry their rations.

It took five days of hard riding to reach the hills that bordered the river.

N’debi stopped in a narrow pass, “Bwana it is best if I go alone from here to find the slavers,”

David nodded, as he and the Gurkhas dismounted. They watered and fed the horses and mules while they waited for N’debi’s return. Five hours passed and it was late afternoon before he returned.

“The slavers are in the gorge Bwana, pulling their canoes up through it. They already have two canoes above the gorge. They have returned to their camp now to make their meal. Bwana there are many slavers.”

They followed N’debi leading their horses by their reins. He stopped again at the base of a steep ridge. “It is best to leave the horses here Bwana and go the rest of the way on foot.”

Only N’debi and Rham went with David to scout the slavers camp. It took nearly an hour to reach a position from where they could look down upon them.

Using his telescope, David could see that the slavers had set up camp below the fast flowing gorge on a sandbar and two dhows were tied to the shore.

They had erected two large tents and several smaller ones. David tried to count how many of them there were and in the end giving up as the slavers moved around so much, but he guessed about a hundred and fifty. He noticed long barrelled rifles were stacked by the tents ready for instant use.

They backed away from the edge of the gorge, and then made their way to its entrance, some nine hundred yards away. They saw the two dhows that had been drawn through the gorge; the men on board were eating a meal. David, satisfied with the reconnaissance went back to join the other Gurkhas. That night he outlined his plan to them.

“They will be most vulnerable when they are pulling the boats upstream as they will need every man on the ropes. When they get half way up the gorge, that’s when we attack. In the confusion they may let go of the ropes and the boat will be washed down stream. Once they start to fire back at us we will retreat. There are too many of them to get involved in a pitched battle, so we will adopt hit and run tactics against them. One man must stay with the horses to keep them safe; so that when we retreat we can ride away and then circle back.”

All the Gurkhas wanted to be in the attacking force. In the end N’debi said he would stay behind, but added, “When they are closer I will be there to wash my spear.”

That night while chewing on biltong, they checked their rifles. It was a night without a fire again.

They moved into position silently as the first rays of sunlight lit up the hills above the river.

The men stayed below the rim, as David and Rham crawled on their bellies to the edge.

Looking down stream through the telescope, David could see the slavers’ camp stirring.

It took over an hour before he saw five men wade out and boarded a dhow.

He watched as they attached two ropes to the bow of it, and then as one took the tiller, the others picked up long poles and took up positions, two on either side of the boat.

It seemed as if half of the camp had crossed the river to the bank on their side of the river, whilst the other half picked up the rope and arranged themselves along it.

A man in a green turban, who appeared to be their leader was shouting out instructions. As the men began to pull, David watched as the rope lifted from the river.

Rham and David slid back to where the main group of Gurkhas waited.

“My shot will be the signal to open fire, Rham and I will concentrate our fire on the men in the boat. Spread out above us and concentrate on the men pulling the rope. There are others on our side of the river, but they don’t have any weapons with them, and we cannot see them.

At the command “Retreat”, make your way back to the horses.”

The men crawled back up to the rim carrying their rifles and ammunition belts.

David turned to Rham, “I’ll take out the leader in the green turban; you take out the man on the tiller, and then the pole men.” Rham nodded.

He watched as the men pulling on the rope passed, and sighted on the green turban, sliding the safety off. He judged the range was about five hundred yards as he gently squeezed the trigger. The .303 jolted back into his shoulder then he worked the bolt putting another bullet into the breech.

The man was down as he switched target to one of the pole men. He fired and moved on to another. Then no one was standing on the boat. He looked along the line of the rope pullers; gaps had appeared in it either from men who had been shot, or men who were scampering to take cover. Screams and yells echoed from within the gorge. The boat was turning side on to the current and slowly moving back down it, as the men on the other rope tried to hold it.

Some of them came into view on their side as they were pulled into the river, and the Gurkhas shot them. Suddenly the boat started drifting back faster as the rope was released.

David watched as some of the men ran back to get their rifles. “Retreat!” he shouted above the rifle fire, and moved back from the lip of the gorge.

They rode for about five miles away from the river, finally stopping on a hill that gave a good view of the veld in front of the ridge that guarded the gorge, and made camp.

A guard was placed using David’s telescope and a head count was organised, while a fire was lit on the reverse side of the hill and a hot meal prepared.

“Colonel Sahib, we seemed to have killed or wounded, between thirty-five and forty, by what the men tell me,” Rham reported.

David nodded, “We will stay here for a day or so. They will be on their guard now but tomorrow at sunset we will send a scout to see what they are doing,” David murmured.

“I will go Bwana,” N’debi said. “They will not see me if I do not wish to be seen.”

The guard reported figures moving around the ridge by the river, but after a few hours they had disappeared again. David watched with satisfaction as the Gurkhas cleaned their rifles, after tending to the horses without needing to be told.

It was cold up on the hill that night once the sun had gone down and the inky black night shone with a thousand stars, as the night sounds of the veld echoed around them.

Wrapped up in his blanket, David heard the guard changing as he drifted off to sleep.

He was sipping his coffee the next morning when Rham reported the lookouts had seen several figures standing on the rim of the gorge.

“So the boats must still be in the gorge, David mused. “They will be anxious to prevent a reoccurrence of yesterday Rham. We will wait to see what N’debi has to say when he returns tomorrow.”

As their rations were running low he gave permission for two of the Gurkhas to hunt for an antelope, but warned them to head well out into the veld for at least a few miles, so that their gunshots would not alarm the slavers.

N’debi returned that night, appearing like a thief into the firelight. One of the Gurkhas passed him some meat from the roasting antelope as he crouched before the fire warming himself first before talking.

“Bwana, the slavers are working on a canoe below the fast water; they have it on its side and are working on the wood of it. The two canoes above the fast water are being loaded with things. I think the slavers are going to use these canoes to go on upriver.”

David thanked N’debi, then sat and thought of what he had said.

Did the slavers intend to split up, the two dhows continuing upriver, leaving the other two behind, if so, then they would have to divide their force.

He called N’debi over to him, “N’debi where would the slavers go upriver, do you know?”

“Bwana, it is said that a village two days travel upriver gives the slavers elephant tusks to leave their people alone.”

David considered what N’debi had told him. The slavers must know that only a small force had attacked them. Did they think that the force had left to get reinforcements, if so, wouldn’t they try to get the ivory before retreating back to the sea?

He put forward his ideas to N’debi and Rham.

“It would make sense to try and have something to show for their efforts,” Rham murmured.

“Slavers are greedy Bwana, they would not wish to return empty handed,” N’debi growled.

“It will take at least three days for them to pole the boats upriver, if they decide to do that. Tomorrow we three will return to the gorge and see what they are doing.”

They left three hours before dawn on foot. By the time the sky in the east began to lighten they took up a position near the encampment.

It was still dark down in the gorge; only the hot coals from the fires could be vaguely seen.

As the sun climbed higher in the sky, David detected movement below. Someone threw wood onto the fires and they flared up with sparks casting some light on the scene.

He could see figures gathering around the fires as they prepared a meal.

Soon he could make out the colour of their clothes and that all of the figures carried a rifle.