However, it was not Paul but Fabian who came striding towards her. He looked annoyed and once more Perry felt the surge of irritation that she usually had in any encounter with him.
'Where the hell do you think you've been, Perry? The sun will have set before we get back to camp unless we make quicker progress than this. Why the devil did Paul let you wander off alone?'
'It wasn't anything to do with Paul. I decided to go and do some photography on my own. Surely, Fabian, that's what I'm here for?'
'Not by yourself. I thought you understood that when I left the two of you here. I didn't expect you to go off on your own. Paul's a careless devil. He should never have allowed it.'
Perry was so eager to tell of her discovery that she felt impatient of his bad temper. She put her hand on his arm as if to stop him and he looked surprised.
'Fabian, please listen to me. I followed some tracks of small footprints. There's a Bushman village over there.'
He looked so transformed, so thrilled, his grey eyes shining with delight, that she hated to say the next words.
'I'm afraid it's abandoned. They were there, but they've gone.'
His expression changed.
'Why did you let me think ... oh, well, forget it. We'd better go back to the party. You look tired. But Samgau and I will go to have a look at your village.'
'I'd like to come too. Please let me.'
'You'll delay us.'
'No, I'll be able to show you exactly where it is.'
She waited while he went a little distance and summoned Samgua. She was glad she had overruled him, but when she started back rather wearily on the long trail she did not know whether after all it had been a very good idea. She tried to keep up to Fabian's pace, but he and the Bushman Samgau were very quick and she was almost panting when eventually they reached the spot. And then Samgau was not at all impressed. 'He says,' Fabian informed her flatly, 'that they've been gone from here for some weeks.'
'But the footprints ... they were fairly distinct.'
Fabian smiled with little humour. She could see that he was bitterly disappointed and trying not to show it.
'In the desert, tracks remain for a long time. There's only the wind to blow away the footprints.'
When they returned to the place where they had left the truck, Paul was sitting reading a book of modern poetry. Ken was fiddling inside the engine, but Samantha greeted them rather sulkily, though she quickly disguised it as she spoke to Fabian.
'We were getting quite nervous - thought someone had been eaten by a leopard at the very least. What kept you? Perry seems to have a knack of getting lost with one or other of our men.'
Fabian sounded a bit annoyed. But whether it was because of Samantha's remarks or a delayed anger against herself, Perry hesitated to decide.
'Perry thought she'd found a Bushman settlement. In fact she did, but it was an old one, hence the delay.'
'Oh, poor Fabian, what a disappointment! You must have been so mad to have your hopes raised and then dashed like that. How could you do it to him, Perry?'
Samantha had put her arm through Fabian's and was raising her lips poutingly and appealing towards him. Perry intercepted a frown from Ken who had emerged from the engine in time to witness this scene. Perry shrugged her shoulders. She was determined not to be riled by Samantha's cattiness, yet her usual good spirits had left her, hot, weary and disappointed as she was. She felt the rest of the party were equally tired and were putting all the blame on her for the fact that they were still out in the desert whereas by this time they had hoped to be almost back at camp and within reach of a cool sponge-down and heartening drink.
But worse was to follow. When they arrived back at the camp just as the sun was setting in a fiery haze of dusky splendour, the cook-boy, Joshua, came away from tending the stove and spoke rapidly to Samgau.
'What's all the excitement about?' asked Ken, who was the only member of party besides Fabian who was still displaying any energy. He strode over and joined in the conversation, then called to Fabian.
'Joshua says some Bushmen came to the camp about an hour ago, but when he said the white man wanted to see them, he couldn't persuade them to stay. They were afraid you would take them far away to work on a farm.'
Fabian gave an exclamation of exasperation.
'My heavens, it's just the opposite! I want to see how they live here, not on a farm. I want to study them in their natural habitat.'
Ken shook his head sympathetically.
'It's damn hard luck, but you know they have reason to be timid because many of them have been taken to work as serfs for white or African farmers and often they never see their families again.'
'When did they go?'
'Only about half an hour ago. If we'd come just a little earlier we might have seen them. But it's too dark to track them now and in the morning they might be miles away. They can go at a terrific pace if they think they're in danger of being captured.'
It was a rather subdued group who ate their supper by the light of the hurricane lamps. Fabian was obviously brooding over this missed opportunity. Samantha was bored and, after eating a very little of the meal, she went and sat under a tree plucking at the strings of her guitar, playing the same few notes over and over again. Perry, her nerves already taut, could have screamed. Why, oh, why had she allowed herself to be persuaded to come on this expedition with this exasperating group of people? She had not even had an opportunity today for taking many photographs and tonight everyone was in a bad mood. She glanced at Fabian. I suppose he's blaming me for the fact that we missed the Bushmen, she thought. If I hadn't insisted on following that old trail... but how could I possibly know?
They were all glad to retire early, but Perry lay wakeful in her little green tent wishing herself back in her Johannesburg penthouse far away from this uncomfortable place where everything she did seemed to be wrong.
When she woke the morning was chilly, and yet to Perry the tent seemed stifling. It was because she felt in a thoroughly rebellious mood, she decided. She must get away and find a little peace. What better place than the waterhole? She could not possibly lose her way and, although Fabian had taken the precaution of accompanying her on the first day, he could hardly be expected to act as nursemaid every time she wanted to take a photograph. There seemed to be only a little game around in the desert at this time of the year, and as for lions, surely they would have heard them if they were near.
She peeped out of the tent when she had dressed. Fabian was nowhere to be seen. She thought he might have decided to sleep in one of the trucks since the night was cold. Good, she could go by herself and risk his displeasure. Anything to experience a calm still morning taking photographs, doing the work she loved and trying to get over her irritation. But she was not to get away so easily. She had just crossed the little pan when she heard someone coming with light footsteps from the direction of the camp.
'Hi, Perry, wait for me!' It was Samantha's voice. 'Where are you going? Can I come too? I've been awake for hours. I'm not used to going to bed so early.'
'Yes, you can come, if you promise to keep quiet,' Perry answered a little sharply.
She had wanted to be alone and did not really want Samantha's company, but she could hardly forbid her to come. And knowing Samantha, she would not take any notice even if she did.
'I'm beginning to tire of this trip already,' Samantha complained. 'Everyone giving orders all the time. I thought I'd be free in a beautiful desert and what do I find? Everyone is so careful and cautious, we might as well be looking out for the traffic on the Mi.'
'I suppose you have to be protected in a country like this. It's very wild, remember.'
'Who cares? I thought it would be adventurous to come to the Kalahari, something to tell all my friends who boast about hitch-hiking in Turkey , or travelling through India, but between my father and Fabian, I can't see much prospects of anything thrilling happening. If it wasn't that Fabian is so madly attractive, I'd ask
Paul if I could go home tomorrow.'
'But we've hardly started the journey yet,' Perry protested. They were approaching the waterhole. 'I think we'd better stop talking, otherwise there'll be no animals there to photograph.'
Again Perry sat near the waterhole hidden by the bush and long grass, and Samantha kept reasonably quiet. Some reddish brown impala were drinking at the water, stopping to cast cautious glances from side to side.
'Only old impalas again,' grumbled Samantha. 'We seem to have seen hundreds of the creatures since we set out.'
'Sh!...' said Perry.
Two giraffes were approaching through the bushes. With their rocking-horse gait they looked like gigantic toys. They splayed their long thin legs out and bent awkwardly to drink. Perry got some good shots of them. Well, she would have plenty of photographs of giraffes if she got nothing else. Small birds were flying amongst the reeds on the water's edge and she adjusted her telescopic lens and got some good shots of them. As she looked through it preparing for another shot, she gave a start.
'What did you see?' Samantha whispered. Perry shook her head, a little bewildered. Now that she looked again she could not be certain. The brownish reeds waved in the fresh morning breeze. Had she imagined it or had she really seen the small brown face, heart-shaped with dark slanting eyes, peering at her between the grass?
'I thought I saw a face. I couldn't be sure,' she told Samantha.
'I'll go and see,' Samantha volunteered, interested at last, and, before Perry could stop her, she had gone, walking quietly in her soft moccasin-type shoes, but disturbing the flock of little yellow birds. Perry hesitated, then started packing her camera equipment so that she would be ready as soon as Samantha returned from her excursion into the bushes on the further side of the pan.
She scanned the reeds again with her binoculars in search of the little face, but if it had ever been there it had gone now. What was that? Her heart seemed to stop beating in her incredulous surprise and then started knocking so loudly against her ribs that she could hardly hear her own startled shallow breathing. For she could see a lioness quite distinctly through the power glasses, although with the naked eye it was barely discernible in the grass that was almost the same colour of tawny gold as the pelt rippling with vigorous muscle as the lioness crouched, its amber eyes fixed motionlessly on the group of impala at the water's edge. And Samantha was somewhere in that bush, creeping quietly in the same direction, quite unaware that she was in deadly danger if she got between the lioness and her prey.
What could Perry do? Should she go after her and warn her? But she could not even see her and perhaps it would be better to keep her eye on the lioness and watch her movements, then if she saw Samantha approaching too near she could make a commotion and startle the lioness before the girl got too near to the beast. How she wished now that she had heeded Fabian's advice about not going to the waterhole unless accompanied by someone who could guard them.
Then to her infinite relief she saw Samantha retracing her steps. The lioness had not even noticed her, so concentrated was she on watching her prey, and evidently they were downwind of her so she had not caught their scent. But as Samantha came within a few yards of their hiding place Perry's relief turned to dismay. Samantha crouched down beside her smiling triumphantly.
'Just look what I've found!' she said.
In her arms was a small lion cub not much bigger than a puppy.
'You must be crazy!' Perry gasped. 'Look over there!'
The lioness was still crouching, intent on the antelope.
'Oh, God!' exclaimed Samantha. 'I thought the little thing was lost. It must belong to her. What can we do?'
'It must go back before she notices it's gone.'
'I can't... Perry, I just can't take it back.'
'I'll come with you. You'll have to show me where you found it. The lioness will be occupied with her kill for some time, I think. There's no immediate danger.'
Perry said this in order to reassure Samantha, for she had to persuade her to come too, otherwise she would not know where to replace the cub. But she did not feel as sure of herself as she had sounded. She breathed a prayer that the lioness would remain occupied with watching the impala and started walking quietly towards the bush. But they had only advanced a few steps when with the suddenness of a clap of thunder the whole place erupted with the sounds of a lion kill. An agonized whinny was cut short followed by fierce growling. The lioness had sprung upon the antelope, bringing it down with its powerful claws and sinking her teeth into the jugular vein. Samantha, her nerves already badly shaken, let out a scream and. the cub mewed in her arms. The lioness struggling with the kicking death throes of its prey sprang away and turned in the direction of the cub's call.
'Oh, God, she's seen us!' Samantha breathed.
But the lioness made a small noise as if to reassure her offspring and turned back to her task. The cub, now thoroughly aroused by its mother's voice, mewed louder.
'Give it to me,' said Perry, taking a sudden decision. 'I'll take it as far into the bush as I can. If she moves away, shout to me.'
She moved rapidly and quietly with the squirming cub, spurred on by her exasperation with Samantha and so angry that she scarcely realized how terrified she was. She had only gone a few yards when she heard Samantha's shout.
'She's coming, Perry! Put down the cub and run!'
But it was too late. She heard a crashing sound as the lion leaped through the reeds and bush surrounding the waterhole. Then it was in the open only a few yards from where she stood scarcely concealed by the sparse undergrowth, the little cub mewing in her hands.
'Stand dead still, Perry.'
It was Fabian's voice, and she did exactly as she was told. A shot rang out and the lion collapsed like a rag toy only a matter of six yards from her. In spite of the gathering heat of the day, Perry's body had turned to ice and she found herself unable to move. Fabian strode across to her. His face was dark with anger.
'What in heaven's name possessed you to take that cub? What a damn fool thing to do! If I hadn't been coming to look for you and heard Samantha's scream...
well, don't let's think of it.'
Perry had never done such a thing before, but she felt as if the blood were draining away from her heart and black shadows swirled in front of her vision.
'Now, for God's sake, don't faint on me. I knew I was a fool in the first place to consent to take women in this party.'
With a terrific effort of will, Perry shook off the threatening unconsciousness. Afterwards she wondered how she had managed this, but decided it must have been sheer anger rather than the bracing effect of his words.
'I'm all right,' she said. 'I've never seen anything shot dead before.'
'And I would never have shot it if it hadn't been completely necessary. Poor beast, that had to die because of your foolishness, one moment full of life and vigour and the next limp and useless. Don't be under the illusion that I enjoy killing things - I hate it.'
He scowled at her and went over to look at the lioness. The cub struggled in her arms and Perry let it go. Here was another problem. It ran to its dead mother and nuzzled her, puzzled by her lack of animation. Perry felt stricken by Fabian's condemnation. It was true, she felt, it had been her fault. She should never have let Samantha go out of her sight.
Samantha sidled up to her.
'Too bad that had to happen, Perry. You won't tell Fabian that I took the cub in the first place, will you? Be my friend. I adore him. I'd hate to be in his bad books and you don't even like him. It doesn't matter to you.'
No, it did not, thought Perry, as later she tried to eat a belated breakfast. It only injured her self-esteem to have Fabian think she was so foolish as to take a little cub from its mother and cause the mother's death. She bitterly regretted the whole episode. She had undertaken to care for the cub. Fabian said they could find a home in a game reserve for it if it lived. That she was determined it should do.
CHAPTER FIVE
Perry was glad that next day Fabian decided to leave their present camp near the waterhole and move further into the desert. She had been kept busy feeding the little lion on dried milk and minced up meat and she had not had much time to think about the incident in which she might easily have lost her life. At the time she had quite forgotten about the original cause of the happening, the little face that she had seen or thought she had seen in the reeds near the waterhole. When she did remember it again she was afraid to mention it in case it had all been the consequence of her imagination. She thought she was unpopular enough with Fabian already without arousing his hopes about the Bushmen again only to have them dashed.
But strange to say Fabian seemed to have recovered his good spirits next morning. He was smiling as he said, 'I want you right here next to me and then I can see to it personally that you get into no more trouble.'
In spite of a certain sulkiness on Samantha's part she had to accept Fabian's command to sit in the other truck with Paul and Ken while Samgau sat on the top of Fabian's truck. From there he could survey the landscape and notice any movement in the grass and shrubs. Although it seemed a rather perilous perch, he seemed quite happy about it and was prepared to signal by knocking on the roof of the cab if he saw any sign of life.
Sweet Roots and Honey Page 5
