by J. T. Edson
Having described their own adventures, Dawn had left it to Bunduki to tell their friends why they were interested in the quaggas. Immediately Joar-Fane had announced that she and At-Vee would do all they could to help and her husband had seconded the assertion. Nor were they swayed from their determination when the blond giant had pointed out some of the difficulties involved in attempting to make the capture. The Earth couple were cognizant with the methods employed by the mustangers—professional wild horse catchers—who had operated throughout the ‘Old West’ days of the United States of America, xxiv but they doubted whether any of these would be suitable under the circumstances. For one thing, they did not wish to be unduly delayed before returning to Jey-Mat and most of the old methods would have taken several days to prepare.
Remembering certain items which he had found in the saddlebags of the two banar-gatahs he and Dawn were using, Bunduki felt sure that he could produce a satisfactory solution to the problem. He had not mentioned it, having decided to wait until he had seen if it could be put into effect before raising the other three’s hopes. Instead, he had proposed that they should take a good night’s rest and this was done. On waking shortly before sunrise and ensuring that the fire was out, so there would be no smoke rising at daybreak to betray their presence—a trick Dawn’s father had taught to members of the British Army on anti-terrorist patrols in Kenya, although he had not originated the idea xxv —the blond giant had asked At-Vee to accompany him on a reconnaissance. Leaving the girls to take care of the four banar-gatahs, the two young men had had no difficulty in locating their quarry. The band of quaggas were not more than three-quarters of a mile from the hollow and were in a location which would offer an opportunity for Bunduki to employ the method of capture which he had envisaged. However, as he had commented to his companion, their place of concealment was far from ideal and there were snags to be overcome.
‘I’ve seen Dawn and you throwing ropes like those on your saddles,’ At-Vee commented, referring to the coiled lariats strapped to the saddle horns of the Earth couple’s mounts and which had been one of the reasons why they had selected those particular animals. ‘But you couldn’t reach the quaggas from here with them, could you?’
‘No,’ Bunduki admitted. ‘Thirty to forty feet is about as far as a lariat can be thrown, but I’ve something else in mind.’
‘You wouldn’t be able to hide behind this rock with your banar-gatahs,’ the Hunter pointed out, as the quaggas finished drinking and began to make for the open plains. ‘Of course, you could hide behind one of the clumps of bushes—’
‘They’re too intelligent for us to go close enough to reach them with a lariat,’ Bunduki answered. ‘But there may be another way we can catch them. I’ll tell you and the girls about it after we’ve taken a look around.’
‘Whatever you say,’ At-Vee assented. ‘This’s all new to me. I’ve never tried to catch any kind of animal alive.’
Six foot in height, although he did not slim down at the waist as well as the blond giant, At-Vee was broad shouldered and well muscled. His glossy black hair was cut after the fashion of Prince Valiant, but his brown and pleasantly good-looking features were much like those of a Polynesian. Indicative of his profession, he was clad in a loincloth made from the hide of a jaguar. A sheathed, spear pointed knife hung sheathed on the left side of his belt. Suspended through a loop at the right was a shilva, which resembled a short handled poleax— or, more closely, a czdkan xxvi —its hammer-like head being backed by a long, slightly curved spike. In his right hand, he grasped the thick handle of a spear that matched his height and had a stout steel cross guard attached about two feet below its head. Although his arms had been designed as tools for hunting, he had learned that they could be turned into effective weapons for fighting against human beings.
‘It looks like this is their regular drinking place,’ At-Vee remarked, after he and Bunduki had carried out an examination along the bank of the stream. ‘Will that help you?’
‘It could,’ the blond giant admitted, having drawn similar conclusions. ‘Let’s go back and tell the girls what we’ve learned.’
‘I haven’t learned anything worthwhile,’ the Hunter objected with a grin. ‘But I suppose I will one day.’
‘Everything comes to him who waits, brother,’ Bunduki stated and started to walk in the direction of the hollow.
‘All right,’ Dawn said, after the blond giant had given her and Joar-Fane a description of the situation. ‘So there’s a way we might be able to catch them. Now tell us the bad news.’
‘The very earliest we can hope to try will be this evening,’ Bunduki obliged. ‘And perhaps not even then.’
‘Hum!’ At-Vee grunted thoughtfully, realizing what the blond giant was leading up to. ‘If the Mun-Gatahs have settled their differences, they’ll be coming looking for you to take revenge for all the trouble you’ve caused.’
‘They will,’ Bunduki agreed, darting a concerned look at his companion’s wife. ‘Even the men we helped aren’t going to overlook what I did.’
‘You’ve had the most to do with them, Dawn,’ Joar-Fane declared, appreciating why the blond giant was so perturbed and determined to prevent fears for her welfare interfering with her friends’ plans to capture the quaggas. ‘How much danger is there from them?’
‘They won’t be after us yet,’ the Earth girl answered. ‘From what you said, Bunduki, Charole and Dryaka must have been killed by the “Terrifier” Beryl threw after them when they fell from the balcony. It will be some time before anybody else can gain sufficient ascendancy to become the High Priest and Protectress.’
‘What if they weren’t killed?’ At-Vee asked.
‘In that case, having failed to sacrifice me as they promised,’ Dawn replied, ‘they will be too busy trying to save their own skins to start hunting for us.’
‘All right then,’ Joar-Fane said, placing her hands on her hips and eyeing the men defiantly. ‘There’s nothing to prevent us from staying here for a few days if necessary. Even if any of them do come after us, we’ll be able to see them long before they get here. Once we’re in the jungle, we should be able to cause them so much trouble that they’ll turn back.’
Looking at the Telonga girl, Bunduki was amused and delighted by her attitude. At their first meeting, he had thought of her as having no interest other than that of making love at every opportunity and, to a certain degree, that had been true. However, later events had shown that she possessed intelligence, courage and fortitude. What was more, her association with Dawn had fostered a sturdy independence of will which the nature of her pacific nation had previously kept dormant. Prior to coming into contact with the Earth girl, she would never have thought of stating her opinion in such a forthright manner.
No more than five foot three inches in height, Joar-Fane had an exceptionally well-developed and curvaceous figure which enhanced her pert, very attractive brown Polynesian features. Having anticipated the rigors of the quest upon which she and her husband were embarking, she had made changes to her appearance. She had cut her long black hair until it was more manageable. Instead of the usual feminine attire of her nation—a brief halter made from some kind of animal’s skin and a grass skirt—she now wore a dress made from the hide of a bongo xxvii which she had copied from Dawn’s garment. A knife hung sheathed on the left side of her waist belt and she had carried along Bunduki’s m’kuki in case he should need it.
‘Very well,’ Bunduki assented. We’ll stay—’
‘I knew that you’d come round to our way of thinking eventually,’ Dawn declared. ‘Didn’t you, Joar-Fane?’
‘It was only a matter of time,’ the Telonga girl agreed.
‘We’re going to have to make something before we can hope to do the catching,’ the blond giant warned and told the others what he wanted them to do, finishing with, ‘So let’s make a start at it.’
‘May I ask a question?’ Dawn said, in tones redolent of suspicion.
�
��Please do,’ Bunduki consented, his air that of one who was granting a favor.
‘Thank you, bwana mkuba,’ Dawn replied, using the Swahili term meaning “big master” but with none of the respect the honorific should have received. ‘Why is it that Joar-Fane and I have to wade in the stream looking for the kind of stones you want?’
‘I can’t see anything wrong in that,’ At-Vee commented with a grin.
‘Or me,’ Bunduki seconded.
‘Well we can!’ Dawn declared and Joar-Fane nodded agreement.
‘Do you know something, brother?’ At-Vee asked, in a tone pitched so that it was just loud enough for the distaff side of the quartet as well as Bunduki to hear what he was saying. ‘I’d think twice before marrying into that family if I was you. The women talk too much and don’t know their place.’
‘I’ve noticed that,’ Bunduki admitted, in a similar stage whisper. Then, turning with a mock ingratiating smile to the girls, he went on in a louder voice, ‘I asked you to do it because it’s a little known fact that women are better than men at some—’
‘Tiger skin or not, sister,’ Joar-Fane interrupted, looking at Dawn. ‘I think you’re marrying beneath yourself.’
‘Well, dear, you’ve already done that,’ the Earth girl replied, then directed a challenging look at her husband-to-be. ‘And we still haven’t had an answer that made sense. Not that either of us expected one.’
‘If you must know,’ Bunduki said, exuding an aura of patient martyrdom. ‘Neither you nor Joar-Fane can splice a rope as well as we can, or At-Vee and I would be only too pleased to let you do it and keep the pleasure of finding the right kind of stones for our—’
‘Come on, Joar-Fane, before I’m taken sick!’ Dawn groaned, although she was willing to concede that at least part of the explanation was valid. ‘They’d never have the sense to make the right choice.’
‘Oh I wouldn’t say that,’ the little Telonga girl protested. ‘They each picked one thing correctly.’
‘Nonsense, sister, we picked them,’ Dawn corrected, before throwing a disgusted glare at the men and continuing, ‘Which doesn’t say much for our judgment, I suppose.’
With that, giving Bunduki and At-Vee no chance to reply, the girls went to the edge of the stream. Removing their dresses, which left them clad only in leopard skin briefs, they waded into the water and began to examine the small rocks and boulders which covered the bottom of the fairly swift flowing stretch near the hollow.
‘That’s what I like,’ the blond giant remarked, watching the girls commencing the task he had set them. ‘Loyal, obedient and hard-working women.’
‘And that’s what we Telongas had, before Dawn of the “Earths” got at them,’ At-Vee pointed out, smiling. ‘The trouble is I think they’ve changed for the better. Shall—?’
‘All right!’ Dawn yelled indignantly, throwing the boulder she had just picked up with sufficient accuracy to make the men jump out of its way. “We’re working, so you two can make a start.’
Taking the hint, Bunduki led the way to where the saddles had been left. Opening his saddlebags, he took out a coiled length of cord. About half the diameter of the lariats, which had the hard-laid, triple strand texture of best quality five-eighths of an inch Manila rope, it was more pliant and was composed of half a dozen separate fibers. While he was doing this, At-Vee unpacked a ball of thin, very strong thread and several small leather pouches filled with fulsa, emptying the contents from six of them.
Drawing his bowie knife, Bunduki cut two lengths of about six foot six inches from the cord. Then he removed two further portions, each around thirty-nine inches long. Presenting one of each to At-Vee, he kept the others for himself. Sitting on the ground, although the Hunter was still unaware of exactly what they were producing, they set to work. Opening out the strands, each of them started to splice his shorter piece of cord into the center of the longer segment. With this completed, they punctured holes around the mouths of the empty fulsa pouches and began to attach one to each tip of the connected cords.
By the time the men had performed that much of their task, the girls had dressed and returned with four round boulders about the size of billiard balls and two more, oval in shape, which were slightly smaller. Still puzzled, but receiving no enlightenment in spite of hinting that he would like information, At-Vee followed Bunduki’s example by placing a round stone into the pouches on the ends of the longer piece of cord and one that was egg-shaped into that at the tip of the shorter. The pouches were then closed and held securely by having the stout thread whipped around the neck and the cord.
When the work was finished, Dawn and the blond giant each had in their possession a very reasonable facsimile of an Argentinean boleadora, otherwise known as a bola. As neither of the Telonga couple had ever seen such a device, their interest was aroused and Joar-Fane requested an explanation of its purpose.
‘I’d like to show you how they work on this pair,’ Dawn replied, indicating the men with a derisive wave of her left hand. ‘But, as we might need some heavy lifting done and they are fairly useful for that, I’d better find something I can’t damage.’
‘Now I get the idea!’ At-Vee enthused, after the Earth couple had given an exhibition of the boleadoras’ function. Then he frowned and went on, ‘Will you be able to use them while you’re riding?’
‘They’re meant to be thrown from the saddle as well as when on foot,’ Bunduki answered. ‘And, as the banar-gatahs have been trained for roping—which is why we chose them—teaching them to accept a boleadora instead of a lariat shouldn’t be too difficult—’
‘You’ve still got to get close enough to the quaggas to make a throw,’ Joar-Fane pointed out, before the blond giant could finish. ‘And, from what you’ve told us, they’re much finer animals than your banar-gatahs. Can you get near enough to use those things?’
‘With practice you can make a catch with a boleadora as far away as forty to fifty yards, even from the saddle,’ Dawn explained. ‘That’s their advantage over a lariat. And, all things being equal, a gatah carrying a rider can be persuaded to run faster than one which isn’t.’ She raised a prohibitive hand to her husband-to-be as he was on the verge of speaking and continued, ‘But, before anybody tells me, all things aren’t equal. Those two quaggas will be faster than our mounts, although we might be able to get close enough to make a throw.’
‘Except for one thing,’ Bunduki put in, knowing that Dawn was basing her judgment upon the behavior of horses and sharing her belief that the same would apply where mounted and riderless gatahs were concerned. He also guessed that she had spotted the flaw in employing such tactics, but meant to beat her in delivering it. ‘We can’t use the boleadoras while we’re riding after them.’
‘But you said—!’ Joar-Fane squealed indignantly and her husband also displayed surprise, if not vocally.
‘I said we could teach the banar-gatahs to accept us throwing the boleadoras while we’re riding them,’ the blond giant elaborated. ‘But doing that with the quaggas at a gallop, which they would be with us chasing them, could bring them down hard enough to cripple them.’
‘Ooh!’ Joar-Fane ejaculated, glaring in a threatening fashion at the big Earth man. ‘I hope for your sake that, after you’ve had Dawn and me wading around in that cold water looking for the right kind of stones, you’re not going to tell us you can’t use those bolea—whatever you call them—after all?’
‘We can use them all right,’ Bunduki assured the little Telonga girl, amused by her truculence. ‘But I’m only willing to chance it if there’s no danger of them hurting the quaggas.’
‘How do you intend to do that?’ At-Vee inquired.
‘Well now,’ Bunduki said absently. ‘It is something of a problem, I must admit.’
‘Isn’t it?’ Dawn growled, studying the blond giant in a speculative fashion. ‘And I hope for your sake that you can come up with the answer.’
‘I think the best thing I can do is take a nap to hel
p me consider the matter,’ Bunduki suggested, turning away.
Which proved to be an error in tactics.
Dropping her boleadora, Dawn dived forward as if performing a tackle in a game of rugby football. She struck and wrapped her arms around the blond giant’s knees to bring him down. Taken completely unawares, although he managed to break his fall with his hands, he could not save himself from her continuation of the attack. Giving him no chance to recover, she bent and crossed his legs. Sitting on the ankles, she leaned forward to cup her hands around the front of his head and pulled.
‘All right, you exasperating over-sized lump!’ Dawn hissed, retaining her hold while Joar-Fane whooped in delighted approval. ‘There’s no hurry as far as I’m concerned, I’m quite comfortable here. So, when you’re ready, tell us what you have in mind.’
‘It’s like you told me, brother,’ At-Vee grinned, moving to where Bunduki could see him and thinking of how he too had been irritated by the others reticence. ‘Everything comes to him who waits—and asks for it.’
Chapter Five – Now All We Have to Do Is Tame Them
To the accompaniment of the grating, almost metallic sounding songs of the barbets heralding the dawn, the sun was lifting slowly above the eastern horizon. Listening to the birds, as they had so often done in Africa, Dawn Drummond-Clayton and Bunduki were kneeling behind the same rock which he and At-Vee the Hunter had used while watching the band of quaggas slightly less than twenty-four hours earlier.
Having conceded defeat and being released by his wife-to-be, the blond giant had told the other three of how he hoped to catch the mare and stallion. Agreeing that the idea had merit, Dawn had suggested that they should spend some time in re-acquainting themselves with handling the boleadoras. As had been the case with the various other types of primitive weapons they had come across in the course of their adoptive family’s extensive travels, they had been taught how to use the devices by acknowledged experts and had attained considerable skill. However, it was some time since either of them had found the need to employ the techniques they had learned. While they had not lost the knack of throwing a boleadora, each had felt it was advisable to practice, and there had also been something else to be made in case their efforts met with success.
