Acacia - Secrets of an African Painting

by Paul Bondsfield

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN - IN THE BUSH

  We drove through the little settlement of Silobela and on towards Nkayi, all the time watching the hills, waiting for a match between them and the painting that Tara still clutched firmly next to me. As the miles unfurled though, she grew more despondent, the view of the hills not changing dramatically mostly because of their distance from where we were.

  About twenty kilometres from Nkayi, the road crossed the Shangani River and we were now officially in Matabeleland. Despite my pessimism, I felt a slight thrill knowing that at last we were entering the lands of the Matabele Nation, as this was truly the land to which Frederick had trekked so long ago.

  After this, but still before Nkayi, the road took a wide sweeping turn to the north before it entered the town itself and at this point, Tara seemed to perk up a bit, although she still said nothing. By now it was late in the day and I was all for stopping here for the night, carrying on with the search the next day. She was having none of it though.

  ‘No James, come on, we’ve come this far, we just have to go on now. We’ve got the camping gear in the back; we can sleep out in the bush tonight. It’ll be great.’

  She sounded almost normal at this point, her insistent tone more like the Tara of old and the sharp orders she had been giving earlier had disappeared for a while. I thought about it for a second or two. We did have the camping gear, borrowed from Katie and Albert, and the thought of sleeping out in the bush was appealing, a bit of an adventure in itself. It didn’t occur to me that we had already been having an adventure, part of which included a promise of someone’s imminent death. The Braughton in me had probably pushed those thoughts into the land of improbability, so I agreed.

  ‘Okay, you win, but let’s just get some provisions here first and then we can go on.’

  ‘Great.’ She smiled again, just like the old Tara.

  Out of the corner of my eye as we loaded the food into the back of the car, I spied a ‘bakkie’ drive slowly into the settlement on the road we had just come in on. I couldn’t see who was inside because of the sun’s glare on the windscreen, but I felt as if the occupants were watching us. The truck pulled in behind a small shed further up the street and disappeared from my view. I gazed up the street, waiting to see if anyone appeared from the side of the building, but there was no movement. Tara tugged my sleeve in her impatience to get going, so I shrugged off the feeling of disquiet and jumped into the front seat again. We drove slowly out of the town and I kept an eye on the rear-view mirror, expecting to see the bakkie reappear, but there was nothing. I relaxed again after a while, concentrating on the road ahead.

  ‘The Lupane is about twenty K’s out of town,’ Tara said as we drove, plotting our course on the large scale map we had picked up in Kwekwe, ‘so I suggest we head off into the bush at that point and make a camp near the river itself. What do you think?’

  ‘Sounds like a plan.’ I replied, actually glad now that we were at last getting close to something, although I realised that we were still only guessing at the location of Frederick’s hiding place.

  As I looked out at the unchanging scenery, I saw that in places there were stands of acacia trees, a point that Tara picked up on too as she delightedly grasped my arm, her face lighting up again.

  At precisely twenty kilometres from Nkayi, I slowed the car and looked for a suitable place to leave the road and head out into the bush itself. I found a spot where the ditch had filled in a little and turned the wheel, navigating over the bumpy edge and out onto the flat earth. Instantly everything changed. All we could see in front of us was nature, nothing manmade came into view at all and I realised just how remote this area really was. I swallowed hard and flicked the switch to engage the four-wheel drive and gently pressed my foot down on the accelerator, the powerful engine revved as the car surged forward into the wilderness.

  It was only about fifteen minutes into our bush drive when the night suddenly came sweeping down on us. From the first signs of dusk, it was fully dark in what seemed liked minutes. This was the way night fell here in Africa I had noticed suddenly, and without warning. I had switched the headlights on already and the twin beams reflected off the tall grass ahead of us. I was worried about hitting a rock or driving into a ditch or hole out here and so I slowed the car down and eventually stopped.

  With the engine turned off, the full impact of the silence of the African night pressed in on us. It was not silence as you might find in the countryside in Hampshire though; it was bigger than that, and at the same time filled with the noises of the creatures that came out at night. The mechanical whirring of the cicadas was most evident, but underneath that constant din there were other sounds, unidentifiable, and impossible to pinpoint.

  ‘I don’t think we should drive any further tonight.’ The sound of my voice was loud in the car’s interior. ‘I’m worried we may damage the car, so we’ll just have to pitch camp here and carry on when it’s light.’

  ‘Okay, that’s a good idea.’ Tara sounded just a bit nervous now that the full enormity of the bush at night had become apparent to her too.

  We hopped out and I went to the back of the car to get the tent and other equipment.

  ‘Why don’t we just sleep under the stars?’ Tara suggested, ‘It’s a warm night and the hassle of putting the tent up now just seems too great to worry about.’

  It seemed like a good idea, so I just grabbed the sleeping rolls and spread them out on the ground. Albert had shared some basic tips for camping out in the bush, the first being that we should always cook and sleep in separate locations, at least twenty or thirty yards apart. If any animal smells the food and comes to investigate, you don’t want to be too close to it at the time, fast asleep. That made good sense to me, so I took the little gas stove some distance away and lit it, putting a kettle full of water on top. We decided to sleep near to the car though, so that it would be easy to get inside if anything did disturb our night’s rest.

  After a delicious meal of baked beans, eggs, and bacon washed down with a nice cup of tea, we turned in. I looked up at the sky as I lay there, in wonder at the stars that seemed to be so much brighter than I had ever noticed before and in such large quantities. The Milky Way was starkly apparent, splashing its way across the sky. I looked for the Southern Cross, the one constellation I had learned about after Frederick’s mention of it in his diary. I fell asleep just staring at that great landmark and drifted dreamlessly into unconsciousness.

  It could have been a minute or an hour later when I felt something moving next to me. I froze instantly, scared out of my wits, but ready to jump up and run if needs be. As I waited for the movement to come again, I felt a weight on my legs, a weight that moved slowly from one side to the other in a long slithering movement. I held my breath, not wanting to antagonise the snake that was investigating this new lump in its territory. I felt it heading towards Tara who lay close, wrapped in her sleeping bag and at this moment, still sleeping soundly.

  I prayed that she would not wake as the reptile got closer to her and prayed again that she would stay still and silent if she did wake. A sudden muted yelp from my left told me she had woken, but the ensuing silence told me that my prayer had been answered and she too had frozen while the snake checked her out.

  ‘Just don’t move a muscle.’ I whispered, probably needlessly as she seemed to be doing just that anyway.

  ‘I’m bloody well not.’ She hissed back.

  After another minute or so, I heard her relax and I assumed that our nocturnal visitor had disappeared. Just then there was a wail in the far distance, maybe a bird or another night animal, but too far away to bother us I figured. That was enough for Tara though, she gave a little shriek and rolled over to me, pressing herself to me and wrapping her arms around my body in a fierce hug.

  ‘Oh Jesus, we’re going to get eaten.’ Her voice quavered as she clung on tight.

  I laughed gently, dismissing her fear. ‘Don’t worry, there’s nothing here to eat us, it’s
just a couple of animals doing their rounds.’ I reassured her. ‘Would you rather sleep in the car?’ I asked.

  She hesitated for a minute, obviously listening out for any more strange noises before committing herself. ‘No, it’s okay,’ she said, ‘as long as you don’t mind me sleeping here like this.’ She snuggled in a little more, making herself comfortable and giving me little choice in the matter.

  ‘That’ll be fine,’ I answered her, ‘just don’t hold on too tight or you’ll cut off the blood supply to my brain.’ She gave a little giggle at that and then was silent, almost immediately dropping back into a deep slumber.

  I lay there wishing I could do the same, but soon found myself drifting off. Just before I finally fell right under, I thought I heard a distant car engine. I strained to hear more, but that African silence enveloped me once more, so I assumed it was just someone out on the road somewhere, heading home for the night.