by S G Read
Ray started eating. ‘We send out the cars the same and sweep it into the area where it will come out of the cave with the plane hot on it’s heels; Will will be there to stop it’s escape this time with his rifle. Make sure you don’t end up on the menu though Will, we need your expertise.’
‘I don’t plan to get eaten today Ray.’ Will answered. ‘Besides Barry is coming with me as back up.’
‘What; I get eaten instead of you?’ Barry asked.
‘That is the general idea Barry.’ Will answered with a smile.
‘At least I know.’ Barry replied.
Ray finished his breakfast.
‘Let’s do it then, there is a tiger out there which is not going to eat any more of our children.’ He declared as he stood up. The cars escorted Justine and Jericho to the plane. Terry had elected to stay indoors, as she did not want to get eaten by a tiger. They watched each gate close after they had gone through and then watched Justine take off. This was her second take off from the road and she did it perfectly. As soon as she was airborne the cars set off to the area by the cave. Will and Barry drove to the front gate. As they drove up to it they saw one of the elephants standing there.
‘Problem Ray.’ Barry called into the radio. ‘There is an elephant waiting at the main gate and I don’t think I could stop it from coming in if it wanted to and we opened the gate.’
‘Try to frighten it off; if that doesn’t work I’ll get Justine to swoop on it.’ Ray answered.
Will drove at the gate, beeping his horn as he did so but the elephant just stood and looked at them.
‘That worked well.’ Barry declared. ‘You could shoot it.’
‘How would we get it out of the way then?’ Will answered.
‘We can see the tiger it is outside.’ Jericho cried into the radio. ‘Is everyone ready?’
‘Hell no.’ Barry replied. ‘There is an elephant road block.’
‘Is it near the cave?’ Ray asked.
‘No not yet.’ Jericho answered.
‘Will get back to the manor house and set up in one of the top bedrooms at the back and we’ll get Justine to drive it through and hopefully into your sights.’ Ray ordered. ‘James and Clem get up there and make sure the elephant doesn’t break in.’
‘We are on our way.’ James answered.
Will turned the car round and drove back to the manor house; they parked in the front and hurried inside.
‘We think it is best from my bedroom.’ A woman called from the top of the stairs.
Will ran up the stairs with Barry following, normally he would be out scouting around but not with a tiger on the prowl. They followed her to what was obviously her bedroom but Will shook his head.
‘Is there and attic window?’ He asked.
‘Yes.’ The woman answered and hurried away, with the two men following.
They climbed up a narrow staircase and she led them through a door which had been shaped to fit the roof with one corner cut at an angle. It was another bedroom and the window was on the other side of the bed. Will knelt on the bed and opened the window.
‘This is more like it!’ He exclaimed and settled himself down.
Barry knelt beside him.
‘We are ready.’ Barry announced into the radio when Will was ready.
‘Get going Justine.’ Ray called. ‘And let us know what is going on.’
‘A ball by ball commentary coming up.’ Jericho declared. ‘We are just turning’-
‘Banking! It’s called banking!’ Justine yelled from beside him.
‘Banking; we are just banking. Now we are heading for the last sighting of our quarry. No sign yet. Still no sign. Movement to our right could be him. No a couple of sheep, we’ll round them up later.’
‘He might be stalking them.’ Clem warned.
‘Can you get closer to the sheep Justine?’ Jericho asked.
‘We are banking again, nearly lost my breakfast then. Closer to the sheep now, yup there he is and he doesn’t look too happy to see us!’
‘My heart bleeds for him.’ Ralph said sarcastically.
‘His will, if he comes my way.’ Will declared.
‘When you lot have finished I’ll get on with my ball by ball.’ Jericho reprimanded. ‘He’s heading for the cave, no he’s sheared off: Came face to face with an elephant!’
‘It’s not ours; ours is still here watching us watching him or her.’ Clem declared.
‘Can’t you tell yet?’ Barry asked.
‘I’m not looking in case I get disappointed later.’ Clem answered.
‘Thanks a bunch.’ James complained.
‘He’s gone into the bushes and we can’t see him any more.’ Jericho continued.
‘Two cars stay either side of the manor house, the rest drive to the gate, frighten the elephant away then go and chase the tiger into the trap.’ Ray ordered.
‘Moving.’ Ralph called back. ‘We’ll let you know when we are in place.’
The cars not parked to keep watch for the tiger drove up to the gate, their horns blaring and their engines revving. It did the trick; the elephant turned and ambled away in the direction of its favourite tree. They waited until it had gone far enough, then opened the gate, before it closed again Clem drove through and out into tiger country.
‘Were we supposed to go as well?’ James asked.
‘Don’t know and don’t care.’ Clem answered. ‘I liked Billy and we didn’t save him just to be eaten like an antelope.’
‘I only asked.’ James retorted. He pulled an elephant gun from behind the seat.
‘Wow.’ Clem cried, suitably impressed.
‘Just in case it comes our way: It is not going to eat you or me!’
They waited for the gates to close then followed the others trying to catch up.
‘Okay we are ready to flush him out Ray.’ Ralph said when all the cars were in place. He had tried to send Clem back but she was having none of it, so she was in place and the cordon was that much closer together, which was really not a bad outcome.
They drove forward slowly making as much noise as they could, the plane was circling overhead they were looking for the tiger as well and it was all too much for the tiger. It suddenly appeared in front of Clem’s car, roared and turned away. Clem and James looked at each other.
‘I think we found it.’ Clem announced stating the obvious.
‘I think I need to change my pants.’ James replied. ‘We have it in front of us.’ He cried into the radio.
‘Where are you then?’ Ray asked. ‘You are supposed to be by the main gate!’
‘Oh we thought that when the elephant went away we should help the others.’ Clem answered glibly.
‘Keep it going towards the cave and I am going to tan your hides when you get back! Both of you!’ Ray replied tersely.
The tiger was herded forward and they tried to get it to go round the elephant but it was more wary of the elephant than them and jumped up onto one of the other cars. James opened the sun roof of Clem’s car and aimed at the tiger.
‘Don’t hit Brian!’ Clem warned.
James aimed high and fired. The elephant fled as did the tiger. Car doors opened to seem like the flapping ears of an elephant and the tiger turned, with nothing between it and the cave he hurried inside.
‘The tiger is in the cave.’ Ralph declared. ‘We’ll cork up the bottle.’
The cars parked round the cave entrance and all their weapons were pointed at the mouth of the cave, daring the tiger to show itself again.
‘Did you hear Will?’ Ray asked.
‘I heard.’ Will replied his eyes looking all around for some sign of the tiger.
Barry was doing the same but they were both looking nearer the fence, than nearer the manor house. They heard an ‘I can see it!’ and tried to find it. When they did it was right near the manor house, in the cemetery. Will calmly took aim as the tiger walked warily through the long grass in there. He pulled the trigger and the tiger dropped to t
he floor. He aimed and fired again just to make sure before he picked up the radio.
‘We have a new rug.’ He announced happily. ‘Can you send a team through the cave to let us know where it comes out, we nearly missed seeing it?’
‘Did you hear that Ralph?’ Ray asked.
‘I heard; no shortage of volunteers out here; not now.’
‘Could have been two of them.’ Will warned.
‘We’ll be careful.’ Ralph replied.
‘I’ll watch to see if another one does come out; no one is wearing stripes are they?’ Will asked.
‘No, we thought it was inappropriate.’ Ralph answered.
He jumped out of his car with his rifle at the ready and walked over to Clem’s car.
‘You two stay here and keep watch.’ He raised his voice. ‘Brian you do the same.’
Brian gave him a thumbs up. Had he been asked to go in he would have done so but staying put certainly felt safer. The others moved into the cave with the two manned cars keeping watch. James closed the sunroof again in case something came in through it and they sat watching the cave. Something moved next to her outside the car making her look to her right; it was the elephant’s trunk.
‘Hello Nelly.’ She said bending her head to look up at the elephant. ‘If you are there then there is no way the tiger will come anywhere near us. Just don’t tread on the car while we are inside it!’
The trunk sniffed round the window where she sat.
‘Got an apple?’ Clem asked.
‘No.’ James answered.
‘Come of it you always carry an apple for the bull if it is about!’
‘It’s an elephant, not a bull.’
‘I bet it likes apples, give me one.’
James fished an apple out of his bag and gave it to Clem. She wound down the window and held it out for inspection. The trunk honed in on the apple and it was taken without any hesitation: Clem held her hand out for another apple. James gave her his ‘another one’ look but gave her another apple and she passed it on to the elephant.
‘I said he would like apples.’ Clem said smugly.
‘Just now you were calling it Nelly.’
‘From this range it is hard to make a mistake.’ Clem declared.
The others moved into the cave, some had torches and the rest had guns ready. They followed the cave as it narrowed into a passage. In the passage they had to go two abreast but they did not stop. The passage led to steps which they climbed, until they saw sunlight. The first man out looked about to see where they were.
‘We are in the cemetery.’ Jethro announced to those following.
‘All that fence for nothing.’ Ralph declared. ‘I’ll let Will know we are coming out.’
Try as he might he could not raise anyone on the radio while he was in the tunnel.
‘Pass the radio to Jethro, to let Will know where we are.’ Ralph said and passed the radio to the man in front, who in turn passed it on to the next man until Jethro had it.
‘Will we are just coming out of a tunnel in the cemetery.’ Jethro announced.
‘He knows.’ Barry said from right next to him. ‘I told him, heard you coming a ways back.’
‘It’s okay Barry is here, you can all come out.’ Jethro called into the tunnel. ‘Where is it?’
‘Over here, follow me.’ Barry answered.
They came out of the tunnel one by one and followed Barry over to where the dead tiger lay. They were happy to see it dead and happy to know how it came and went with such ease but their thoughts were on Billy, a little boy who had been playing one moment and food for a tiger seconds later. One or two kicked the tiger in anger, not that the tiger felt it any more or would have felt any remorse about killing for yet another meal. Billy was just food to him as Rachel would have been if she had been closer.
‘What do we do with it?’ Jethro asked.
‘We could eat it.’ Barry answered.
‘No that would be like eating Billy ourselves.’ Jethro answered.
‘We could skin it and keep the pelt as a reminder of Billy.’ Ray suggested.
Will came hurrying down to where the tiger lay and examined the corpse.
‘The first one did the trick alright.’ He said earnestly, he was aware that a missed shot quite often cost lives and looked for the second shot. ‘The second was as good as the first, it’s a shame I wasn’t looking down the sight at it when it grabbed Billy.’
‘Been too late then.’ Ralph declared. ‘I think it grabbed him by the neck and shook him. Billy’s neck was broken so he did not know anything about it, soon after the tiger grabbed him.’
‘Find a pole to lift the thing on.’ Ray ordered.
The pole ended up being a sapling which they cut down and tied the tiger to. It took four men to lift it and it was carried up to the front of the manor house for loading on to a car. Men walked back through the cave to bring back the cars which were parked there and saw Clem petting an elephant.
‘She can get anything to eat out of her hand.’ Brian said from where he was sitting in his car.
‘The tiger would have eaten her hand as well.’ Ralph declared.
They left the elephant standing there and drove back to the main gate. There was no sign of the other elephant so they drove in and closed the gate again.
Later that evening they gathered in the dining room of the main house to discuss what to do with the tiger. They listened as members put ideas forward and then discussed them. After the discussions ended, they had a secret ballot, marking down whichever idea they preferred. The idea which won was to skin the tiger and keep the pelt as a reminder of Billy; the rest was to be burnt ceremonially on a pyre. From then on they would do the same every year with a Guy Fawks type effigy of a tiger. It was a new beginning and this was to be the next official holiday, this one to remember Billy. They started on the pyre and it grew bigger and bigger. It was far enough away from the house to be safe and they kept putting wood on it. There was a lot of dead dry wood from the trees they had cut down to get the fence to where the gate was, as well as new trees felled to clear the site of the canteen. It was late when the tiger carcass was finally raised up on to the pyre, Barry had skinned it and the pelt was stretched out on stakes to dry.
They all gathered round the pyre and it was left to Rachel to walk forward and set it alight. She was pleased to do so; this tiger would not hurt anyone else! It would not stop her nightmares and her wetting the bed but it would help.
They all stood and watched, as the flames engulfed the carcass, some celebrated with wine or spirits and others with tea, coffee or soft drinks. It lasted well into the night and no one worried about driving back to their house to sleep as the concrete slab which should have covered the tunnel entrance in the cemetery was back in place and there was a pile of rocks on it as well to make sure it was not opened again, unless they did it from the inside.
Chapter 14
With morning there was some movement, although not as early as usual. Ray came into the dining room to find Jethro.
‘Stop building the canteen and continue with the wall Jethro please, if we had finished the wall I feel Billy would still be alive.’ He asked.
‘That is rubbish and you know it. We could have had hundred foot high walls all round and he would have still been taken.’ Jethro answered. ‘It was the tunnel from the cemetery which killed him and it could have been anyone. I will carry on with the walls but I do need to do a little bit at the canteen first, in case it rains.’
‘Thank you.’ Ray said quietly and returned to his room, he was not a happy man.
There was very little work done that day, it was the following day that things started to return to normal again. Gangs were sorted to build the wall round the settlement as they had done before, to make it go up quicker but this time no one stood guard with rifles, the men who would have stood guard helped to make up another gang to build the wall. Brian was busy running wires to make his idea of contact with all the towers
come into being; he flitted from site to site doing what he had to do when he had to do it.
The women who were not cooking were sorted into two groups and they travelled round the fence looking for other possible ways in for a hungry animal or a pack of dogs to get in. Everything was checked to make sure the same thing could not happen again. Once was enough!
A fortnight later the wall was up, both the outside wall and the inside wall. They still had to fill the space between the inner wall and the outer wall with concrete to make it stronger but that could be done by the others leaving Jethro to work on the new, purpose built canteen.
Ray threw himself into the work and they all worked long days to get it done, then when the wall was finished they had a party. They set out tables in front of the garages and lots of food was piled on them, they put on their best suits and pretty dresses. It was a day to remember and it would be remembered, this was to be their next public holiday. They all liked holidays!
The next day Ray drove round the wall, all the way. The fence outside was being removed, the fence which stretched from the gate to the wall near the hospital was coming down as was the fence from the house down the side of the road. Brian was busy connecting his circuits and Will was busy connecting each tower to the generator.
When they reached to the road for a second time there had been a long discussion, did they put in gates, if so would they have to be manned permanently. The answer was yes put in gates with a tower either side to carry them and yes they would be manned but by who was yet to be decided. The two gates from the original fence were reused after running repairs and modifications and they were made to open at the flick of a switch by someone manning one of the towers although no one was manning it yet. He drove by the gates, looked to see if there was anyone there and smiled. Did he expect visitors? Then he thought about Otis and Matilda they might come up and visit. He drove on and came to the corner, turning up towards the hospital. The settlement was big but they would still have to plant crops outside, so the fencing would still prove useful. He stopped at the hospital to find Ralph packing an overnight bag.