The man at Kambala (13 page)

It was gone four when they got back to Kambala that afternoon. Diane went straight to her room to get out of the dusty and creased garments in which she had spent the day, taking it for granted that she should have first turn in the shower. Jill sank to a seat on the veranda and grimaced good-naturedly at her brother.

`It's a grand life if you don't weaken! I'm not at all sure that I wouldn't rather see my wild life behind bars after all. At least it doesn't take as long.'

`You're only moaning because I dragged you away from your new friend at the Lodge,' he came back. `That was quite a line he was giving you when I came over.'

She giggled. 'Your French must be better than mine. I only understood about a quarter of what he was saying.'

`You didn't need any particular grasp of the language to get the message he was putting across. I got the distinct impression that I was anything but a welcome sight. Do you usually go around letting yourself be picked up that way?'

`Certainly not,' she came back demurely. 'Only when I know big brother is standing by ready to rescue me from a fate worse than death. Anyway, Henri was due to leave in the morning. I did understand that much. It's rather a quick turn-over they have in these parts, isn't it?'

`Fairly.' He was smiling 'Fancying your chances with the next batch?'

`It all depends. How about it, Sara? Two would be safer than one. We could become the Belles of the Backwoods with little or no effort.'

Blue eyes met cool grey ones briefly. 'Sara isn't interested in boys,' said Steve.

`I'm not interested in boys either. Nothing under twenty-three, thanks !'

`What's your upper limit?' asked Don lazily, and Jill gave him a swift glance, her expression undergoing a slight, indecipherable change.

`I haven't thought about it. Should I have one?' `Just to keep the record straight.'

Ted came up the steps from the compound to join them. 'Hi,' he said. 'Had a good day?'

`Reasonable,' answered Steve. 'Anything happened round here?'

`One of the boys got himself gored in the leg by a warthog. Nothing we can't handle right here. Apart from that it's been pretty quiet.' He made to move into the house to fix himself a drink, paused in the doorway and added, 'Nearly forgot the most important thing. Mgari sent a messenger across inviting all of us to a ngoma tonight.'

Sara looked up quickly. 'In aid of what?'

`He didn't say. There doesn't have to be any particular reason for a celebration. You know that. It might even be in honour of our visitors here,' with a grin which encompassed both Jill and Don. 'We'll find out when we get there.'

Both of the latter were looking interested. 'A tribal dance?' asked Don. 'Do you think I might get some shots of it?'

`You'll have to ask permission first,' Steve replied. `These are very private affairs. It's a great honour to be invited at all.' His gaze rested on Sara. 'You know Mgari better than I do. How do you think he'll react to a camera?'

`It depends on what they're celebrating,' she answered steadily. 'I didn't realize you'd met Mgari.'

`I called in a week or so ago to introduce myself. He was most courteous, but rather more interested in the whereabouts
of the kidoga memsahib: There w
as a glint in the grey eyes. `You seem to have created quite an impression.'

Sara gave him a bland little smile. `He's a very discerning man — and he has a great regard for my father. This won't be the first ngoma I've been to, though it

could probably be the last. Kimani said that he thought they would be moving on before long.'

`He's probably right. They're having to take the herds farther out each day to find good pasturage.' Steve straightened away from the rail. 'A few things I want to see to before I report in.'

He dropped laconically down the steps and strode off, a tall lean figure in bush shirt and shorts, bareheaded in the slanting afternoon sun.

`What time will we be due at this jamboree?' queried Don into the sudden small silence.

`Oh, we'll probably wander along about nine after we've eaten — unless you fancy a feast of cow's blood and milk?'

`Ugh !' Jill wrinkled her nose in disgust. 'I hope you're joking.'

`Not at all. The Masai don't normally eat meat. Actually, it's not at all bad.'

The other's eyes widened. 'You mean you've tried it?

`Only once, when the tribe cam
e here. Dad said it was a simple act of courtesy.'

`Rather you than me.' A change came over the vivacious face. 'You don't think we'll be expected to sample the stuff too, do you?'

`Well .' Sara replied gravely... `if you're offered

some it would be considered most impolite to refuse.'

'Then I don't think I can go. I just couldn't!'

`She's teasing you,' said Don on a lazy note of

amusement.

`Are you?' Jill demanded, and Sara laughed.

`just a little. Mgari is well aware that the European
diet is quite different. I shouldn't worry too much. All you'll have to do is sit there and watch their dancing and look as if you're enjoying it.' She paused. 'Perhaps someone ought to warn Diane to wear trousers. We'll be sitting on the floor on mats, and there are almost sure to be ants around.'

Jill got up. `I'll go and tell her. She'll not want to be changing again after dinner.'

Ted was standing in the main doorway listening to the conversation with a grin on his lined features. He stood back to let Jill pass him, then slid into the seat she had vacated as though it had been too much trouble to walk the few steps to another.

`Talking of ants,' he said, 'did I ever tell you about that time we pitched camp right across the path of a column of soldiers?' He didn't bother to wait for Sara's reply. 'Two o'clock in the morning it was when they started coming through, and five near enough before they passed. Like a black tide, in at one tent flap and out at the other with me lying right there on the bed watching 'em and hoping like Jury that none of 'em took a notion to shin up the legs.'

`I thought soldier ants ate everything in their path?' Don commented dryly. 'I read a tale once where they stripped a sleeping man to a skeleton.'

`Must have been tied down or dead drunk,' was the prompt reply. 'You don't lie quiet with those fellers on you. Only thing to do is get your clothes off and head for the nearest water. Mind you, there's still the hippos, and crocs to think about.'

`It beats me how you ever came out of it all alive,' said Sara. 'Why don't you tell Don about the time you
wrestled a lion?

Ted grinned. 'I save that one for wide-eyed youngsters fresh out from town.' He caught the cushion she flung at him and tucked it comfortably behind his head. 'Before I forget, there's a letter for you from Dave. I put it in your room.'

`Why didn't you say !' She leaped to her feet, her smile bright. 'I never expected another so soon.'

Steve was coming in from the rear veranda as she went through to the corridor. His hair was damp and he had a towel in his hand. Sara steeled herself and ran a wide, admiring eye over his crisp slacks and shirt.

`Things to do, did you say? Stealing a march on the rest of us would be more like it. I'm sure Mgari will be flattered by so much preparation.'

His smile was sardonic. 'Nice to have you back to normal. I was getting quite worried.'

`Oh, you don't have to worry about me at any time.' Sara was amazed at her own lightness of tone. `I'm inoculated against practically everything.'

`I hope so,' he said on an odd note, and went into his own room closing the door firmly between them.

The letter had been written in Benston where her father was staying with the old friends he had spoken of. Everything was just as he had left it, he said with enthusiasm. The church, the cottages down by the river; even the swans were still there. Nothing at all had changed. He kept repeating that as if he could scarcely believe it. The people he was staying with were a brother and sister he had grown up with right there in Benston. Sara wouldn't remember them, of course, although she had met them several times as a child.

Molly had been married herself then,, but her husband had died six years ago and she had gone back to keep house for her brother who was a farmer. Always was self-sacrificing, he had written. A woman like that deserves more out of life than she's had so far. You'd like her, Sara.

Sara read and re-read that last paragraph, a faint frown touching her forehead. Dave should have got married again, Ted had said a few weeks back, and he was her father's closest friend. Was it possible that he recognized a need she hadn't seen herself? She and Dad had been so happy together this last three years, but a daughter was hardly the same as a wife in companionship. And this letter; the way he spoke of the woman he had known so well as a boy. If he did marry again what would she, Sara, do? She wouldn't be needed any more. There was an awful desolation in that thought.

The ngoma was already in full swing by the time they all arrived at the bonze. Mgari greeted them cordially, and seated them on the rush matting along with himself and the other elders of the village, Sara on one side and Steve on his other. The dancing was nonstop; as one section of the community tired so another would leap to their feet and take their places, sometimes the women, sometimes the men, occasionally all together. Their vitality was electric, eyes flashing, teeth gleaming, bodies performing endless variations of movement to the rhythm of the drums. On several occasions the dancers stooped and gathered up handfuls of earth which they then allowed to trickle back through their fingers in a sifting motion.

`What's it all about?' asked Don sotto voce from his seat at Sara's side when an hour had passed. 'And how the devil long does it go on for?'

`They're praying for fertility,' she replied in the same low tones. She caught his quick sideways look and grinned. 'Of the earth. Good grazing for their cattle for the coming season. It goes on for hours, but we don't have to stay much longer. The thing was to put in an appearance after being specially invited.'

`Then if I'm going to get some film I ought to get started. Can you ask the old boy about it?'

Sara hesitated a moment before turning reluctantly towards Mgari and putting her request, indicating Don and his camera with a gesture of her hand. There was a second or two when she thought he was going to refuse, then he consulted briefly with the others nearby and finally gave permission.

Don already had his camera set up for night filming, and shot against the glow from the fires, moving round the dancers for several minutes. He came back looking pleased with himself, but didn't forget to say an Asante to Mgari for the privilege.

They left not long afterwards after prolonged farewells had taken place at the gateway to the boma. As on the outward journey, Diane took it for granted that she should sit up front with Steve, leaving the rest of them to pile into the back. Squashed up against Don on one side seat with Jill and Ted opposite, Sara tried not to watch the two up front, or listen to the
light-hearted
, slightly dangerous conversation taking place between them. They were both of them adept at carrying on that kind of affair. Sara couldn't imagine Diane becoming flustered by anything Steve might say to her.

She was last out of the car when they reached the Station, loitering deliberately until Jill had gone on ahead into the house with Ted.

`I must make sure that Kiki is all right in that cage before I go in,' she announced. 'Coming to keep me company, Don?' She had the satisfaction of seeing Steve look round as she slid a hand through the former's arm. 'You never know, I might find myself in need of protection.'

`First time I've ever been called on to play that role,' grinned Don, readily accompanying her towards the pens. 'Why have you got the monkey in a cage?'

`Because it's the only way to keep him out of the house while your sister is here,' she replied a trifle shortly, removing the hand from his sleeve once they were out of sight of the veranda. 'He isn't used to being locked up.'

`Well, it won't be for much longer,' he rejoined equably. 'Di can't help being the way she is about the creatures.'

'I know.' Sara was sorry for her spiteful little outburst. 'And it won't really do him any harm for a few days. I was just being bitchy.'

Don laughed. 'And refreshingly honest about it! I've never met a girl quite like you before, Sara Macdonald.'

She gave him a mischievous sideways glance. 'Someone else said that to me not so long ago.'

`Another man?'

`Almost. A very nice boy, at any rate. He wanted me to visit him in the States.'

`And are you going to?'

`I might do some day. I might do all sorts of things some day.' Her tone altered a little. 'According to some people I've missed such a lot living in the jungle these last three years. Do you think I'm backward, Don?'

`I think you're a tantalizing little witch,' he said with deliberation. 'And you're not getting away with it.' He took her by the shoulders and turned her towards him, smiling down at her in the darkness. 'The monkey can wait a couple more minutes, can't it?'