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Since then Fly
There had been a raid on the Songea railway siding where Fly
There had been another brilliant success when they had ambushed and wiped out a band of thirty Askari at a river crossing. Fly
Apart from cutting every telegraph line, and blowing up the railway tracks they came across, three other raids had met with mixed results. Twice they had captured supply columns of bearers carrying in provisions to the massing German forces. Each time they had been forced to run as German reinforcements came up to drive them off. The third effort had been an abject failure, the ignominy of it being compounded by the fact that they had almost had the person of Commissioner Fleischer in their grasp.
Carried on the swift feet of the ru
There they had gone aboard the steam launch and disappeared into the fastness of the Rufiji delta on a mysterious errand.
What goes up must come down," Fly
They wanted the life of Herman Fleischer in part payment for that of Maria Oldsmith.
They set out for the Ruhaha river. As happened so often these days, Rosa marched at the head of the column. There was only the long braid of dark hair hanging down her back to show she was a woman, for she was dressed in bush jacket and long khaki cotton trousers that concealed the feminine fullness of her hips. She stepped out long-legged, and from her shoulder the loaded Mauser hung on its strap and bumped lightly against her flank at each pace.
The change in her was so startling as to leave Sebastian bewildered. The new hard line of her mouth, her eyes that gave off the dark hot glow of a fanatic, the voice that had lost the underlying ripple of lighter. She spoke seldom, but when she did, both Fly
They reached the landing-place and the jetty on the Ruhaha river and waited for the launch to return. It came three days later, heralding its approach by the soft chugging of its engine. When it came round the river bend, pushing briskly against the current, headed for the wooden jetty, they were lying in wait for it.
"There he is!" Sebastian's voice was thick with emotion as he recognized the plump grey-clad figure in the bows.
"The swine, oh, the bloody swine!" and he jerked the bolt of his rifle open then snapped it shut.
"Wait!" Rosa's hand closed on his wrist before he could lift the butt to his shoulder.
"I can get him from he reP protested Sebastian.
"No. I want him to see us. I want to tell him first. I want him to know why he must die." The launch swung in broadside to the current, losing its way, until it came in gently to nudge the jetty. Two of the Askari jumped ashore, laying back on the lines to hold her while the Commissioner disembarked.
Fleischer stood on the jetty for a minute, looking back down the river. This action should have warned Fly
"Tell your men to drop their weapons into the river," said Fly
Herman Fleischer froze in mid-stride, but his belly quivered and his head turned slowly towards Fly
"Tell them quickly, or I will shoot you through the stomach," said Fly
Movement in the corner of his eye made Fleischer swing his head, and he was face to face with Rosa Oldsmith.
Beyond her in a half circle stood Sebastian and a dozen armed Africans, but some instinct warned Fleischer that the woman was the danger. There was a merciless quality about her, some undefinable air of deadly purpose. It was to her he addressed his question.
"What do you want?" His voice was husky with apprehension.
"What did he say?" Rosa asked her father.
"He wants to know what you want."
"Ask him if he remembers me." As he heard the question, Fleischer remembered her in her nightdress, kneeling in the fire-light, and with the memory came real fear.
"It was a mistake," he whispered. "The child! I did not order it."
"Tell him..." said Rosa, "tell him that I am going to kill him." And her hands moved deliberately on the Mauser, slipping the safety-catch across, but her eyes never left his face.