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her temples. - the first week in September the morula trees down by your
pools will come into fruit, and my elephants are going to visit you. The
one thing they just can't resist is morula berries, and they are going
to flatten my fence to get at them. Before I can repair it a lot of
other game are going to follow the jumbo over to your side.
You can lay any type of odds you like that our friend Akkers is oiling
his guns and drooling at the mouth right this minute. He will know
within an hour when the fence goes. 'This time he may get a surprise.
'Let's hope so. I think- David said softly - that we might run down to
Bandolier Hill tomorrow to have a look at this gentleman. 'One thing is
for sure, said Jane Berg indistinctly, a gentleman, he is not.
The road down to Bandolier Hill was heavily corrugated and thick with
white dust that rose in a ba
air long after they had passed. The hill was rounded and thickly
timbered and stood over the main metalled highway.
The trading post was four or five hundred yards from the road junction,
set back amidst a grove of mango trees with their deep green and
glistening foliage. It was a type found all over Africa, an unlovely
building of mud brick with a naked corrugated iron roof, the walls
plastered thickly with posters advertising goods from tea t o flashlight
batteries.
David parked the Land-Rover in the dusty yard beneath the raised stoop.
There was a faded sign above the front steps:
Bandolier Hill General Dealers.
At the side of the building was parked an old green Ford one-ton truck
with local licence plates. In the shade of the stoop squatted a dozen
or so potential customers, African women from the tribal area, dressed
in long cotton print dresses, timeless in their patience and their
expressions showing no curiosity about the occupants of the Land-Rover.
One of the women was suckling her infant with an enormously elongated
breast that allowed the child to stand beside her and watch the
newcomers without removing the puckered black nipple from his mouth.
Set in the centre of the yard was a thick straight pole, fifteen feet
tall, and on top of the pole was a wooden structure like a dog ke
David exclaimed as from the ke
descended the pole in one swift falling action, seemingly at lightly as
a bird, and the chain that was fastened to the pole at one end was, at
the other, buckled about the animal's waist by a thick leather strap.
It's one of the biggest old bull baboons I've ever seen. Quickly he
described it to Debra, as the baboon moved out to the chain's limit, and
knuckled the ground as he made a leisurely circle about his pole, the
chain clinking as it swung behind him. It was an arrogant display, and
he ruffled out the thick mane of hair upon his shoulders.
When he had completed the circle, he sat down facing the Land-Rover, in
a repellently humanoid attitude, and thrust out his lower jaw as he
regarded them through the small brown, close-set eyes.
A nasty beast, David told Debra. He would weigh ninety pounds, with a
long dog-like muzzle and a jaw full of yellow fangs. After the hyena,
he was the most hated animal of the veld, cu
all the vices of man and none of his graces. His stare was unblinking
and, every few seconds, he ducked his head in a quick aggressive
gesture.
While all David's attention was on the baboon, a man had come out of the
store and now leaned on one of the pillars of the veranda.
What can I do for you, Mr. Morgan? he asked in a thick accent. He was
tall and spare, dressed in slightly rumpled and not entirely clean khaki
slacks and ope
hooked into his pants, crossing his shoulders.
How did you know my name? David looked up at him, and saw he was of
middle age with close-cropped greying hair over a domed skull. His
teeth were badly fitting with bright pink plastic gums and his skin was
drawn over the bones of the cheeks, and his deep-set eyes gave him a
skull-like look. He gri
Could only be you, scarred face and blind wife, you the new owner of
Jabulani. Heard you built a new house and all set to live there now.
The man's hands were huge, out of proportion to the rest of his rangy
body, they were clearly very powerful and the lean muscles of his
forearms were as tough as rope.
He slouched easily against the pillar and took from his pocket a clasp
knife and a stick of black wind-dried meat, the jerky of North America,
boucan of the Caribbean, or the biltong of Africa, and he cut a slice as
though it were a plug of tobacco, popping it into his mouth.
Like I asked, what can we do for you? he chewed noisily, his teeth
squelching at each bite.
I need nails and paint David climbed out of the Land-Rover.
Heard you did all your buying in Nelspruit Akkers looked him over with a
calculated insolence, studying David's ruined face with attention. David
saw that his deep-set eyes were a muddy green in colour.
I thought there was a law against caging or chaining wild animals.
Akkers had roused David's resentment almost immediately, and the needle
showed in his tone.
Akkers began to grin again easily, still chewing. You a lawyer, are
you? 'Just asking. 'I got a permit, you want to see it? David shook
his head, and turned to speak to Debra in Hebrew. Quickly he described
the man.
I think he can guess why we are here, and he's looking for trouble.
'I'll stay by the car, said Debra. Good. David climbed the steps to
the veranda.
What about the nails and paint? he asked Akkers.
Go on in, he was still gri
counter. He will look after you. David hesitated and then walked on
into the building.
it smelled of carbolic soap and kerosene and maize meal.
The shelves were loaded with cheap groceries, patent medicines, blankets
and bolts of printed cotton cloth.
From the roof hung bunches of army surplus boots and greatcoats,
axe-beads and storm lanterns. The floor was stacked with tin trunks,
pick handles, bins of flour and maize meal and the hundreds of other
items that traditionally make up the stock of the country dealer.
David found the African assistant and began his purchase.
outside in the sunlight Debra climbed from the Land Rover and leaned
lightly against the door. The labrador scrambled down after her and
began sniffing the concrete pillars of the veranda with interest where
other dogs before him had spurted jets of yellow urine against the
white-washed plaster.
Nice dog, said Akkers.
Thank you. Debra nodded politely.
Akkers glanced quickly across at his pet baboon, and his expression was
suddenly cu
animal. The baboon ducked its head again in that nervous gesture, then
it rose from its haunches and drifted back to the pole. With a leap and
bound it shot up the pole and disappeared into the opening of its
ke
Akkers gri
You like it out at Jabulani? he asked Debra, and at the same time he
offered the scrap of dried meat to the dog.
We are very happy there, Debra replied stiffly, not wanting to be drawn.
Zulu sniffed the proffered titbit, and his tail beat like a metronome.