A Falcon Flies b-1

by Wilbur Smith

  Question. Is Lake Tanganyika connected to Lake Albert?

  Question. Is Lake Tanganyika connected to Lake Lomani? If so, Lomani is ultimate source of Nile river? " Harkness touched the two question marks with his gnarled and bony finger. Here, said Harkness. The big question marks.

  The Nile river. That would attract Fuller. He spoke of it often. " Harkness chuckled. "Always with the same introductory words, "of course, the fame matters not at all to me". " The old man shook his silver head. "It mattered not less than the air he breathed. Yes, the source of the Nile river and the fame that it would bring its discoverer that would fascinate him."

  Harkness stared for a long time at the empty spaces, dreaming perhaps, visions awakening behind the bright black eyes. He aroused himself at last, shaking his shaggy head as if to clear it.

  There would be only one other feat that would attract as much attention, would be greeted with as much acclaim. " Harkness ran his spread hand southwards down the parchment to cover another vast void in the web of mountains and rivers. "Here, he said softly. "The forbidden kingdom of the Monornatapas."

  The name itself had an eerie quality. Monomatapa.

  The sound of it raised the fine hair on the back of Zouga's neck.

  You have heard of it? " Harkness asked. Yes, " Zouga nodded. "They say it is the Ophir of the Bible, where Sheba mined her gold. Have you travelled there? " Harkness shook his head. "Twice I started out, he shrugged. "No white man has travelled there. Even Mzilikazi's impis have not raided that far east. The Portuguese made one attempt to reach the Emperor Monomatapa.

  That was in 1569. The party was wiped out, and there were no survivors. " Harkness made a sound of disgust. As you could expect of the Ports, they abandoned any further attempt to reach Monomatapa. For the 200 years since then they have been content to sit in their seraglios at Tete and Quelimane, breeding half-castes, and picking UP the slaves and ivory that filter down out of the interior. "But still there are the legends of the Monomatapa. I heard them from my father. Gold and great walled cities."

  Harkness stood up from the table with the grace of a man half his age and crossed to an iron-bound chest against the wall behind his chair. The chest was not locked but the lid required both the old man's skinny arms to lift it.

  He came back with a draw-string bag made of softly tanned leather. It was obviously weighty for he carried it in both hands. He pulled the mouth open, and upended the contents on to the linen map.

  There was no mistaking the lovely yellow metal, it had the deep glowing lustre which has bewitched mankind for thousands of years. Zouga could not resist the urge to reach out and touch it. It had a marvelous soapy feeling against his fingertips. The precious metal had been beaten into heavy round beads, each the size of the top joint of Zouga's little finger and the beads had been strung on to animal sinew to form a necklace. Fifty-eight ounces, " Harkness told him, "and the metal is of unusual purity, I have had it assayed."

  The old man lifted the necklace over his own head and let it lie against the snowy fall of his beard. It was only then that Zouga realized that there was a pendant on the string of golden beads.

  it was in the shape of a bird, a stylized falcon-like shape with folded wings. It was seated upon a rounded plinth that was decorated with a triangular design, like a row of sharks" teeth. The figure was the size of a man's thumb. The gold metal was polished by the touch of human skin over the ages so that some of the detail had been lost. The eyes of the bird were glassy green chips. It was a gift from Mzilikazi. He has no use for gold, nor for emeralds, yes, the stones are emeralds, " Harkness nodded. One of Mzilikazi's warriors killed an old woman in the Burnt Land. They found the leather pouch on her body."

  Where is the Burnt Land? " Zouga asked. I'm sorry. " Harkness fiddled with the little golden bird. "I should have explained. King Mzilikazi's impis have laid waste to the land along his borders, in some places to a depth of a hundred miles and more. They have killed all who lived there and they maintain it as a buffer strip against any hostile force. The Boer commandos from the south particularly, but from any other hostile invader also. Mzilikazi calls it the Burnt Land, and it was here, to the east of his kingdom, that his border guards killed this solitary old woman. They described her as a very strange old woman, not of any known tribe, speaking a language they did not understand."

  Harkness lifted the necklace from his neck and dropped it carelessly back into the bag, and Zouga felt bereft.

  He would have liked to feel the full weight and the texture of the metal in his hands for a little longer. Harkness went on quietly:Of course you have heard the talk of gold and walled cities, like everybody else. But that is the closest I have ever come to corroboration."

  Did my father know about the necklace? " Zouga.

  asked, and Harkness nodded. "Fuller wanted to purchase it, he offered me almost twice its gold value."

  They were both silent for a long while, each brooding on his own thoughts until Zouga stirred. How would a man like my father try to reach the Monomatapa? "Not from the south nor from the west. Mzilikazi, the Matabele king, will let no man pass through the Burnt Land. I feel that Mzilikazi has some deep superstition attached to the land beyond his eastern border. He does not venture there himself, nor does he allow others to do so. " Harkness shook his head. "No, Fuller would have to try from the east, from the Portuguese coast, from one of their settlements. " Harkness began to trace out the possible approach marches on the linen chart. "Here there are high mountains. I have seen them at a distance and they seemed a formidable barrier. " Outside, night had already fallen, and Harkness interrupted himself to order Zouga, "Tell your groom to off-saddle the horses and take them to the stables. It is too late to return. You will have to stay overnight."

  When Zouga returned a Malay servant had drawn the curtains, lit the lanterns and laid a meal of yellow rice and chicken cooked in a fiery curry, and Harkness had opened another bottle of the Cape brandy. He went on talking as though there had been no interruption. They ate the meal and pushed the enamelled tin plates away to return to the map, and the hours passed unnoticed by either of them.

  In the intimate lantern light, the sense of drama and excitement that gripped them both was heightened by the brandy they drank. Once in a while Harkness would rise to fetch some souvenir of his travels to reinforce a point, a sample of quartz rock in which the seams of native gold were clearly visible in the lamplight.

  If there is visible gold, it's rich, Harkness told Zouga. Why did you never mine the reefs you found? "I could never stay long enough in one place, Harkness grinned ruefully. "There was always another river to cross, a range of mountain or a lake that I had to reach or I was following a herd of elephant. There was never time to sink a shaft, or build a house, or raise a herd."

  When the dawn was rising, peeping into the huge gloomy room around the curtains, Zouga exclaimed suddenly, "Come with me. Come with me to find Monomatapa! "And Harkness laughed. I thought it was your father you were intent on finding. You know better! " Zouga laughed with him. Somehow he felt at home with the old man as if he had known him all his life. "But can you imagine my father's face when you come to rescue him? "It would be worth it, Harkness admitted, and then the laughter faded, and gave way to an expression of such deep regret, of such consuming sorrow that Zouga felt a compulsion to reach out across the table and touch the misshapen shoulder.

  Harkness pulled away from his touch. He had lived alone too long. He would never again be able to take comfort from a fellow man. Come with me, " Zouga repeated, letting his hand drop to the table-top between them. I have made my last journey into the interior, Harkness said tonelessly. "Now all I have are my paint pots and my memories."

  He lifted his eyes to the ranks of framed canvas with their brilliant joyous images. You are still strong, vital, Zouga insisted. "Your mind is so clear. "Enough! " Harkness" voice was harsh, bitter. "I am tired now. You must go. Now, immediately."

  Zouga felt his anger rise hotl
y to his cheeks at the abrupt rejection, this sudden change of mood, and he stood quickly. For a few seconds he stood looking down at the old man.

  Go! " said Harkness again.

  Zouga nodded abruptly. "Very well. " His eyes slid down to the map. He knew he must have it at any price, though he sensed that there was no price that Harkness would accept. He must plan and scheme for it, but he would have it.

  He turned and strode to the front door, and the dogs that had slept around their feet rose and followed him. Gamiet! " Zouga shouted angrily. "Bring the horses."

  And he stood in the doorway rocking impatiently on his toes and heels, hands clasped behind his back, his shoulders stiff, not looking around at the thin stooped figure who still sat at the table in the lamp-light.

  The groom brought the horses at last, and still without turning Zouga called roughly, "Good day to you, Mr. Harkness."

  The reply was in a frail old man's quaver that he hardly recognized.

  Come again. We have more to discuss. Come back in two days.

  The stiffness went out of Zouga's stance. He started to turn back, but the old man waved him away with a brusque gesture and Zouga stamped down the front steps, vaulted into the saddle and whipped his mount into a gallop along the narrow rutted track.

  Harkness sat at the table until long after the hoof beats had faded. Strange that the pain had receded to the very back of his consciousness during the hours that he had sat with the youngster. He had felt young and strong, as though he had suckled upon the vigour and the youth of the other.

  Then it had come back with a savage rush at Zouga.

  Ballantyne's invitation, almost as if to remind him that his life was no longer his, that it was already forfeit to the hyena that lived deep in his belly, each day growing stronger, bigger, as it fed upon his vitals. When he closed his eyes he could imagine it, the way that he had seen it so often in the light of a thousand camp fires, up there in the wonderful land that he would never visit again. The thing within him had the same furtive slinking presence and he could taste the fetid breath of it in his throat. Now he gasped as the full strength of the pain returned, as the beast buried its fangs deeper into his gut.

  He knocked over the chair in his haste to reach the precious bottle in the back of the cabinet and he gulped a mouthful of the clear pungent liquid without measuring it into the spoon. it was too much, he knew that, but each day he needed more to keep the hyena at bay, and each day the relief took longer to come.

  He clung to the corner of the cabinet and waited for it. "Please, " he whispered, "please let it end soon."

  There were half a dozen messages and invitations awaiting Zouga on his return to the Cartwright estate that morning, but the one which gave him most excitement was on official Admiralty paper, a polite request to call upon the Han. Ernest Kemp, Rear-Admiral of the Blue, Officer Commanding the Cape Squadron.

  Zouga shaved and changed his clothing, selecting his best jacket for the occasion although it was a long dusty ride to Admiralty House. Despite missing a night's sleep, he felt vital and alert.

  The Admiral's Secretary kept him waiting only a few minutes before showing him through, and Admiral Kemp came around from behind his desk to greet Zouga amiably, for the young man came highly recommended and Fuller Ballantyne's name still commanded respect in Africa. I have some news which I hope will please you, Major Ballantyne. But first, a glass of Madeira? " Zouga had to curb his impatience while the Admiral poured the syrupy wine. The Admiral's study was decorated richly, with velvet furnishings and a fashionable profusion of ornaments, small statues, bric-a-brac, stuffed birds in glass showcases, family portraits in ornate frames and pretty ceramics, potted plants and the kind of paintings which Zouga admired.

  The Admiral was tall but stooped, as though to accommodate his long frame to the limited headroom between the decks of one of Her Majesty's ships. He seemed old for the responsible appointment he held, guarding the Empire's lifeline to India and the East, but the ageing may have been caused by ill-health rather than years.

  There were dark-toned pouches of skin below his eyes and other marks of sickness carved around his mouth and evident in the distended blue veins on the back of his hands as he handed a glass of Madeira to Zouga. Your good health, Major Ballantyne. " And then after he had tasted his own wine, "I think I have a berth for you. A ship of my squadron anchored in Table Bay yesterday, and as soon as she has replenished her coal bunkers and revictualled I shall detach her for independent duty in the Mozambique channel."

  Zouga knew from his meetings with the directors of the Society for the Extinction of the Slave Trade, that one part of the Admiral's standing orders read:You are requested and required to dispose the ships of your squadron in such manner as most expediently to prevent vessels of whatever Christian nation from engaging in the slave trade on the coast of the African continent south of the equator."

  Clearly Kemp intended a sweep of the eastern seaboard with elements of his squadron, and Zouga. felt awakening delight as the Admiral went on genially, "It will not need much of a diversion for my ship to call at Quelimane, and to land you and your party! I cannot thank you sufficiently, Admiral. " His pleasure was transparent, and Admiral Kemp smiled in sympathy. He had put himself out more than his usual wont, for the youngster was attractive and likeable, deserving of encouragement, but now there were other matters awaiting his attention and as he pulled out his gold hunter and consulted it pointedly he went on, You should be ready to sail in five days" time. " He returned the watch to the fob of his uniform coat. "I hope we will see you on Friday? My Secretary did send you an invitation, did he not? Your sister will be with you, I hope."

  Indeed, sir. "Zouga stood in obedience to his dismissal.

  And my sister and I are honoured!

  In fact Robyn had said, "I do not waste my evenings, Zouga, and I have no intention of enduring the company of a fleet of tipsy sailors nor of suffering the wagging tongues of their wives."

  The Cape wives were agog with the presence in their midst of the notorious Robyn Ballantyne who had impersonated a man and invaded, successfully, an exclusive masculine preserve. Half of them were deliciously scandalized, and the rest were awed and admiring. However, Zouga was certain that she would pay this price for their passage to Quelimane. Very well then. " Admiral Kemp nodded. "Thank you for calling on me. " And then, as Zouga started for the door, "Oh, by the way, Ballantyne. The ship is the Black Joke, Captain Codrington commanding. My Secretary will give you a letter for him, and I suggest you call upon him to introduce yourself and to learn the date of sailing."

  The name came as a shock, and Zouga checked his stride as he thought quickly of the complication which the choice of ship might bring.

  Zouga was sensitive to any threat to the expedition, and Codrington had struck him as being a hot-headed, almost fanatical character. He could not afford any slur to his leadership, and Codrington had seen him sailing in company with a suspected slaver. He could not be sure what Codrington would do.

  It was a delicate decision: accept the berth and risk Codrington's denunciation, or refuse the offer of passage and perhaps wait for months in Cape Town before another vessel offered them another.

  If they were delayed that Ion& it would mean missing the cooler and dryer period between the monsoons, they would have to cross the pestilential and fever-ridden coastal lowlands in the most dangerous season.

  Zouga made his decision. "Thank you, Admiral Kemp.

  I will call on Captain Codrington as soon as possible!

  Thomas Harkness had asked Zouga to return on the second day, and the map was more important even than swift passage to Quelimane.

  Zouga sent Garniet, the Cartwrights" groom, down to the beach with a sealed letter addressed to Captain Codrington and with instructions to take one of the water boats out to Black joke and deliver it personally to Codrington. It was a warnin& couched in the most polite terms, that Zouga. and Robyn would call on the Captain the following morning.
Zouga had become at his sister had an effect on men quite out of aware that proportion to her physical appearance, even Admiral Kemp had asked for her personally, and he had no compunction in using her to take the edge off Codrington's temper. He would have to warn her to exert her charm, but now there was more important business.

  He had mounted on Cartwright's big bay gelding and ridden halfway down the grovelled drive between the oaks, when a thought struck him and he swung the horse's head and cantered back to the guest bungalow again. The Naval Colt revolver was on the top layer of his chest, already fully loaded and with caps on the nipples. He carried it under the tail of his coat while he went back out to the tethered gelding, and then slipped the revolver surreptitiously into the saddlebag as he swung up into the saddle.

  He knew he had to have the Harkness map at any price, but he deliberately refused to think what that price might be.

  He pushed his mount hard up the steep road to the neck between the peaks, and gave him only a few minutes to blow before starting down the far slope.

  The air of dilapidation which hung over the thatched building in the milkwood grove seemed to have deepened. It seemed totally deserted, silent and desolate. He dismounted and threw his reins over a milkwood branch and stooped to ease the girth. Then he quietly unfastened the buckle of the saddlebag and slipped the Colt into his waistband and pulled his coat over it.

  As he started towards the stoep, the big ridge-backed Boerhound rose from where it had lain in the shadows and came to meet him. In contrast to its previous ferocity, the animal was subdued, its tail and ears drooping and it whined softly when it recognized Zouga.