Elephant Song - Smith Wilbur. Страница 33

Desperately he dragged himself into the cover of the reeds, sliding his body over the springing mattress of papyrus, the maimed leg slithering after him.

Deep in the reeds, he paused at last and rolled on to his back to look back the way that he had come.  His breathing whistled in his throat as he saw the trail of blood that he had laid through the water.

He grabbed his own knee, lifted the wounded leg above the surface and stared at it in disbelief.

His foot was gone and white bone protruded from the mangled flesh.

His blood spurted and dribbled from the severed vessels so that he floated in a red-brown cloud.  Tiny silver fish, excited by the smell of it, darted through the stained water, gobbling the strings and morsels of tattered meat.

Quickly Sali lowered his good leg and tried to touch bottom.

The water closed over his head, but his right foot groped unavailingly for the Zambezi's mud bed.  He came to the surface again coughing and choking.  He was well out of his depth, with only the thick reeds , to support him.

Far away across the river he heard the sound of gunfire, and then the high-pitched whine of the returning assault craft.  It drew closer and closer, until abruptly it sank to a faint burbling sound and he heard voices.  He realised that they were searching the edge of the reedbeds for him, and he shrank down lower in the water.

A cold lethargy was stealing over him as his life-blood leaked away into the river, but he forced himself to rally and began to edge away, deeper into the reeds, towards the Zambian bank of the river.  He pushed gently into an opening in the reeds It was the size of a tennis court enclosed by a palisade of tall swaying papyrus.  The surface was paved with the flat circular green leaves of the water-lilies and their blooms raised lovely cerulean heads to the early sunlight.  Their perfume was sweet and delicate on the still air.

Suddenly Sali froze with only his head above the surface.

Something moved beneath the water-lilies.  The water pushed and bulged while the blossoms nodded their heads to the weighty and stealthy movement passing beneath them.

Soli knew what it was.  His thick liver-coloured lips split open and he drooled with terror.  His blood drifted away on the lily-strewn waters and the thing beneath moved with greater authority and determination, homing in on the tantalizing taste of blood.

Soli was a brave man.  Very few things in this world could frighten him.

However, this was a creature from another world, the secret cold world beneath the waters.  His bowels evacuated uncontrollably as terror released his sphincter muscle, and this fresh odour in the water brought the creature to the surface.

A head like a log, black and gnarled and shiny with wetness, pushed through the lilies.  Its beady saurian eyes were Set On protruding barklike knobs and it grinned at Sali , with ragged fangs protruding over uneven lips.  The wreath of lily blossoms draped across its hideous brow gave the creature a sardonic menace.

Suddenly the great tail broke the surface, double-ridged and crested as it threshed the surface to foam, driving the long scaly body forward with astonishing speed.

Sali screamed.

Isaac stood at the control console and drove the long hull deeper into the papyrus.  The tough fibrous stems wrapped around the propeller shaft and slowed the boat, bringing it to a gradual standstill.

They ran to the bows and, grabbing handfuls of papyrus, dragged themselves forward until abruptly they burst into a small patch of open water.  Directly in front of the bows there was an enormous disturbance in the water.  Sheets of spray were thrown into the sunlight, and splattered over their heads.

In the foam an enormous scaly body rolled and roiled, flashing its butter yellow belly, the long tail cock-scombed with sharp scales thrashing the water white.

For an instant a human arm was flung upwards.  It was a gesture of entreaty, of terrified supplication.  Isaac leaned over the side and seized the wrist.  The skin was wet and slippery but Isaac reinforced his grip with both hands and leaned back with all his weight.  He could not hold Sali and the weight of the reptile together.  The wrist began to slip through his grip until one of the rangers leapt to his side and grabbed Sali's arm at the elbow.

Together, inch by inch, they dragged the man's body from the water.

like a man on the torture rack.  He was stretched out between the men at one end and the dreadful reptile below the surface.

The other ranger leaned out over the gunwale and fired a burst of automatic fire into the water.  The high-velocity bullets exploded on the surface as though they had hit a steel plate and had no effect except to send needles of spray into the eyes of Isaac and the ranger at the rail.

Stop id Isaac panted at him.

You'll hit one of us!

The ranger dropped the rifle and seized Sali's free arm.

Now there were three men taking sides in the gruesome tug of-war.

Slowly they dragged Sali's body from the water, until the reptile's huge scaly head was exposed.

Its fangs were buried in the front of Sali's belly.  The crocodile's teeth lack shearing edges.  It dismembers its prey by locking on and then rolling its entire body in the water to twist off a limb or a hunk of flesh.  As they held Sali stretched over the gunwale, the creature flicked its tail and rolled.  Ssali's belly was ripped open.  The crocodile heaved backwards with its fangs still locked in his flesh and stripped Sali's entrails out of him.

With the release of the strain at one end, the three men were able to heave Sali's body on board.  However, the crocodile still held its grip. Although his writhing form lay on the deck, Sali's entrails were stretched over the side, a glistening fleshy tangle of tubes and ribbons like some grotesque umbilical cord that linked him to his fate.

The crocodile jerked again with the full weight and strength of the long tail.  The ribbon of guts snapped and Sali screamed for the last time and died on the bloody deck.

For a while there was silence in the boat broken only by the hoarse panting of the three men who had tried to rescue him.

They stared in horrified fascination at Sali's mutilated corpse until Isaac Mtwetwe whispered softly, I could not have chosen a more fitting death for you.  He spoke in formal ceremonial Shana.  Go not peacefully, O Sali , evil one, and may all your foul deeds accompany you on your journey.  There were no prisoners, Isaac told Daniel Armstrong.  Did you say none?  Daniel shouted.  The telephone connection was scratchy and faint, with heavy atmospheric interference from the thunderstorm raging further down the valley.  None, Danny, Isaac raised his voice.  Eight dead ones, but the rest of the gang were either eaten by crocs or escaped back into Zambia.  What about ivory, Isaac?  Did they have tusks with them?

Yes, they were all carrying ivory, but it was lost in the river when the canoes went down.  Damn it to hell, Daniel muttered.  It would be much more difficult now to convince the authorities that the bulk of the ivory was taken out from Chiwewe in the refrigerator trucks.

The trail to Ning Cheng Gong was growing colder with every hour that passed.

There is a police unit on its way from here to the headquarters camp at Chiwewe, he told Isaac.  Yes, Danny.  They are here at the moment.

I'm going to join them as soon as I have made arrangements to fly my wounded ranger out to Harare.  I want to see what these bastards did to Johnny Nzou.  Listen, Isaac, I, m going to follow up the only lead I've got.