CHAPTER

11

When I woke I found myself tied up with a rag over my mouth. “Uh-ugh.” I struggled and wiggled but couldn’t get loose. I did move enough to bump into someone. It had to be Foghorn. All I could see were the coals of a fire to one side of wherever we were. We must have been inside one of the huts. Because of the warm, moist smell of cow manure and earth I knew it wasn’t someplace else. It was still night, so I didn’t think we’d been there long.

Raising my knees, I pushed and shoved at the rag around my face with my rough jeans. It wasn’t very tight. It didn’t take me long to get it off. “Foghorn, are you here? Is that you?”

Foghorn made enough noise to let me know it was, but then there was a moaning sound on the other side of me. We weren’t alone in the hut. Who else could be there?

Foghorn thought of using the same method I had used to get the rag off his mouth. He coughed and spit and said, “I’m sorry, C.C. I got us in this mess. Are you all right?”

“I’m okay. I didn’t have to come with you. There’s someone on the other side of me.”

“Who is it?” Foghorn’s husky voice made it hard to whisper, but he tried.

“I don’t know, but I think he’s hurt. He’s moaning.” I wiggled some more and tugged at my hands. There was a little bit of play in the rope, probably my own jump rope. Smart, C.C. You gave them what they needed. Maybe this was enough to break my habit of wearing it everyplace I went.

“I’m going to scoot around so my back is to you, C.C. See if you can untie me or at least loosen these ropes.”

“Good idea.” I found I could move my fingers a lot. It would just take some time to untie Foghorn.

I fumbled until I found the knot with the rope ends. Pulling and tugging, I was able to unfasten the rough piece of rope that tied Foghorn’s hands. It was only a matter of minutes until he had his feet loose and then untied my hands.

Rubbing my wrists, which burned with the rope scrapes, I patted the ground around me. “They wouldn’t have left me my flashlight, I suppose.”

Foghorn stood and limped over to the dying fire. I could see his outline as my eyes adjusted to the dim light. Taking up a small stick, he held it in the coals. Then he blew on the end until the wood flared like a match. He cupped his hand around the flame and carried it back over to me and the person beside me. He held it close to the man’s face.

“It’s Michael Mugambi!” I pulled off the rag around his mouth and pressed it to his head where it was bleeding. Then I got to work on the ropes that kept him tied.

He groaned again and sat up when his hands were free. Then he said a word I won’t repeat and held his head in his hands. I pushed them away and tied the rag around his forehead to help stop the blood from running down his face.

“What are you doing tied up here?” asked Foghorn. “You aren’t the real Michael Mugambi, are you? Otherwise you’d have been gone by now. He probably only stays a day or two at each kraal. You’re a ranger.”

“A ranger! Are you? What makes you think that, Foghorn?” I didn’t let Michael speak.

“His watch.” Foghorn pointed to the rather expensive watch on Michael’s arm. “It’s identical to the watches all the rangers wear. Dr. Langley and Minto each have one like it, too.”

Foghorn made his discovery sound so easy. Leave it to him to notice that kind of detail. Well, I’d noticed Michael’s watch, then promptly forgotten it. Foghorn had used it as a clue.

“Thanks, C.C.” Michael—or whatever his name was—patted the makeshift bandage on his head. “You’re right, Foghorn. I’m a park ranger and a very poor detective. Now what were you two doing here?”

“I’m not doing so well in the detective business either. We were looking for clues in the village. I saw a boy with an AK-47 yesterday. I didn’t think it was standard Masai weaponry.”

“So that’s why they sent Julius and Wallace to keep an eye on you. I wondered what C.C. took a picture of. Someone else must know you saw the gun. It was the evidence I was looking for. I found it tonight when I found you and the poachers, but a lot of good that did. I blew my chance to get enough evidence to arrest them before, and I still don’t know where they’re going tonight.”

“You’ve been hanging around here, looking for the poachers?” I asked.

“Yes. We suspected they were hiding in this village even before they killed the five rhino at headquarters. We thought a couple of them lived here. When I heard Michael was coming this way, I asked him to let me take his place. I’m Koji Birigwa. The worst thing is that they were planning on going for rhino horn tonight, and I failed to stop them.”

“Did you try? By yourself?” I thought we were dumb.

Koji didn’t say anything, but rubbed the bump on his head.

“You tried to help us, didn’t you,” Foghorn said. “We really messed you up, when we were only trying to help.”

Before anyone else could speak or Koji could tell us we’d ruined his plans, we heard voices outside the hut.

“We’ve got to get out of here.” I stood up.

“Too late,” Foghorn whispered. “They’re coming in the hut.”

“Pretend you’re still tied up.” Koji lay back down with his back to the wall of the hut and his hands behind him.

Foghorn stomped out the stick that had provided us with some extra light and did the same.

All I wanted to do was run, but I knew I’d be stopped at the door. I lay down and curled up, remembering to turn my face away at the last minute. They might see that I didn’t have a rag over my mouth.

In the dim light I could make out three men I didn’t know, along with Julius and the other boy who must be Wallace. The men stirred the fire and sat around it, talking and laughing in low voices. Julius and Wallace sat behind them as if they weren’t really a part of the gang.

With no suspicion that we might be loose, they paid no attention to us at all. They chattered on and on in rapid Swahili. Their voices held excitement for what they must be planning.

It took all my willpower to lie still for so long. What were they waiting for? Did they not want to go out at night? They had killed the rhinos at the headquarters at night or early morning. But maybe that was because the animals had been penned up. They didn’t have to go wandering around in the dark, looking for them.

Finally they kicked a little dirt over the small fire and left the hut. They never even bothered to check on us.

“What were they saying, Koji?” Foghorn asked as soon as they were gone. “The only word I caught was Kiboko.”

“But that’s where Mia and Pablo are.” A shiver of dread flew over me. “They aren’t planning to go there, are they?”

“Julius told them he’d seen Mia and Pablo unloaded there, and then two more rhino. That’s exactly their plan.” Koji was on his feet and peeking out the door of the hut.

“We have to stop them!” I didn’t know what we could do, but we had to do something.

“What’s their plan?” Foghorn asked Koji.

“They’re waiting to be picked up. They’ll drive to where the rhino were seen last, then at dawn start to look for them.”

“Why don’t they go after them at night?” asked Foghorn.

“The Masai fear the night. They believe that day is for people and night is for wild animals.”

“They’re really afraid?” I guess I wasn’t surprised.

“Yes. They even bring in their cattle every night. They’ve been taught to fear the dark—or what is in the dark—since birth. Every bush hides danger at night. You took a big chance to walk here tonight.”

I poked Foghorn, but I knew if he was thinking what I was thinking, we were about to take some more risks. We couldn’t let the poachers kill Pablo and Mia without a fight.

“What can we do?” I asked.

“You two can do nothing. I have a radio in my Land Rover. I hid the car when I came back here because I said good-bye this afternoon. I will call for help. You wait here until morning, then go back to your camp.”

“Will you please call Dr. Langley?” said Foghorn. “There’s a radio in camp. He’ll want to go get Mia and Pablo.”

Koji hesitated. “Okay. He’s been waiting to hear from me.” Koji slipped out of the hut and disappeared into the night.

“So Dr. Langley knew Michael—I mean Koji—was a ranger. Are we going to stay here, Foghorn?”

“What do you think, C.C.? But maybe we were stupid to walk over here. Now we can’t get back quickly.”

“Do you have a plan?”

“Let’s see if we can get a ride back. I don’t know what we can do to stop the poachers, but we have to try.”

We left the hut and walked the same way Koji had taken. He was making a circle just inside the thornbushes that surrounded the kraal. We were in time to see him slip through the makeshift fence. Spotting the narrow opening when we reached it, we did the same.

He had hidden his car some distance from the camp. At one point we had to wait for him to run across the moonlit grasslands, then do the same, hoping he wouldn’t look back.

When we found the car, backed up beside a pile of rocks, we hid and listened. He was trying to make a call on his radio. Over and over he said the same thing. Even I knew he was saying, “This is Koji Birigwa, come in, come in.” He was getting no answer. There was silence, then Koji swore again.

To our surprise, he started his engine, pulled out, and headed in the opposite direction on the road than he should have gone to reach the area where we’d released Mia and Pablo.

“What was that all about?” I kept my voice low, even though Koji was gone.

“If I’m not mistaken, someone had sabotaged his radio. He never got through. My guess is he’s going for help.”

Foghorn led the way down the road, then we cut over and hugged close to the pile of thornbushes that the Masai had used to circle their village.

There was a clump of trees up near the road. Stopping to listen, Foghorn whispered, “We’re going to take the chance of hiding in those trees. I think we can see the car coming that will pick up these guys.”

I bit my tongue to keep from asking Foghorn if he had a plan for what we’d do next. I was sure by now that he didn’t. I stomped all around the trees.

“What are you doing? Be quiet.” Foghorn didn’t like the noise I was making.

“I’m being quiet. I wanted to warn any snakes that were hiding here.”

“You’re going to announce us to the whole world.”

“The snake world,” I whispered back.

When the poachers came out to the road to wait, they weren’t very quiet. Apparently they didn’t worry about who might hear them. But I suspected they’d dipped into some of that fermented honey and milk I’d read they liked.

Before too long a Land Rover pulled to a stop and swung to turn around in the road.

“Jambo”, said the driver. His face was shadowed, but I knew his voice.

“It’s Minto!” I whispered. “I’ll bet that’s Dr. Langley’s Land Rover. Now he won’t be able to help out.”

“He can take one of the trucks.” Foghorn crouched lower as the men went onto the road to load up.

“I can’t believe Minto would do this.” I didn’t want to believe it.

“Remember what Dr. Langley said about money corrupting anyone.” Foghorn watched as all the renegade Masai piled into the Land Rover. I wondered if the other Masai would stop these few if they knew what was going on right in their village.

Foghorn took hold of my arm. “Could you hang on to that spare tire?”

The Land Rover carried an extra tire on the back, hung between two gas cans.

“I can try.” I was lighter than Foghorn and more athletic. I figured if he could do it, I could. It was our only chance for a ride to Kiboko. I didn’t know what we’d do when we got there, but we’d be no help to Pablo and Mia standing here on the road.

Ducking low, I ran for the car after everyone was loaded and before Minto could take off. Foghorn did the same. We swung up onto the bumper and took a good hold on the tire.

As the Land Rover started rolling slowly down the bumpy track, I knew this was going to be the ride of my life. I just hoped it wouldn’t be the last.