Chapter 5

 

 

The next few days turned out much the same as the day before preparing for the safari. By Sunday they were pretty much ready to depart. The trucks were loaded and the porters lined up for the next days’ trip. Slim, Sean and Jasmine, with her friend were ready to leave at the crack of dawn. All was ready and the professor was excited to get going. Matt was signed on as an extra guide whose relationship with the Massai was good. They felt he was needed and the cost was minimal. The cover stories in place nothing to do but wait for the dawn to break.

All went smoothly the next morning. Clare was excited and she wouldn’t quit talking. She looked beautiful in her tan safari outfit and her hair was up and when the sun shined through it, golden rays of light could make even the toughest of guys wilt. The long line fed its way out of town and here and there were seen onlookers standing in their door way watching the procession. Among the on lookers were Red and Toby. Red told Toby to get the other two guys and the horses ready as they would leave town in a different direction towards Mombasa and then double back at noon to intersect the trail leading to the Massai.

They bounced along the trail headed west. The sun was at their backs and by ten am it was getting warm out. The porters were following close to the trucks and could be heard singing African songs. It was very peaceful and tranquil as they lumbered along the road. The road would take them to the small town where Sean and Slim left the fat landlady yelling obscenities at them. Sean would pay the lady and then they would pick up some help in the way of the one-eyed black man. They had found out through the grape vine that he was an excellent tracker and knew the territory very well. Plus the fact if he was smart enough to con the guys out of a half guinea, he was one of the few who could think on their feet. His size would be good to have around so not to be intimidated by the tall spear packing Massai.

Clare meanwhile enjoying the first hours of the safari, looked back at the long line of porters through the red dust from the trucks. Boxes of supplies balanced on their heads. She marveled at the wonderful sights. Grasslands of the Savannah’s were waving in the wind and sun shining through the grass gave off a variety of colors. Here and there you could see stunted trees providing a little shade and undoubtedly underneath lay some animals resting from the heat of the morning. Far ahead it looked like no end to the vast grasslands. She breathed in the clear fresh air and silently thanked god for providing her this experience.

Sean looked at her and she smiled at him and said, ‘Never before have I seen such beauty. I see now why you like it here. Tell me about why you like Africa,’ she said with an inviting smile as she held her gaze to his eyes.

‘Well, Slim and I came here from Australia after the war. Neither of us had much of any family left back home in Ireland. We heard first that gold was discovered in the Outback and we headed up there to see what our prospects would be. We hung around for more than a year working our butts off, but mostly going hungry. Some stories floated down from Africa that there was some money to be made from safari guiding. From the army both Slim and I could shoot well and we thought we would take a chance and have a look at the situation. We scraped together enough money to hop a ship and exchanged our room and board working for the trip to Mombasa.’

‘From Mombasa we learned that Nairobi was the place for guiding rich folks to shoot the big game. It was all very strange for us as we'd never seen a lion or elephant before. Lucky for us, Matt here took us under his wing, and, as he had so many clients, he gave us a small booking for a month’s safari with a Duke from England. He, the Duke was a pompous ass but he paid well. We quickly learned the ropes and sucked up to the Duke and his entourage and it proved a successful trip.

The key to a good hunting safari is having a black guide who can find the game. Then you take the client out in the truck and let him bag the animal to hang on his wall in the castle. Can’t you just see the picture now, the Duke standing in his billiard room with a smoking jacket on, a big cigar, and telling his friends how is personally tracked the lion down and when the lion attacked, he shot it through the heart.’ Sean and Clare both broke up laughing and it was soon evident that something passed between them.

Just before lunch time they came upon a group of taller trees that afforded some shade and they set up for a rest and lunch. Clare noticed that a lot of scat was about but soon she ignored it and continued to walk around stretching her legs. The kitchen crew was busy setting up a table and soon camp chairs were sitting about comfortably in the shade. The professor was in deep conversation with the Massai man and asked Clare to join them. The conversation surrounded the sending out a scout to make sure the Massai knew they were coming. Clare asked them to wait a minute and she called Sean over to ask him his advice.

Sean walked over; wiping his head with a red handkerchief he always had tied around his neck. Clare told him about what her father wanted to do and Sean replied, ‘There's plenty of time for that later.’ He went on to tell her, ‘But, I will check with Matt and see what he thinks. My thinking is they're east by northeast and about one hundred fifty miles from here. Just a minute and I will talk to him and be right back.’

Sean found Matt talking to a head porter about the afternoon trek and turned to Sean when he walked up to him. Matt listened to the story and agreed with Sean that most likely the Massai was where he suggested. However, as it was the rainy season, by the time they found them they would have moved back north and west to the mountains for a rest after grazing their cattle for the last few months.

Sean went back and took a seat with Clare and her father. He related the Matt story and the black Massai agreed with them that the tribe of nomads at that time would be having a religious festival and counting their cattle showing off who is the wealthiest of the tribe. Sean went on to tell them after they stopped at the little town then that would be the time to send out a scout to locate the Massai. The professor nodded and Clare thought that was a good plan.

Jasmine told them lunch was ready and they moved to the table where lunch was served. Lunch was fried impala. Very tasty sliced thinly and had a smoked flavor. Boiled corn and bread rounded out the lunch. Fruit was offered, but few of them ate the fresh bananas. Clare put two in her pocket one for her and father later in the afternoon. Clare and her father drank greedily from a water sack still cool from the morning filling.

Soon all was packed up and the safari continued west following the sun. It was very hot now as there was no shade from the relentless sun overhead. Porters could be seen after an hour walking with glistening bodies wet from sweat. They were still singing and had only taken a short rest after lunch. The first day is usually a short one as most guides wanted to keep the porters happy. Once they were a long ways from home, longer days would be the rule. For now, a slow pace was set and Clare shaded her eyes from the sun and enjoyed the wide open spaces of the African savannah.

Late afternoon found them setting up camp at a local watering hole. Plenty of water around during the wet monsoon season and only later during the dry season would water become scarce. Clare drank in the afternoon hot dry air as it softly blew through her hair. She wanted a bath from the dusty ride, but didn’t know how to do that. She went to find Jasmine and ask her how to wash the red dust from her body. Jasmine was barking orders at her kitchen people preparing for dinner. A hot fire was going and over it a small animal that Clare didn’t recognize was turning over and over by a small black girl. She looked up at Clare and a big smile showing white teeth looked back at her. Clare wondered who her mother or father was, but then turned her attention back to the wash her body problem.

She told Jasmine her problem and Jasmine laughed and told her she would take care of it in a few minutes if she could wait awhile. Clare said, ‘Sure can, I’ll wait for you over by my father who is calling me now.’

A few minutes later Jasmine with three young girls in tow came and fetched Jasmine and told her to follow them over behind the truck parked next to the kitchen. The girls were giggling and having some conversation unknown to Clare. Walking behind the truck the three girls picked up a blanket each. Jasmine told Clare to strip down and the girls would surround her with the blankets while some other staff would bring some warm water heated from the fire. Clare was not so sure of privacy, but she was game because no choice, she was in the African bush on safari. Clare started to strip down and the girls, again giggling even harder now, surrounded her with the blankets. Jasmine being the tallest took a bucket of water when Clare was ready and poured it over her head. Clare took the soap and washed her hair and body and in no time she was drying with a towel. Naturally the young girls took a peek to see if her belly hair was the same as her top hair. They all laughed and started jabbering to each other when they discovered she was blond all over her body.

Clare laughed with them knowing full well what they were looking at as she got dressed again in clean underwear and safari dress. She took out a few coins and gave them to the girls. The girls said thank you in English and ran away giggling. Jasmine told her she was a hit and that from now on she only had to tell the girl’s bath time and they would take care of her. Clare thanked her and left refreshed only to find her father looking troubled about something. He was sitting alone and his head was down on his chest. His hands were clasped and his thumbs were going around in circles. She knew he was troubled when he did the thumb thing.

She sat down next to him in a camp chair and put her hand on his saying to him with a troubled voice, but firm, ‘Father tells me what you’re thinking. Something is bothering you and what is it.’ He let a long breath of air out of his lungs and said with a whisper, ‘Clare darling, we may have been had by the guides. It has come to my attention that they might be looking for precious stones sought to be located in the Massai territory. The word ruby was overheard in a conversation by a black waiter at a café and our Massai friend paid a few shillings for the information. Now, I am in a quandary as what to do about our false guides if indeed they are not true to their trade. I want to believe they are taking us there in good faith, but now I’m not so sure. Our Massai friend tells me there are legends about the white rocks and other precious stones, but he assures me that no one has proved or disproved the legend. He says not to fear or worry about that and to proceed as if nothing has changed.’

Clare sat there for awhile deep in thought and said to her father with a firm but cheerful voice, ‘Father don’t worry, I think we chose the right people for the job and I have full confidence in Sean and Slim. I’m not so sure of Matt, but he has been in Africa for almost his full life. Let’s not let those rumors spoil our research and let’s forget all about the finding of a lost treasure.’

He patted her leg and told her she was right and when she looked over he was walking to his tent for a little rest before dinner. She sat there for awhile and Sean noticed her alone so he sat down and asked her how she was doing on her first night in camp. She gave him a big smile and said she was looking forward to her first night sleeping out in the wild of an African night.

The mosquitoes were starting to come out and he suggested they move the chairs near the cook fire so the smoke would drive away the little blood suckers. Keep your sleeves rolled down and make sure the mosquitoes net is secure for sleeping bug free. He also told her that many sounds of the African night would be heard until dawn. Lots of predators roamed the plains at night looking for food. Lions are especially noisy and curious. We have guards posted and fires burning all night to keep away the cats.

Clare had a concerned look on her face and said, ‘Sean are we safe here? I worry about my father as he often wakes up and wanders around thinking to himself.’

‘I’ll watch out for him and Slim and Matt will spell me off throughout the night,’ he said with a serious voice to reassure her of her father’s safety.

After dinner they sat around the fire awhile and at another fire, the porters sat around singing and telling stories from what Jasmine said of their talking. Soon the professor and daughter went to bed. Sean took up his post outside the tent and in the morning, Slim was sitting there with a rifle over his knees and a good morning smile on his face. Clare felt safe and thanked him and the rest of the guys for their protection. She was still full from a big dinner the night before and only ate some fruit and coffee for breakfast along with some bread. She noticed that the safari was running smoothly and thought to her that Sean, Slim and Jasmine were quite competent.

She forgot all about the hunt for gems and that was not the case some distance away unseen or heard by the Massai safari. Red and gang were just getting up from sleeping on the hard ground as the other safari broke camp. Red stretched and kicked Toby in the butt to wake him up. Toby grunted and whined to Red to take it easy on him. Red laughed and the other two gang members were already packed up and eating some hard tact and drinking coffee.

Toby struggled to get up and wondered away to relieve himself. He did his duty and hurried back to camp hitching up his britches. Toby wolfed down some coffee and bread from his pack and Red and one other guy had to help him up onto his horse. Toby’s horse was a big bay mare almost two hands higher than the other horses. Each rider had a pack horse they were leading.

Red led off with the others in tow and it was heard from the other two nameless gang members saying, ‘What the hell was Red doing with the fat guy who couldn’t even get on his horse.’ Toby’s ears were burning and he vowed to get even with the two rude ugly guys someday. Reds best guess was they were keeping a half days ride behind and to the south so the sun would shield them if one was looking for dust or riders there.

A week later the safari arrived in Slim and Sean's old town. Slim hurried to the hotel and found the land lady with a skillet in her hand ready to beat the shit out of Slim until she saw money in his hand. Then a big three toothy smile broke across her weather beaten face with fat wrinkles so deep a nest of cockroaches could live in them for weeks on end. The worst part for Slim was she tried to hug him and he could smell rancid kitchen fat ten feet away. He mumbled his apologizes and said he had some guests for the night. Paid in advance he quickly told her.

A moment later Clare and the professor walked in and Slim told them two rooms were waiting and a hot bath for both if so desired. Clare with a sigh of relief took the keys from the fat lady and both of them walked up the stairs looking for a good night's sleep in a bed, even if the bed was swayed back and fallen down with lumps the size of grapefruits poking your back all night long.

Meanwhile Slim, Sean and Matt headed for the tavern and a warm beer. They were looking for the one legged guy and the best place to find the whereabouts of him was there. Two beers later and money spread around the place, the huge black man walked up to the door and announced his arrival with a loud thump against the top of the door frame. No patch or crutch was evident and he had a big toothless smile the same as before on his face. Sean excused himself and went to the door and outside to talk to the big black guy whose name he found out was Chicken Charlie.

It was known hereabouts he got the handle as a kid stealing chickens from the village people. Even as a kid he was big and nobody would challenge him because he was so strong and they felt he would do something terrible to them if reported. Besides he only took a few when his family was hungry and mostly on a Saturday night for a Sunday dinner the next day.

Sean came back in and had another beer and reported that ‘Chicken Charlie’ was now part of the team. He would be ready in the morning and was bringing his oldest son with him for the same price. They all laughed and had another beer.