Dark Memory

by Jonathan Latimer

  “Maybe we can do it with mirrors,” Bill said.

  “Let’s go along the new trail for an hour,” Eve said.

  “All right.”

  Before they started Bill got a knapsack from the tent. He put several cans of beef and salmon, a big bar of chocolate and two tins of crackers in it.

  “Some cognac, too,” Jay said.

  Bill put an unopened bottle in the knapsack.

  “I’ll take the pistol,” said Eve. “It will be comforting.”

  She put the Mauser and a handful of cartridges in a small rubber bag. They closed the tent and pulled down the mosquito netting. Bill led them along the trail. They walked slowly, pushing through leaves and vines and branches, untangling clothing caught in thorns, wading through swamps, fording streams and winding among big trees. Sometimes they had to wait while Bill cast ahead for a blaze, but in most places the trail was not hard to follow. Jay’s clothing became wet with sweat. The heat in the forest was oppressive.

  He thought about Eve. She had behaved very well. There had been no tears and no heroics. She was swell. He was glad Cable had not gotten her. The Columbian Museum would not think she was swell, though. She had practically wrecked its African expedition, and now, instead of going after the okapi they had been sent to find, the two surviving members were searching for her husband. Maybe they could shoot Salles and present him, stuffed, to the museum. That would make an exhibit which should at least rival Akeley’s African Hall. That should please them. They’d probably want a few stuffed natives to go with it, too.

  Bill lost the trail. Jay sat with Eve on a log while he went ahead. They lit cigarettes while they waited. The tobacco smelled fine.

  “Have you heard anything behind us?” Eve asked.

  “No.”

  “I have. Something is following us.”

  “Maybe it’s the ersatz leopard.”

  “I hope not.”

  Bill came back. “The trail’s getting pretty dim,” he said.

  “No blaze marks?” Jay asked.

  “Where have you been? We’ve seen none for ten minutes.”

  “Are you sure you’re on the trail?”

  “Yes.”

  “Let’s go, then.”

  Eve said, “What about my beast?”

  “I’ll go back a bit,” Jay said. “You listen.”

  After a few steps the heavy foliage shut him off from the others. He walked so quietly he could hear the forest noises. The clouds were low and he could not see the sky. He did not like being alone. He watched the tracks they made on the soft trail. Then, over Eve’s prints, he saw the print of a leopard. The leopard was not as big as the one by Salles’s camp, but he was big enough. He found where the leopard’s prints disappeared. The leopard must have heard him coming and jumped off the trail. He went back to the others.

  “Find anything?” Bill asked.

  “No. Nothing. Let’s go on for five minutes. Then we’ll turn back.”

  The trail was very dim. Jay wondered why Salles had ceased to blaze the trees. Had Bill taken a wrong turn? He was worried. He did not like the leopard following them. He did not like being in the forest without Mr. Palmer.

  “Hadn’t you better blaze the trees?” he asked Bill.

  “I know the way back.”

  It began to thunder. At first the noise was distant, but it grew in volume. The thunder spread over the entire forest. Black clouds moved overhead, but there was no wind. There was feeling of tension in the forest.

  “We’re in for it,” Jay said.

  “Can we make a shelter?” Eve asked.

  “If we find a clearing.”

  There was no way to move off the trail. Bushes, saplings and jungle plants, woven with lianas, made green walls on both sides. They went on rapidly. It was quite dark now, and the thunder made a noise like bricks falling on wood. The dark sky reflected flashes of lightning. They came to a clearing by the edge of a river, the clearing surface covered with white sand and clay. The tracks of many animals made patterns on the sand. Jay noticed the prints of okapis. Now they could see the moving black clouds clearly. Far in the distance there was a roaring noise. Jay did not know if it was wind or rain. Bill pointed to a round, bushlike tree at the edge of the clearing.

  “Our shelter,” he announced.

  He had Eve and Jay bring him leaves and vines to weave into the upper part of the tree. Jay found a clump of wild banana trees and cut off the leaves. Bill made a shingle effect with these on the top of their tree, fastening them down with vines. Then he cut three saplings and thrust them into the ground so their branches made a wall around the bottom of the tree. In these branches he wound other branches and more of Jay’s banana leaves, making a tight wall. The lightning was striking all around them. The roaring noise had increased. They worked fast, trying to complete the shelter. Then they saw the rain. It came in a white mass, a sheet of water, solid and curtainlike, advancing across the river towards them, churning the dark, smooth river water. They got in the shelter and through the opening watched the waterfall advance. Three big birds went down the river, flying with heavy wing strokes, their legs stuck out behind them. The wind and the rain roared in the trees around the clearing.

  “Hang on,” Bill shouted, grinning with excitement.

  Water poured on the shelter. Some came through, but Bill was able to plug the leaks from the inside. After the first rush, the rain settled down to a steady, heavy fall, hiding the clearing and the river. The air had turned cold and they sat with their clothes drawn about them.

  “We forgot to put in central heating,” Jay said.

  “I’ve got some central heating,” Bill said.

  He took the bottle of cognac out of the knapsack and opened it and gave it to Eve. “No cups,” he said.

  “I like it from the bottle,” Eve said. “It makes me feel dissolute.”

  She drank and gave the bottle to Jay. He took too big a drink and the liquor gagged him for an instant. The liquor burned his throat, but when it reached his stomach it felt fine.

  “Bill, the builder,” he said, passing the bottle.

  “Homes erected while you wait,” Bill said, and drank.

  “Nice homes, too,” Eve said.

  “Would you like a little more central heating, Eve?”

  “Yes, please.”

  They all had another drink. They became very gay. Jay announced he would never go on another African expedition without brandy. When he got home he would write a book on brandy. He had never really appreciated brandy before. “Brandy is fine,” he said.

  The rain was still coming down, and now the river was rising. They could not see it, but the current made a rushing noise and there was a sound of waves. It got colder.

  “Do you think the water will reach us?” Eve said.

  “I don’t think so,” said Jay.

  “It sounds very sinister.”

  “I’ll go down and order it back,” Bill said.

  There was a tremendous crack somewhere behind them in the forest. It was followed by a ripping noise and a tearing of branches and then a deep crash, A big tree had fallen. The sound of the rain resumed. A herd of animals entered the clearing from the path and raced heavily towards the river. Jay caught a glimpse of stocky gray bodies through the rain, bunched together and moving very fast. The animals were not large. There was a great splash of water when they hit the river. In an instant the sound was gone.

  “What in hell was that?” Bill asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “They were certainly in a hurry.”

  Eve asked, “What’s that odor?”

  Jay breathed through his nose. There was a rank odor. “I’ve smelled it before,” Eve said.

  Bill said, “The elephant house at the zoo.”

  “But they were only five feet high.”

  “Pygmy elephants,” Bill said.

  “Oh.”

  Jay said, “The tree spooked them.”

  “This is the weirdest
country,” Eve said. “Ersatz leopards and elephants the size of ponies and storms like nothing ever.”

  “I’m beginning to think more of Monsieur Delage,” Bill said. “Do you remember the unicorn? And the cave men? And the hairy bird?”

  “Yes.”

  “I believe everything he said,” Bill said.

  As abruptly as it came, the storm went away. The thunder went first. Then the rain stopped and there was only the noise of dripping water in the forest. Blue sky began to show in the west. Jay looked at his watch. It was almost four. The storm had lasted nearly an hour. He followed Eve and Bill out of the shelter. The river was twice as large as it had been, the water muddy and fast moving. The clearing was dotted with the round tracks of elephants. Water stood in each track.

  “We’d better start back,” Jay said.

  “I suppose so,” Eve said. “But I do hate to give up.”

  “Well come again.”

  “Sure,” Bill said. “We’ll come back.”

  They walked to the river’s edge. The bed wound a great deal and they could see only a few hundred yards in either direction. There was a small island to the left. The floodwater washed part of it, but a central mound was dry. Jay wondered if there were fish in the river. He had never read much about fish in Africa.

  Bill touched his arm. “Look.”

  At the forest end of the clearing, near the path, was a leopard. He was watching them, his tail moving slowly from side to side. He had fierce yellow eyes. He was not afraid of the humans. Jay took the safety off the Springfield and raised the rifle to his shoulder and aimed at the animal’s head. As he squeezed his hand, the leopard slid smoothly towards the wall of vegetation. The bullet caught him in the hindquarters and he swerved. Jay took a snap shot as he went into the weeds beside the path. He was not sure about the second shot.

  “God! What a cat!” Bill said.

  Eve was looking at the place where the leopard had leaped into the forest. “What do we do now?”

  Jay said, “Maybe I got him.”

  The undergrowth was very dense. They could not see into the tangle of grass and vines and plants. Jay fired four shots into the deepest part, the reports echoing back from the river. Behind him he could hear the wings of water birds. The leopard did not move.

  “He’s gone or dead,” Bill said.

  “Yes.”

  “I hope he’s dead,” Eve said.

  Jay knew it was customary for a sportsman to follow a wounded animal until it had been dispatched. This was all right, he thought, when the sportsman had nothing better to do. But they had to get back to camp before it got dark. He loaded the Springfield. It was no time to be a sportsman.

  “Should we go?” he asked.

  Bill got the knapsack out of the shelter. He bowed to the shelter. “Be it ever so humble,” he said: He slung the knapsack over his shoulder and started for the path. The sun had come out again. Eve followed Bill and Jay followed her, keeping close together. It became dark the moment they left the clearing. Jay did not like that. He had always been afraid of caves, and the forest was something like a cave. He tried to watch both sides of the path, but it was impossible to see into the vegetation. He heard a slight rustle and turned to see the leopard coming at him, moving close to the ground and very fast. He threw up the Springfield and fired and missed, and the yellow, clawing, hissing body came through the air at him. He turned his right shoulder and shifted his body, and the claws ripped shirt sleeve and skin off his right arm as the leopard went by and turned and was on him again, changing course and leaping with a fluid movement that was like the swirl of a yellow cape. Eve screamed. He fell into the undergrowth, the leopard on him, hissing and biting and clawing furiously. His hands went into the soft fur of the neck and he tried to choke the leopard, drawing up his knees to protect his belly and groin from the hind claws, not conscious of fear or pain, but only of a fury that rose to meet the leopard’s. The leopard squirmed under his hands. It hissed at him, the ears laid back against the head, the eyes red yellow and mad, the claws raking his arms. He tried to roll on the leopard, but he was not strong enough Its breath smelled of decayed meat. He thrashed about in the undergrowth, fighting it in a tangle of vines and bushes. The leopard’s teeth closed on his arm and for the first time he felt pain.

  Bill took hold of the tail and pulled the leopard off Jay. The leopard turned and climbed up Bill’s body and bit his neck. Bill beat at its face with both hands, but the leopard hung on, its teeth in Bill’s neck, its forepaws over Bill’s shoulders. Its hind claws were digging into Bill’s belly. Jay tried to get to his feet. His left arm gave under his weight and he fell in the grass. He got up, using his right arm. The leopard had brought Bill to his knees, the clawing hind paws deep in Bill’s belly. Eve had the Mauser, but she was afraid to shoot for fear of hitting Bill. Jay took the pistol from her and went close to the leopard, the leopard looking at him and hissing, but still clawing Bill, and put the barrel against the yellow chest and held back the trigger, and the pistol emptied itself with a staccato roar and the red faded from the leopard’s eyes and the forepaws slid from Bill’s shoulders and the body poured itself on the ground. The leopard looked beautiful lying on the ground, the soft, creamy fur under the belly turning maroon with the oozing blood. The coat was thick and the black spots on the back were very distinct. Jay glanced at Eve, but she was watching Bill, her eyes wide with horror.

  CHAPTER 26

  THEY CARRIED BILL to the clearing by the river and put him under a tree that had pink flowers growing on it. The afternoon sun was yellow on the sand by the water and they turned his back that way so the light would not hurt his eyes. He would not lie on the ground, but sat upright, holding his hands against his belly. There was blood on his fingers.

  “You’ll have to make a bandage,” Jay said.

  “Your shirt,” Eve said.

  “It’s not clean.”

  “It’s all we have.”

  Jay took off his shirt. Eve brought water in a paper cup and he made a solution of permanganate crystals he had in a matchbox. Bill sat under the tree, not moving at all, but staring with open eyes at the pink flowers that grew among the leaves. Jay bent over him.

  “No,” Bill said.

  “But, Bill.”

  “Leave me alone.”

  “We’ve got to bandage you.”

  “It’s no use.”

  “Oh, Bill.”

  “I know. I can tell. Look.”

  Both of Bill’s hands were smeared with blood. The perfume of the tree mingled with the smell of blood. Jay stood up. Eve’s eyes were on Bill’s hands.

  “What’ll we do?” Jay asked.

  “We have to bandage him.”

  “Come on, Bill. You may bleed to death.”

  “I hope I do. Quickly.”

  “Please let us help you,” Eve said.

  “If I take my hands away,” Bill said, “my guts will fall out.”

  Jay looked at Eve. She began to cry. She shook her head at him. They did not know what to do.

  “You use the solution, Jay,” Bill said.

  “I don’t need it.”

  “You’ll get septic poisoning.”

  “No.”

  “Yes. Use it. You have to get Eve out of here.”

  “We’ll all get out.”

  “Don’t be a fool. For Christ’s sake! Look.”

  Bill took one hand away from his belly and Jay turned from him and looked at the river. The water was still muddy from the rain. He kept his back towards Bill until he could control his face, watching the river and the yellow sand. He heard wind in the trees.

  “This is where the violins begin to play,” Bill said.

  “Oh, Bill,” Jay said.

  “Tie his arm up, Eve.”

  “All right, Bill,” she said.

  The permanganate solution burned like fire, but Jay could not cry out before Bill. His legs were not bad; the boots and the heavy trousers had protected them, but the leopard h
ad torn his arms and shoulders. In some places the claws had exposed yellow-white bones, leaving over them loose flaps of flesh. His left arm, where he had been bitten, was mangled. Eve poured what was left of the solution on the arm.

  “Do hold still,” she said.

  She cut a strip from the shirt and bound it around the arm. His body burned from the permanganate solution. She tied the bandage.

  “That’s all I can do.”

  “That’s wonderful.”

  “I wish I could do more.”

  Bill was watching them. His color was bad and he sat hollow-chested, his hands tight against his stomach. Bright red blood seeped through his fingers.

  “Jay,” he said.

  “What, Bill?”

  “Will you do something for me?”

  “Yes. Anything.”

  “Tell my old man I died all right.”

  “You’re not going to die.”

  “Tell him, Jay.”

  “I’ll tell him.”

  “He always thought I was a coward.”

  “He won’t now.”

  “Tell him I wanted him to remember Bombi. He’ll understand. It’s a joke we had when I was a kid.”

  “Bombi,” Jay said.

  The wind in the trees sounded like far-off surf. It came to the clearing with a sighing noise, moving Bill’s tree and making some of the pink flowers fall.

  “Don’t cry, Eve,” Bill said.

  “I’m not crying.”

  “It doesn’t hurt.” He smiled at her. “I just feel numb.”

  Eve’s lips trembled and tears ran down her face, but she did not make any noise. She cried without seeming to know that she was crying. Bill’s face was gray.

  “Give my papers to the professor,” he told Jay. “He’ll want to see them.”

  “I’ll give them to him.”

  “I didn’t turn out so badly, did I?”

  “You saved our lives.”

  “I was scared, but I didn’t let …” Something happened inside of him and he did not go on. Sweat came out on his face. He held his hands tight against his belly and closed his eyes.

  Eve asked, “Would you like some brandy, Bill?”

  Bill shook his head.