‘Darling!’ gasped Dawn Gunn, nee Drummond-Clayton, resting her back against the pillows of her nuptial bed and staring in delight at the well-laid tray of food her husband of only a few hours was placing on her lap. ‘This is wonderful. Oh thank you!’
‘Don’t mention it,’ Bunduki replied, sitting alongside the girl who was now his wife. Wondering if he had ever seen her looking so radiantly beautiful, he grinned and went on, ‘Just remember, this’s how I want it brought to me every morning from now on.’
All through the days preceding that on which their marriage ceremony had taken place, in addition to the various preparations for the event, the girl and the blond giant had had much to keep them occupied.
One of the main problems that had demanded Dawn’s and Bunduki’s attention had been to continue the training of the quaggas. However, as soon as Isabel and Shambulia had come to accept being saddled and ridden—which had been attained after only one more spell of abortive resistance apiece—the progress had been rapid. While there was much for them still to learn, both would answer to their names and come in response to their respective owner’s whistle. So successful had this aspect proved that the Earth couple had already started to teach the animals to obey certain Australopithecus9 signal calls as an aid to communication over even longer distances. Noticing how little fear was shown by their mounts to sounds which usually induced panic among gatahs, Dawn and Bunduki had been even more sure that they were gifts from the ‘Suppliers’.
During the evenings, when time had permitted, Bunduki had set about instructing the Jey-Mat Telonga hunters in armed and bare-handed self defense. As in the case of the quaggas, he had wondered how much of the rapidity with which At-Vee was attaining competence was due to mental conditioning by the “Suppliers’. Keen and intelligent as the Hunter undoubtedly was, the way in which his ability with weapons and unarmed combat improved was exceptional. None of the others could keep pace with him in either accomplishment. Nor did they approach the skill displayed by Joar-Fane and At-Vee in all matters pertaining to the care and riding of the captured gatahs. There was, the Earth couple had realized, much still to be done before they had established a reliable fighting force. They had also felt that they had no cause to be ashamed of what had already been achieved along those lines.
While riding their quaggas in the jungle, Dawn and Bunduki had renewed their acquaintance with a band of forest elephants they had befriended and which had later proved of the greatest service to them. lix What was more, ranging further than would have been possible on foot, they had discovered that—as they had been promised by the ‘Supplier’ they had met-they apparently possessed a similar empathy with all members of the subspecies Loxodonta Africana Cyclotis. lx They had had no difficulty in establishing equally cordial relations with two other bands they had met in their travels.
With the willing agreement of Tav-Han and other members of Dawn’s Telonga ‘family’, granted out of consideration for all he was striving to do on behalf of their people, Bunduki had been relieved of much of a task that would otherwise have fallen upon him. They had taken it upon themselves to carry out most of the work, including the production of the majority of the food, required to make a resounding success of the premarital feasting and dancing demanded by convention. It said much for their efforts that everybody who attended had claimed the festivities had never been bettered.
However, to establish his position as a leading member of the hunting fraternity, there was one thing that the blond giant could not leave to others. So on three occasions he had gone into the jungle alone at night. Armed with his bow and a selection of the specialized hunting points—which he had found at the tree-house and surmised were presented by the ‘Suppliers’ in response to his almost subconscious wishes—to supplement the utilitarian Razorheads on the first and third expeditions, he had restricted himself to the m’kuki and shield for the second. His yield for archery had been a large bull gaur and a five hundred pound giant forest hog. Combined with very careful stalking, his skill at throwing the Masai spear had brought him an exceptionally fine male bongo.
When the heads and hides of Bunduki’s trophies had been exhibited at the Telongas’ equivalent of his bachelor party on the night before the wedding, which had been attended by hunters from several other villages and four young men who had made the journey from Wurka by boat, all had been the source of admiration and acclaim. The means by which he had acquired them had increased his prestige enormously.
No other herbivorous animals in the jungle, not even the forest elephants, were so highly regarded and respected by the Telonga hunters as the gaur or the—to be strictly accurate—omnivorous giant forest hog. Both had characteristics which made it a most dangerous adversary. Each was tough, aggressive and hard to stop when launching an attack, particularly when opposed by the primitive weapons owned by the human beings.
Largest of all the Asiatic wild cattle, Bos (Bibos) Gaurus was, on Zillikian, matched in size only by the great Cape buffalo, and the plains-dwelling habits of Cyncerus Caffer lxi precluded the Telonga hunters from making its acquaintance. Knowing both species, Bunduki was in full agreement with those sportsmen on Earth who had claimed the gaur was the equal to the Cape buffalo on all the points by which they set their standards.
Most massive of all the Suidae, wild pigs, and possessing its full measure of that genus’s courageously pugnacious tendencies when roused, the giant forest hog was a creature that was not generally sought after by the Telonga hunters. While they had a liking for its meat, they preferred to give the sub-species Hijlochoerus Meiner-zhageni a wide berth in its jungle habitat and go after the smaller, less dangerous red river hog.
The bongo was not regarded as being particularly dangerous, although it could be on certain occasions and in some conditions. Yet it too was held in high esteem. As on Earth, the hunting fraternity were aware that no animal was more wary, alert and adequately protected by its senses than the species Boocercus Euryceros. Those qualities had made its flesh highly prized. That the blond giant should have taken his specimen with the comparatively short ranged m’kuki and, instead of waiting in ambush near a watering place for the prey to come to him, had adopted the vastly more difficult task of going in search of it, had added to the credit he was given for his success.
Such had been the high regard for all Bunduki had achieved since he had come among them, which each man had admitted he could not have himself performed, that before the party had broken up, they had conferred upon him the greatest honor and title their fraternity could bestow. In future, Tav-Han had announced—and the information was relayed across the entire Telonga nation by the ‘talking drums’-the blond giant was to be known as the Dapan-Dankara.
Translated into English, the words meant, ‘Fearless Master of the Jungle’.
During the evening, Bunduki had had an opportunity to meet the men from Wurka. They had proved to be a vastly more likeable group than the Senior Elder, Tik-Felum, and his coterie. Free from the quintet’s supervision and the presence of toadies who would have informed upon them, they had not hesitated to discuss their village’s affairs.
Despite Tik-Felum and his companions’ attempts to prevent it, the story of their defeat had passed around the population. It had given added strength to such of them, the four visitors in particular, who were resentful of working hard to support those who were too idle to do so. However, although desirous of bringing about a change in policy, they had not yet been able to raise sufficient support from their neighbors. No hints or suggestions had been passed on either side, but Bunduki had sensed that the men from Wurka might want to solicit his assistance in the not too distant future.
Thanks to the organizing abilities of Tav-Han, his wife, Joar-Fane and At-Vee, the Earth couple’s wedding day had passed most enjoyably and without a hitch. Thinking of how close they had grown recently, Bunduki and Dawn were relieved when they were finally united in matrimony. Both had felt sure that, in the absence of a minister ordained in a Christian Church, their adoptive and, in the girl’s case, actual families would consider the union completely honorable, legal and binding.
So it had been with a clear conscience that the blond giant had carried his bride to the tree-house and, having made the ascent on the elevator with her in his arms (several hunters supplying the motive power) across the threshold. Left alone, they had entered the comfortable double bed to consummate the marriage.
Now, in the light of early morning, Bunduki had brought a meal which Joar-Fane had prepared earlier for them. Much as he loved the beautiful girl before him, he had been unable to resist pulling a hoary old joke on her.
‘And that’s not how you’re going to get it every morning from now on!’ Dawn stated, with her eyes sparkling. ‘Hurry up and eat, then go out and do some work—or something.’
‘Something? Bunduki hinted.
‘Something’ Dawn replied, her expression showing what she was really meaning.
I’m damned if I feel like going out to work now I’ve eaten,’ the blond giant declared, after they had finished the meal and he was setting the tray on the floor.
‘Then it looks like—something,’ Dawn answered, tossing back the sheet which was her only covering.
‘Something it is,’ Bunduki said firmly and climbed back into bed.
‘Darling,’ Dawn breathed, as she and her husband lay relaxed in each other’s arms about an hour later. ‘You really don’t mind if I continue to use the contraceptive tablets now we’re married, do you?”
‘Of course not, dear,’ the blond giant assured her.
‘It isn’t that I don’t want your children, or that I feel they would be illegitimate,’ Dawn went on, repeating a point they had discussed at length on the day preceding their wedding. When she and Bunduki had felt a growing need for each other’s love, Joar-Fane had presented her with the means to avoid offending their host nation’s conventions. lxii ‘But there’s still so much work to be done. And for some time yet, it will need both of us. What’s more, I want to make sure everything is comparatively peaceful, or at least until you have some support you can count on, before I start bringing children into the world.’
‘You won’t get any arguments from me about that,’ Bunduki promised, agreeing whole-heartedly with every word his wife had said. Until he could rely upon the other Telonga hunters as well as At-Vee, he might need the kind of assistance she would be unable to render if pregnant or with children demanding her attention. ‘Now, what about it, my girl. Shall we get up or— something?’
‘I can’t see the slightest thing against doing—something’ Dawn breathed and gave herself freely to her husband.
~*~
‘Hey there, brother,’ At-Vee greeted, strolling up shortly after lunch and grinning broadly as he watched Bunduki reaching for Shambulia’s double-girthed saddle. ‘Can you manage to lift that all by yourself?’
‘Why shouldn’t I be able to?’ the blond giant inquired, with assumed innocence.
‘I thought everybody knew it’s weakening unless it’s had in moderation,’ the Hunter explained, glancing to where Dawn and his wife were descending from the tree-house. ‘But I’ve never heard of a newly married man remembering—until it was too late.’
‘From what I remember, that’s the voice of experience speaking,’ Bunduki commented, lifting the heavy rig with no more than his usual expenditure of effort. ‘You’re the one we had to carry out of bed three days after your wedding.’
‘That was then’ At-Vee countered, ignoring the fact that there had been more desperate and serious matters demanding all their attentions at the time his companion had mentioned. ‘Now I’ve been married to Joar-Fane for this long, it’s a very different matter. When I ask her to come to bed with me these days and she says, ‘No’, I’m grateful to her for being so considerate.’
‘They’re telling rude stories, sister,’ Joar-Fane guessed, studying the two men as she and the new Mrs. Gunn were walking towards the lean-to by the corral in which the saddles could be left hanging over a wooden “burro” shaped like an upturned roof. lxiii
‘Disgusting, isn’t it, dear?’ the Earth girl replied, her beautiful face alive with merriment and deep content.
‘It is,’ Joar-Fane agreed, exuding an air of pompous disapproval which Dawn had come to know was entirely false and which never failed to amuse her. ‘Did I ever tell you about the last time I tried to give that lazy lump of mine a pleasant surprise?’
‘No,’ Dawn admitted, contriving to sound resigned. ‘But I’ve a terrible feeling that you’re going to.’
‘I bathed, anointed myself all over with the sweetest smelling perfume I could make, then put on my most fetching bed gown,’ the little Telonga girl continued, as if she had either failed to hear the other’s last remark, or considered that it implied a desire to hear the story. However, having reached that point, she paused for a moment and darted a conspiratory glance at her companion, going on, ‘And you know just how fetching one of them can be, don’t you, sister?’
‘I really can’t imagine what you mean,’ Dawn declared, modeling her manner upon that of a games-mistress at Roedean whose proclaimed belief that “it” was bad for one’s hockey caused her to express a similar lack of knowledge. ‘We “Earths” don’t do such things.’
‘Then where do all the little “Earths” come from?’ Joar-Fane countered, thinking of certain significant sounds she had heard that morning on arriving to make breakfast and which had suggested her “sister” was not speaking the truth. ‘Anyway, there I was, all ready and, even if I say it who should, I’ve never looked more seductive. So I went into the bedroom and said, “Darling, it’s your wife.”—’
‘Not that I’m interested,’ Dawn said, with well simulated boredom, as the other girl paused for dramatic effect. ‘But what did At-Vee do?’
‘Jumped out of bed shouting, “Then hide me!”‘ Joar-Fane replied.
‘Who says the Telongas don’t have a sense of humor?’ Dawn sighed, although she had found the story as amusing as it was intended to be even while she knew it to be untrue. ‘I mean, apart from everybody.’ Then, as they were now close to the two men, she went on with a smile, ‘Good morning, At-Vee.’
‘It was when I got up,’ the Hunter responded.
‘Which was a long time after I—!’ Joar-Fane put in.
As in her husband’s case, the Telonga girl was prevented from completing her statement. However, the reason was more serious than her light-hearted interruption. She noticed that Bunduki and At-Vee were not listening to her, but felt no pique as she was aware of what had caused the distraction. Barely audible, the rhythmic rumble of a drum came from far to the north. A few seconds later, although still at a considerable distance, the cadenza was exactly duplicated from another source.
‘That’s from Rol-Mat,’ Joar-Fane estimated, mentioning the only other Telonga village to have received a visit from a member of the “Earth’s” nation so far. ‘But I can’t make out what they’re saying. Can you, dear?’
‘I might if somebody would stop shouting in my ear,’ At-Vee answered, but the timbre of his voice and the affectionate way in which he laid a big hand on and ruffled his wife’s hair robbed the words of any sting.
‘I never had this kind of trouble before he started going around with that lazy lump of yours, sister,’ Joar-Fane told Dawn in mock exasperation, knowing that it had not been her speaking which had prevented her husband from reading the message that was relayed by the drummer in Rol-Mat.
Although every person on Zillikian could understand the general word-sounds sent on their respective nation’s ‘talking drums’—Dawn and Bunduki had been conditioned by the ‘Suppliers’ to be able to ‘read’ those of every race—only the men and women who inherited the duty of beating the percussion instruments possessed the inborn keenness of ear to detect and duplicate exactly messages at great distances. Each race’s drummers could also transmit information of a confidential nature by means of secret codes known only to the initiates to their profession. However, it was distance and not secrecy which was preventing At-Vee and the other three from learning what was being passed on from elsewhere by Rol-Mat’s messenger.
The two couples were not kept in ignorance for long. Booming forth with great clarity, the ‘talking drum’ at Jey-Mat began to repeat the information. They found it to be of the greatest interest.
‘From Tik-Felum of Wurka to Bunduki,. Dapan-Dankara, at Jey-Mat. Our people have great need of your help, Fearless Master of the Jungle. Come as swiftly as possible.’