CHAPTER

13

We watched helplessly as the poachers crept closer and closer. The morning got brighter and brighter as sunrise neared. The man with the gun turned around every few seconds, keeping the AK-47 raised and ready to shoot.

In desperation I grabbed a rock at my feet and hurled it out of the bushes. Because I hadn’t taken time to aim, it didn’t even land close to the approaching men. But it made a satisfying crash in the tall grass.

The men froze and stared at where the rock had landed. But the noise only bought us a few seconds. It was a minor distraction for the poachers. As soon as they decided there was no danger for them in the grass, they proceeded on their path toward us. It would be only a few seconds before they discovered we were there. Not just the rhinos they were hoping to find, but two witnesses to their poaching.

Beside me, Mia raised her head, flared her nostrils, and sniffed the air. Her ears stood straight up and flicked as if she was tuning in the noise coming toward her. She couldn’t see the danger, but she sensed it. I wrapped my arms around her neck as best I could and glanced at Pablo. He was doing exactly the same thing. How long would it be before they decided to charge the poachers? We’d never be able to hold them when they did. They’d brush us aside like flies.

Next Mia’s tail stood straight up. “Miya, miya,” she cried out.

The poachers swung around and froze again, homing in on the noise. They knew they’d found what they were looking for. The man with the gun pointed it straight toward the bushes we were in. We were going to get shot along with the rhino.

I could have hugged Foghorn when I heard it.

“Oooooough, oooough, ooough.”

At the last minute he had thought of something to do. His lion roar. They couldn’t see us, and they hadn’t seen the rhinos. They had heard Mia’s plaintive cry, but now the roar echoed through the still morning.

I guess most rhinos would have bolted at the sound of a lion standing right beside them, but Pablo and Mia hadn’t been raised in the wild by a mother rhino. She would have taught them the roar meant danger.

For a second the poachers stood, rooted in place. I realized that Minto might remember Foghorn’s trick. If he did, he decided not to take a chance. He and the other poachers turned and fled so fast I had to stuff my hand in my mouth to keep from laughing so loud they’d have heard me and come back. Then I draped myself across Mia’s broad back in relief.

“Worked pretty good, didn’t it?” Foghorn grinned. He held out his hand, palm up.

I slapped his hand. “I don’t know what you’ll do with that skill back in Denver, Foghorn, but it sure came in handy this morning. I’m almost willing to forgive you for scaring me to pieces the other night.”

“I think the crash of that rock you threw set them up for thinking something was in the grass. Then they were sure it was a lion.” Foghorn gave me some credit for his lion act being convincing to the poachers.

Mia and Pablo went back to pulling off leaves and chewing them up as if nothing had happened.

What did startle them was the clacking and whirring of the helicopter that flew overhead about five minutes later.

“That must be Koji.” I jumped up and down and waved, even though I doubted that anyone would see me.

“I think we’d better stay here until we’re sure they’ve caught the poachers,” said Foghorn, rubbing Pablo’s head.

“Plus we want them to know who we are. Remember they’re supposed to shoot anything that moves, people-wise.”

“Only if you don’t identify yourself. All you’d have to do is to step out and let them see you. They wouldn’t shoot a puny little girl with a mop of red hair.”

I took a deep breath and resisted pounding on Foghorn with both fists. Here I just got through congratulating him on his plan for scaring the poachers, and the next minute he’s insulting me. Brothers never change.

It seemed like a long time before we saw some men coming toward us. Now that we thought we were safe, I’d remembered how tired I was. I felt like melting into a heap beside Mia and sleeping for days. And I was starving. I wished I could pull off some leaves and munch them.

“Who’s that?” Foghorn asked. He peered through his thick glasses, but the men were too far off. “Can you tell, C.C.?”

“The tall one looks like Dad. Oh, I hope it is, even if we get grounded.”

“C.C., how can you get grounded in Kenya?” Foghorn laughed.

“Dad will think of a way.”

“I’m going to let them know we’re here.” Foghorn cleared his throat and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Dad, Dr. Langley, C.C. and I are here. With the rhinos.” His voice blared over the distance like a loudspeaker.

The tall man started to run, and I knew for sure it was Dad. I hoped we hadn’t worried him too much.

“You kids will be the death of me yet,” Dad said when he got close.

We stepped out of the bushes. Mia and Pablo followed us.

Dad hugged me and then Foghorn. “I nearly had a heart attack when I looked in your tents and you weren’t there. Do you know what a fool thing you did coming out here?”

Maybe he wouldn’t know we’d gone to the Masai village first—and been knocked out. But Kijo was with him and Dr. Langley. So he probably did know.

“We’ve saved the rhinos,” I pointed out.

“They untied me so I could go call for help.” Koji tried to help us. He didn’t mention that the reason he was tied up was because he tried to help us.

“Did you catch the poachers?” asked Foghorn, just as I was about to ask.

“For some reason they ran right into our hands.” Koji scratched his head. “They seemed frightened by something. We had them surrounded before they could shoot, and they gave up.”

“Maybe they startled a pack of hyenas,” suggested Foghorn.

“We didn’t see any, and a few shots would have sent them running, but something scared them.” Dr. Langley came and put his arm around both Foghorn and me. “I agree that you two kids took a big risk, coming out here in the night, but you probably saved Mia and Pablo’s lives. And maybe the other two rhinos’ lives in the long run.”

“We’ve been trying to catch these poachers for some time.” Koji shook my and Foghorn’s hands.

“I’m sorry about Minto,” I said.

“I can hardly believe it.” Dr. Langley looked really sad. “I guess the thought of getting rich made him a little crazy. He had a good job, and I paid him well. He made more money than he would have if he’d stayed in the village and herded cattle.”

“A zebra takes its stripes wherever he goes.” Koji shook his head. “My cousin Hari lived in the same village as Minto when he was a boy. He told me Minto was fairly wild, took a lot of risks. It seems like he was always in trouble. This knowledge made me suspect him when I found he lived here. Minto’s father punished him, but it didn’t keep him from doing crazy tricks. Most of it was in fun, but he seemed to need a lot of thrills. One day Hari said Minto talked him into chasing a herd of zebra. Minto was a fine runner. He kept up with them for a time. He also killed two lions before he became a warrior.”

“With only a spear?” asked Foghorn.

“Yes, most Masai can kill a lion with a spear. It is a test of courage for them.”

“What will happen to him?” I felt even sadder for Minto, thinking about him as a boy.

“He’ll be locked up for as long as we can manage. Some of the poachers are getting five years.”

“I hope he’ll survive that.” Dr. Langley pulled at his beard. “The Masai get in surprisingly little trouble with the white man’s laws. A year to a Masai seems like forever. And being cooped up in a small jail cell will be almost impossible for him.”

“He brought it on himself,” Foghorn reminded Dr. Langley.

“Yes, yes, he did. I thought he loved the animals.”

“He may have on some level.” Dad spoke up. “But to him, they were just animals. To us they’ve become friends.” He stepped up to Mia and rubbed her nose. The rhinos were hanging around, as if they were listening to our conversation.

“I guess we’d better get out of this meadow and back to the cars.” Dr. Langley led the way toward the road. “I heard a lion earlier. They’ll still be hunting.”

“We can hope they’ve found whatever they were looking for.” I looked at Foghorn and bit my lip to keep from laughing.

“The females actually do most of the hunting,” Dr. Langley said as we headed for the Land Rover. “The males make a lot of noise and then eat first.”

I punched Foghorn and laughed. “They can roar all they want, but I’d be first in line to eat. Especially if I’d gone to the trouble of bringing in the groceries.”

When we reached the road, we found that some of the other rangers had Minto and the other poachers tied up in the back of the truck.

“I’ll bring back your truck in a couple of days, Dr. Langley. And let you know any more details I can find out on this case.” Koji swung into the truck cab and waved at Foghorn and me.

We piled in the Land Rover that Minto had taken. I nearly went to sleep, even with the bumpy ride back to camp. And as hungry as I was, I could hardly stay awake to eat. But as I started for my tent and the welcome cot, I did hear Dr. Langley say something to my dad that I wanted to know more about.

“I think it’s time we tried something really drastic to save the rhino, Paul. You and your kids can be in on it, and I want you to write about it for your readers. Let’s all get some rest and we’ll start ‘Operation Haircut’ tomorrow.”

Operation Haircut? I burrowed my shaggy red mop into my pillow and went to sleep wondering what in the world that could be.