by Carly Smesh
David looked at him. "What was our butcher's bill?" he asked softly.
Sultar hesitated before replying, "Twelve Ghurkhas and five Australians killed and twenty-seven wounded, mostly Ghurkhas. Most of the wounded have been moved back to the Crater; there's only four including you that have been left here due to the severity of the wounds."
David's face grew pale at the numbers, "What happened to you?"
"I got nicked in the arm, then a bullet grazed my head and I went out like a light," he said chuckling.
"What about the enemy, are they massing again?"
Sultar shook his head, "They've pull back from the river. Tartrha sent scouts over to trail them. They reached Mamboie and Bert ordered the guns to fire on them. They soon scarpered inland. He's still guarding the fords with all the fit troops."
David's head fell back onto his pillow and he drifted off to a deep sleep again.
Three days later he, along with the other wounded were transported back to the Crater in carts. He spent a further week in hospital before Susan allowed him home on condition he stayed in the house. Bert, Sultar and Tartar came to visit him. It was only then that he found out that one of the dead was Rham.
"His wife is being looked after David," Sultar had murmured.
When Bert visited him, David said, "Has the enemy retreated back inland to lick their wounds?"
"I've been adding up," Bert said, "From the numbers Sultar and Tartrha gave me, I calculate they lost well over 500 killed or wounded. From what the prisoners said who deserted over to our side of the river, there's only fifty or so German infantry left and only seventy or eighty Uhlans. According to them they were regiments, but depleted regiments. I guess they had suffered losses in Europe. They're a spent force now."
David nodded thinking of all those who had died.
"I sent of a full report to Brigadier General Keeling; he should have it by now."
"Our loses Bert... where did you put them?" David asked.
Bert smiled sadly, "We brought them all back, and they're buried at the bottom of the crater. Susan has organised headstones to be made for them all. They were all given a full military funeral."
When Tartrha accompanied with Sultar visited, David told him.
"Your charge saved the day... it was a mad, glorious thing to do."
Tartrha smiled with embarrassment, "It seemed at the time the only thing to do. Our horses were spent through trying to catch up to you. We saw your horses below the ridge, and I decided to fit between the two groups which turned out to be the track leading to the ford. We suddenly saw the Uhlans in front of us. We didn't have time to dismount to use our rifles, so we drew our kukris and slammed into them. I don't think they knew we were there until we were right amongst them. We were so close they couldn't use their lances."
Sultar took up the story, "When we saw the charge was disrupted into confusion, the men leapt up and joined in with their kukris, I didn't even need to order them; I was flat on my back with a bullet in my arm. I looked over to your position and saw the Australian CSM leading a charge with bayonets screaming, 'Kill the bastards!' They went through the German infantry like a hot knife through butter."
David fell back into his cane chair, "I'm putting you all up for awards."
Gradually the crater returned to normality; David spent hours on the stoop looking over it. Guy and Victoria would sit and play to keep him company.
Although he would never admit to Susan he still felt rather weak. He knew from what she had said that he had lost a lot of blood and had three broken ribs that still ached, but he was anxious to be out and about. A paddock had been erected that housed the horses taken at the ford and Patar was in the process of salting them. Hanga had fussed over him, until two weeks after he had returned he ordered him to saddle Zeus. He had protested but complied when David insisted.
The first thing he did was to visit Rham's wife, Neeza. She welcomed him with a sad face; her two sons were at school she explained.
"Neeza, I don't know how to say how sorry I am about Rham, he was a fine man and soldier. But I want you to know that you and the children will always have a home here with us. If you want to return to India, then I will make all the arrangements and pay for your passage. You will continue to receive Rham's pay whatever you decide."
Neeza looked at him with tears in her eyes, "My home is here Sahib. I turned my back on India when I married Rham."
He set off again at a slow walk, heading towards N'debi's village. He reined in Zeus at the school. They had, had to extend it due to the different age groups. The school had open walls with rolled up rush mats that could be unrolled in the event of rain. He saw Jill and Yasmin taking the classes; he gazed at the children, some black, brown and white sitting happily as they listened to their teachers.
He stopped at the hospital and dismounted and went inside. There were only three patients present, two Ghurkhas and an Australian who were playing cards as they sat on the Australian's bed. The men wore nightshirts; the Australian had his head bandaged, whilst the Ghurkhas had bandaged arms and legs.
"How's it going men?" he asked from the doorway. The Australian looked glum but the two Ghurkhas had wide smiles.
"I showed these jokers how to play poker, and now they're robbing me blind," the Australian moaned.
David chuckled, "When a Ghurkha smiles, he's at his most dangerous."
"Thanks for the tip mate," he replied as David went through to Susan's office.
She was sitting at her desk writing. He paused to look at her; she had her auburn hair tied in a ponytail and was wearing her glasses which she hated.
"Hello darling; hard at it I see."
She looked up frowning at him.
"You're supposed to be resting," she said sharply.
He came over and kissed the top of her head, "If I rest any more I'll start to grow roots."
She stood up putting her arms around his neck and kissed him.
"I seem to spend half my life worrying over you, and the other half repairing you," she whispered.
He smiled returning her kiss, "I'm a lucky man to have you," he replied.
"So where are you going to?" she asked.
"Oh, I'm just having a quiet ride around, I may pop in to see N'debi and see what that old rascal is up to."
"You need to thank him; when they brought you into the rift, he sat by your bed for over thirty hours," she chuckled. "He kept saying that no one could kill his Bwana."
He found N'debi sitting outside his beehive home with his children and grandchildren.
"I see you Bwana," his deep baritone voice boomed out.
David chuckled "I see an old Matabele warrior playing with the children," he replied.
N'debi snorted, "I am not old; I'm in the prime of my life; ask my wives, they complain about my attentions."
David burst out laughing at his reply. He sat down on a three-legged stool that N'debi had brought out of the hut after shooing off the children. One of his wives gave David a clay beaker of the white Matabele beer, which he knew from past experience was lethal.
"So my friend, what brings you to my door?" he asked David.
"Oh nothing really, I just went for a ride and ended up here."
"You are restless," N'debi murmured. "No great battles to fight or plan. My warriors have said since the Maasi moved north the herds have moved back into their lands. They grow fat on Maasi grass. They have seen an eland with horns this big," he said spreading his arms.
David realised he meant over five feet long.
"We should go and hunt for such an animal; its head would look good in your house."
"I should like very much to do that old friend, to sleep out under the stars."
"We could go on safari for a week or so, and take Ali to cook for us," N'debi enthused.
"If Susan allows me to, then yes we could do that."
After a lot of debate Susan eventually agreed on condition that she accompanied him with a Ghurkha escort. By th
e time all the arrangements had been made Yasmin and Sultar had conspired with Susan to join them.
A week later at dawn the safari set out; N'debi trotted ahead with David on Diablo and Sultar behind. Behind them came Susan and Yasmin followed by two light carts driven by Hanga and Ali. The rains had come and gone and the veldt was a blaze of colour, lush green grass contrasted with a riot of coloured flowers and trees. The river would be a raging torrent now for months to come, ruling out any attempt to cross it.
That first day they covered twenty miles before they stopped at a water hole to let the stock drink, then moving back to a campsite.
N'debi, David and Sultar cut 'wait-a-minute' thorn bushes to ring the site, whilst Hanga and Ali erected the tents. Susan and Yasmin helped to remove camp beds and chairs from the cart.
Inside of two hours the camp was set up as dusk approached. They sat around the fire as Hanga laid the table and Ali busied himself at the cook fire. David had poured out drinks for them all, and he and Sultar sat back in their camp chairs enjoying a cheroot each listening to the night sounds of Africa.
Above them a thousand stars were beginning to show. They could hear the sound of the animals at the waterhole a quarter of a mile away and then the snarl of a leopard as it made its kill.
"It's a cruel beautiful country," Yasmin murmured, "So unlike India, but in many ways I prefer it to India."
"According to archaeologists," Susan added, "Man originated from Africa."
"I'm with Yasmin," Sultar said. "There's something about this land, its space, and the animals of the veldt that sort of draws you to it."
"Well, make the most of it," David murmured. "After this war ends, the flood gates will open to immigrants looking for a new life. You only have to look at Nairobi to see how it's expanded to see what the future holds. The tribes and animals will be squeezed out."
"Oh!" Susan exclaimed, "Do you really think that will happen?"
David nodded glumly, "It's called progress."
"But shouldn't we try to preserve some of it for future generations?" Susan exclaimed.
"Well to do that we would have to buy the land and turn it into a sort of no-go area," David replied.
"A sort of Game Park," Yasmin cried.
"But to make it feasible you would need at least 300 square miles. Then the problem is how do you police it from poachers and slavers," David said.
"You would need to have rangers to oversee it," Sultar replied.
"And where do you get them from?" David asked.
"You already have them," Sultar said quietly.
David frowned, "You mean the Ghurkhas?"
Sultar looked at Yasmin who gave a little nod, "Yes Ghurkhas, some have already said they would like to stay here, including Yasmin and I."
David looked at the two of them... startled, "What about the fort? What about your father... Yasmin?" he asked.
"The Russians are no longer a threat since the Army mutinied. As for Yasmin, she gave up any claim to the throne when she married me."
Ali called out that dinner was ready. David didn't see the wink Susan gave to Yasmin, and she knew that they had put an idea into David's head.
They spent twelve days on safari before returning to the Crater, going further into the veldt than ever before, while David amended his maps. He never did get his eland. On their return he saddled Zeus the following day and rode into Nairobi and entered the land office of the East African Company.
When he emerged it was as the owner of four hundred and fifty square miles of barren veldt. The official had thought him mad, but had agreed to sell the land at ten shillings a square mile. After registering the land document with his lawyer he returned to the crater.
That night they had Sultar and Yasmin round for dinner. Before dinner started he took them all into his study and pointed to the map on the table.
"As of today I own four hundred and fifty square miles of veldt; right, that's my job done. Now Major Sultar what do you intend doing with it?"
Sultar and Yasmin looked stunned, "I...I don't know what you mean David."
David smiled, "You two want to stay here; you need a job, and now you have one... looking after that lot."
Sultar looked down at the map, "I suppose the first thing is to establish the boundaries; we will need a surveyor for that."
"The land office surveyor is coming out in three days, and Martin will go with him to keep a check. You will need to do your own recruiting. How many will you need?" David asked.
"To police an area that large at least forty-five," Sultar replied.
'Well I'll leave that to you. I've opened an account with the bank in the name of Crater Game Reserve with £50,000 on deposit for you to draw on. When you have a plan sorted out, we'll sit down and discuss it."
The rest of the evening was spent talking about the Game Reserve.
Chapter 52
Two days later Sultar turned up at the house with a notepad in his hand. He followed David into the study and sat down.
"As I understand it you wish to keep the statuesque of the land and inhabitants the same. Well, the Maasi and occasional safari are the only human activity that takes place there. The Maasi don't pose a problem; they don't hunt for food, and they live off their cattle. The safaris may create a problem.
So I would give permits to only professional hunters that we know and approve of. They would have a strict quota of the numbers of animals they could hunt on any safari. Their customers are normally only after the big four, Elephant, Rhino, Lion and Buffalo.
Any safari crossing over into the reserve would need to take a Reserve Ranger with them to oversee the quota was not infringed. Any infringement would mean automatic loss of permit."
Sultar looked at David for his reaction to what he had said so far.
David nodded. "So far I approve of what you say," he said.
Sultar continued, "To adequately police the reserve we would need to have outposts built around the boarders of the reserve. These outposts would be the only gateways into it; therefore a fence would need to be built all around it. Each outpost would be responsible for a section of the fence in respect of repairing it in the event of damage. The Rangers would also conduct a census of animals in their section of the reserve, which would be reported to a central command post. Which animals could be hunted by the safaris would be determined by results of the census."
David sat back impressed by Sultar's grasp of the situation.
"Well you seem to have the gist of what needs to be done. At the moment with the tribes up north and no safaris due to the war, it seems the best time to put your words into action.
You could use all the Ghurkhas to make a start on the fence. In the meantime I shall draft a message for inclusion into the Nairobi newspapers, outlining our proposals for the Reserve."
Sultar along with four Ghurkhas accompanied Martin and the land surveyor when they set of to map the Reserve. They were gone for over three weeks and when they returned they carried a detail map of the reserve, with prominent features like water holes, hills, trees, and other major features drawn on it. Seventy miles bordered the river, which acted as a natural boundary.
Bert had visited the crater to update David on the war.
"It's turning into a war of attrition, the one that kills the most wins," he said gloomily. "The Generals are losing thousands of lives for the sake of a few yards. Gallipoli turned into a disaster through mismanagement and again the foot soldier suffered for it," he said bitterly. "We had some success in Arabia against the Turks but the only real good news is the Yanks have entered the war."
David nodded in agreement with Bert, "It can't last much longer I think. At least we don't have to worry here. The Germans are a spent force with no chance of being re-supplied."
"Going by the casualty lists we're well out of it," Bert agreed.
"I hear you have moved your men to camps along the river," David mentioned.
"Yeah, they just patrol it for signs of cro
ssings; which brings me to the reason I'm here. We received two hundred rolls of barbed wire from the UK, not realising the river is the natural defence line. That's why I dropped in. If you want it for the reserve you are more than welcome to it."
"That would be most welcome Bert. Thank you, I'll let Sultar know."
David and Sultar spent hours studying the map, working out were to put the entrance gates into the reserve; finally deciding on five points that had known tracks leading across the area.
Sultar had told David that fifty-two Ghurkhas had asked to stay.
"They're all young and unmarried, but like the life over here. They're good dedicated soldiers who wish to make their life here.
"I intend to keep five men at each entrance. They will be given an area to police as well as checking those who wish to cross the reserve. It will mean building housing for them and paddocks for the mules and horses.
The main camp will be situated somewhere in the centre of the reserve, were barracks for the rest of the men will be stationed along with the animals. They will rotate with the gate crews on say a monthly basis. I'm hoping to connect all the gates with the central command post by telegraph."
David could find no flaws in Sultar's proposals.
The work began on fencing in the reserve; all the Ghurkhas at the Crater were involved. Wagons would go out laden with rolls of wire and posts, and only returned for more.
David organised through Stanley a meeting with the professional hunters where he outlined the plans for the Reserve.
He was somewhat surprised at their acceptance of the scheme, as Stanley said after the meeting, "When this war ends, the world is going to have changed. Apart from the highlands the only thing we have is the veldt and the animals. In order to protect that, we really need more reserves like yours. Up north there are hundreds of miles of veldt, which only a few Maasi tribes use. But it won't always be like that if nothing is done to protect it."
Chapter 53
A year later the news came through; the war was over.
Three nights later a huge party was organised at the Crater for all the men who had fought for East Africa. Australians, Ghurkhas, Matabele, Home Guard, and Hunters, along with their wives and parents, mixed with each other in celebration of the end to hostilities.