Tandia

by Bryce Courtenay

  Making the clearing had been hard, dirty work and after gathering wood for his campfire and stacking it, ready for when nightfall came, Peekay bathed in the icy mountain stream. Shivering, he found a large rock in a small clearing near his camp, where he lay naked to dry himself in the sun.

  He must have fallen asleep for he woke suddenly, startled by the call of a troop of baboons high up on the cliff face. It was late afternoon. The sun had closed down over the kloof and the baboons were using the last of the afternoon light to find a high ledge in the krans above him where they could spend the night safe from the danger of a night-prowling leopard.

  Peekay put his clothes on and worked quickly to sweep the ash from his clearing, whereupon he spread his groundsheet and blanket and set the rocks for his campfire. Dee and Dum had done a wondrous job of packing his rucksack and his eyes widened in amazement as he came to his food supplies. They lay at the very bottom of his rucksack, under his large Ever-Ready torch, the crampons, his groundsheet, blanket and a small canvas bag which contained salve, a snake-bite kit with a vial of CondY's Crystals, a roll of Elastoplast and a worn cake of yellow Sunlight soap. He removed a small billycan, its lid firmly jammed and then tied shut, and opened it to find it contained a thick beef stew for his dinner. Next to it in the bottom of the rucksack was a large calico bag into which the twins had placed a leg of mutton cooked with rosemary, the tiny dark flecks of rosemary leaf still clinging to the haunch.

  The mutton itself would have been sufficient to last him until he returned home, but there was more to come. They'd placed two eggs in a jam jar and filled it with finely chopped onion so that the onion flakes cushioned the eggs, preventing them from breaking. He searched for the can of bully beef he knew would be there; this, together with the onion and eggs was intended as his breakfast. There was also a container of coffee, a tin of condensed milk, a bar of dark chocolate, a packet of Marie biscuits and two pieces of biltong to chew on if he grew peckish during the day. Finally, there were two oranges and a fat sweet potato for his dessert.

  Peekay warmed the delicious stew and ate it slowly. He hadn't bothered to stop for lunch and he was hungry. The night was filled with the noise of insects and a great moon rose, so that he could see the walls of the cliff right up to the buttress which concealed the opening of the crystal cave of Africa. Doe's spirit would be looking out over the silvered canopy of rainforest to the far mountains beyond the Swaziland border. He might even glance down to see Peekay's fire below and know he'd come back and so would visit him in his dreamtime.

  The stew had warmed Peekay and he decided to skip coffee. He placed all his provisions into the calico bag and pulled the drawstring tight. Taking his torch to light the way he suspended the bag by its drawstring from a low branch over the stream. It would be safe from ants and bushbabies or anything else which chose to visit his campsite while he slept.

  Returning to the fire, he reached for a stick and raked the sweet potato from the glowing embers. Rolling it onto his enamel plate he slit its steaming tummy open. Using a can opener to pierce two small holes into the top of the can of condensed milk, he placed his mouth over one hole and blew, filling the belly of the steaming sweet potato with the thick sugared milk. The intense heat from the potato caused the milk to plop and bubble and turn into caramel, impregnating the soft flesh of the sweet potato. Peekay waited for it to cool down a little before spooning the delicious confection into his mouth.

  After he'd eaten he returned to the stream to wash his billycan, plate, fork and spoon, leaving them in a small running pool to rinse themselves during the night. Then he cleaned his teeth and, returning to the fire, he rubbed himself with citronella oil to ward off the mosquitos which he knew would appear in squadrons the moment the fire died out. Despite his afternoon nap, no sooner had he pulled his blanket over his head than he was asleep.

  Arriving as he did in the early afternoon he could easily have scaled the cliff to the ledge outside the cave, spending an hour there before returning to his campsite. But he'd resolved not to go near the cave until morning. It had been a morning climb when they'd discovered the crystal cave of Africa. Doe always said the brain works best in the early morning, that they had merely to look about them to see that God was an early riser. Early morning was the time he'd always felt closest to Doe and he would return to him in his magic cave when the still, cool world of the high mountains was at its most benign.

  Peekay woke early. Around him the rainforest was shrouded in mist and the bubbling sound of the small brook seemed louder in the dawn stillness. He rose, pulled the blanket about him, and fetched wood. In a few minutes he had a fire going and the billy boiling for coffee. He wanted to be seated on the ledge outside the cave before sun-up so that the first rays of the sun coming up directly behind him would cut through the swirling mist to reveal the great yellowwood tree and beyond it the blue smudge of mountains in the west where Swaziland lay. It was with this magnificent view that he would start his day, as though an image of perfection would prepare him for what was to come.

  Except for the day when they'd discovered it, Peekay had never physically entered the cave again. After Doc's disappearance, when he'd set out to find him, he'd found the gold hunter and the old man's Joseph Rogers pocket knife together with a farewell note and a sheet of musical notation cunningly buried in a rock fault on the ledge immediately outside the cave. He knew immediately that Doc, who had trained him so carefully in the art of observation, had expected him to find these last small tokens of his love and, by the act of concealing them outside, did not wish him to enter the cave. Nor would he enter the cave this time. It was Doc's mystical crystal cathedral and he alone belonged within it. Peekay would visit him again by jumping the stepping stones in the night country. He sipped at his coffee, taking it strong and black, allowing it to warm his stomach, deciding to forego breakfast. Leaving the warmth of the fire he fixed his torch to his belt, together with half-a-dozen crampons and his climbing hammer and rope, and walked into the mist-shrouded rainforest towards the cliff and the crystal cave of Africa. It was difficult going and he made a fair amount of noise; at one point he disturbed a forest duiker, the tiny buck disappearing noisily into the undergrowth.

  Peekay was a fairly experienced climber and the two hundred or so feet to the ledge was not overly difficult. Nevertheless he needed to be careful; his hand was still in plaster and parts of the rock face were wet; visibility was down to a few feet. On several occasions he needed to use the rope and pitons and it took him almost an hour to get to the ledge beside the cave. The sun rising over the cliff above him was cutting away the mist which covered the rainforest canopy far below him and he could see the outline of the giant yellowwood begin to appear almost level with his eyeline as he seated himself, his legs crossed and tucked under him, his hands perfectly relaxed in his lap. He would sit perfectly still, building his concentration by the very act of his stillness, his mind going deeper and deeper into himself, his eyes seeing everything yet nothing as his mind focus sed inwardly.

  He'd been sitting like this for about twenty minutes when he saw the snake appear. Its flat black head and a part of its body rose like a black periscope over the lip of the ledge until, swaying slightly, it was poised level and no more than eighteen inches from Peekay's eyes. He could see directly into the huge snake's anthracite eyes on either side of its wedged head and its darting tongue seemed to have a life of its own as it flicked and tested the air for vibrations to tell it of danger.

  Peekay's concentration was so complete that he wasn't sure whether what he was witnessing was an apparition. The snake seemed too big for a black mamba which, fully grown, is usually around siX feet long. Judging from the breadth of its neck this snake was considerably larger. He felt no fear as his mind measured the part of the snake in front of his eyes, concluding that the deadly reptile was more than ten foot in length. If it struck him, the poison would paralyze his nervous system in less than fift
een minutes and he would die of a massive trauma within an hour.

  The black mamba vision had come to him before in his life, always as a warning when he was in danger. Now, deep into his own head, he was unable to tell whether the snake was real or imagined.

  The sudden bark of a baboon on the cliff face somewhere above him tore the stillness, its echo exploding across the kloof. The snake, who must have sensed danger, triggered by the unexpected noise, struck. Inside Peekay's head the entire action took place in slow motion; the reptile's jaws opening, showing their bright yellow lining and the fangs riding out of their scabbards, then the slight whipping motion as the mamba drew back, and the seemingly infinite time it took for the whiplash strike.

  In fact the process happened in a blur of light and Peekay's reactions must have been equally fast. As the huge snake struck, Peekay's right hand rose instinctively to protect his face. The mamba's needle-sharp fangs sank deeply into the plaster cast as Peekay's left hand came up to grip the mamba behind the head, his thumb pushing the wedgeshaped head down hard into the dirty plaster.

  Peekay, without knowing how, found himself standing upright, holding the deadly mamba, its open jaws forced into his right hand, its powerful body wriggling like a muscled whip with its end still over the edge of the ledge.

  His mind was working surprisingly cleanly and, while his heart was pounding furiously with the rush of adrenalin through his system he realized immediately that if he pulled the snake's deadly jaws clear of his hand he might not have the strength in his left hand to prevent it from striking again. He moved towards the edge of the ledge. This was his best chance. He'd tear the snake's head free from the plaster and release his left hand over the ledge. The fall was almost two hundred feet directly downwards and the huge serpent would dash itself against the jagged outcrop of rock before it hit the forest canopy a hundred and fifty feet below. He moved forward to the edge of the ledge just as the snake's tail rose above it and whipped tightly around his legs.

  The realization that he was trapped struck him like a physical blow and his mind misted with uncertainty as the fear welled up in him, threatening to overwhelm him. The huge snake, its entire length whipped about him, was very strong. Using Peekay's own body as a purchase, it was attempting to force his left hand backwards. But Peekay held its head and jaws pushed deeply into his encased hand. The surface of the plaster where the fangs had entered was wet with the venom milked from the poison ducts behind the snake's hooked fangs. It was sufficient to kill ten men.

  Peekay stood helpless. For some reason he couldn't explain the valley below and the distant mountains seemed to be etched more sharply than he'd ever seen them. Everything was suddenly closer, as though seen through a powerful telescope. The rising sun had vaporized the mist in the kloof below and the yellowwood tree stood clear against a perfectly blue morning sky. He could see the lacework quality of the beard letchin that hung from its branches. For no reason whatsoever the great tree's botanical name popped into his head, Podocarpus falcatus, Outeniqua yellowwood. It was all a part of the bizarre moment in which he realized that in this deadly waiting game, the snake would outlast him.

  The troop of baboons higher up barked raucously and then as suddenly stopped, silent as they left their night shelter and went about their way. Below him in the forest canopy the birds chattered and called to each other. The soft kooka-roo-kooka-roo of a bush dove reached Peekay as he stood helplessly on the high, cold, limestone shelf outside the crystal cave of Africa knowing the strength was going out of his left hand and that it was only a matter of time before the snake would be free to strike again.

  Fear was beginning to cloud his mind again and he fought it, driving it back, trying to regain the bright clarity of moments before. He was going to die, that was for sure; the pain in his thumb was becoming unbearable, spearing up his right arm into his shoulder like a. red-hot poker. He could feel the muscles in his forearm and upper arms begin to weaken. Suddenly his fear turned to an emotion of intense aversion which, in turn, became absolute hate for the creature Which was going to kill him. He thought to bite through the snake's thick neck, to hack through it with his teeth. He looked down at the loathsome creature with its huge jaws locked around his hand. The snake's eyes were open, but appeared sightless; they formulated no plans, they were incapable of intelligence. Instinct alone would drive its tiny reptile brain to resist and make it strike again.

  As suddenly as the hate for the creature had grown in him it was gone and in the calm it left, Doc's voice came clearly to Peekay. Ja that's good, Peekay, now you have seen what is hate. Hate is something that is coming from fear. This snake, it cannot hate, but you can hate because you can fear. Think, Peekay, think what you know about this snake? It is a reptile, it is cold-blooded, all night it is lying under a rock where it is cold. It must be hungry, a snake, a big snake like so, it must warm itself in the sun before it likes to move. But it is hungry and comes early to find the bats in the cave. This snake cannot move so fast, because its metabolism is slowed down. Think also this, you have milked already the venom, see how it runs over your right hand. This snake is' empty, the last drops of poison, they are already out of the sacks behind the fangs and in your right hand. These are the facts, ja? Now you must weigh your courage. If you show no fear, if you conquer your fear and you bend slowly to the ground and put the head of the snake on the ground near the opening of the cave and you take your hand away from behind the head…

  The voice changed, it was no longer Doc's, but the high whine of Inkosi-Inkosikazi. The head, bring the head down slowly to the ground, release your left hand, take away his eyes, the poison is all in your right hand! The', old wizard gave a maniacal chuckle at the clever way he'd paraphrased Doe's instructions. See now if the great devil iNyoka will enter the cave to the bats. Or will it turn and strike you, white boy? Maybe there is still some poison in its fangs?

  Doe's steady, reassuring voice broke in. Ah, Peekay, when you know this then you will be the champion of the world, absoloodle!

  Peekay bent from the waist, releasing the pressure of his left thumb very gradually as he placed his right hand on the stone at his feet while pointing the snake's head to the end of the shelf and in the direction of the cave opening. To his surprise the snake didn't seem to sense the release of pressure on the back of its head. Peekay rubbed the ball of his thumb down the smooth hard head, gently massaging it as he loosened his grip around the snake's neck.

  Slowly the snake disengaged its jaws from the plaster and its head slid over the inert hand, its enormous black body unwinding slowly from around Peekay's legs, sliding after it. The head of the great snake reached the end of the ledge before the last of its body slid over Peekay's motionless hand. Ten feet away from where Peekay now crouched its head rose six or eight inches from the rock surface, its neck swaying slightly in the air over the ledge, tongue flicking incessantly, faster than a human can blink, as though it had a life of its own, a small, black electric creature which lived in the reptile's mouth. Then its neck arched and its head lowered again and dipped below the ledge, moving onto a narrow shelf of rock that led to the concealed entrance of the crystal cave of Africa. Peekay's heart began to pound furiously, robbing him of breath as he watched the body of the deadly reptile follow until the last of its tail disappeared over the end of the limestone shelf. The adrenalin was surging through him again and it took every ounce of his remaining willpower to sit still instead of trying to climb down the cliff face with his broken right hand and his weakened left arm. He would need to remain on the cliff face until his strength returned. Peekay made several attempts to leave the ledge, but his knees would begin to shake and his legs seemed too weak to support him. The snake would feed on the bats in the outer chamber of the great crystal cave and then two possibilities for it existed. It would return the way it had come, passing back over the ledge and down the cliff face to find a warm rock below on which to sleep, or it would come to wait
on the ledge until the sun struck the face of the cliff, where it would remain sleeping all morning and deep into the afternoon until the cliff was once more in shadow, when it would return down the cliff face to conceal itself under a warm rock at its base.

  The day was not turning out the way Peekay had planned it. He had thought to take himself down into the night country and, as he had done many times before, jump the ten stones across the river, where he hoped his trance might take him into the crystal cave of Africa where he could talk with Doc. Instead, as he jumped the final stone across the roaring moonlit gorge in his transcendental consciousness, the snake had come to him in slow motion, ripping away the veiled fabric of his imagination and hurling him back into conscious presence. He was not sure now whether it was Doc or the great medicine man Inkosi-Inkosikazi who had come to him. The voice had been Doe's but the sequence, the liaison between his subconscious and conscious minds, had been typically the work of the old witchdoctor.

  Peekay realized suddenly that both had played a part in what had happened, that contained in him was an ambivalence: part Doc with his precise, reasoning European mind, and part the ancient black man of Africa with his powerful wizardry. He was the mind-child of both. It was this strange dichotomy which the people saw and responded to when they called him the Tadpole Angel. Both beings had reached out with their different wisdom to answer the urgent questions on his mind, both men were his shadows, destined to watch over him.

  What was it Doc had said? You can hate because you can fear. Peekay knew he could fear, had feared, still feared; he'd been running since he was a child. If he could conquer the fear, would that be stronger than hate? Was that what Inkosi-Inkosikazi meant when he challenged him to lay the snake's head down? See now if the great devil iNyoko. will enter the cave of bats. Or will he turn and strike you? Then Doc's quiet reassuring voice: Ah, Peekay, when you know this you will be the champion of the world, absoloodle!