Mark of the Lion

by Suzanne Arruda

  “And just what should I have done? The thing would have been on me in a moment if I’d tried to run for the tree. Damned beast should have had the decency to die when Avery first shot it.” She glared up at him defiantly. Her lips tilted in a slight smirk, and her black hair lay plastered in matted curls around her head.

  “That’s because a rhino is too busy trying to trample every blessed living thing into oblivion to take the time to die. He . . . you . . . Oh, the hell!” Harry pulled her towards him and kissed her firmly on the mouth.

  Jade tasted the sweat and dust on his lips and discovered, to her amazement, that she felt the same thrill as when she was playing matador to the rhino. In Harry’s kiss she felt strength, heat, and danger. Her head swam, her pulse quickened, and for a moment, she felt her legs begin to collapse under her again. Then the thrill of danger returned and she rallied herself to meet it. It intoxicated her, and she recognized the attraction. She was embracing Africa as much as Harry.

  At that instant, she returned the kiss measure for measure and felt Harry’s rapid heartbeat through her shirt. His grip tightened around her as he whispered her name to her lips. Jade recognized his desire in the huskiness of his voice, but knew hers to be less for the man than for what he represented. Be blasted if I let him know it, though. Let him wonder. When he finally released her, she just stared at him with an enigmatic smile and a sense of her own power. Harry turned and stormed back to the Dodge. Her smile widened.

  Jade retrieved her camera and her hat before anyone else noticed what had just happened. When she looked back up and saw Madeline’s knowing smile and elbow nudge to Beverly, she knew the women had witnessed at least part of it. She shrugged it off and inserted a sheet of film.

  “Smile, Avery,” she said as she framed the shot.

  “Wait, let me raise up the head,” replied Avery. He struggled with the massive square head and succeeded in lifting it up as he knelt next to the beast, his Holland rifle nestled in the crook of one arm. Jade took the picture.

  “Splendid,” Avery said. “But we should have one with you by it as well. That was magnificent the way you deflected his charge. Whatever possessed you to think of it?”

  “A bullfight in Madrid. My parents took me to see one once.” She winked. “You recall, I am part Spanish by descent.”

  “More likely Spanish gypsy,” he retorted. “But it was marvelous. And,” he added after a moment’s thought, “bloody dangerous. Beverly, if you ever try anything remotely like that,” he said to his wife, “I shall be forced to turn you over my knee and spank you for it.”

  Bev’s teeth flashed in a wicked grin. She twirled one of her short blond curls around a finger. “Almost worth the risk to try it then, wouldn’t you agree, Madeline?”

  Madeline chuckled and turned away.

  A goodly assortment of ripe swear words concerning some rather improbable ancestry of the rhino assaulted everyone’s ears as Harry picked up the torn netting and surveyed the ruined water cans. “Punctured! Every blasted one of them!” He threw down the cans. “Roger, how much water do you have left?”

  Roger shook his head to indicate not enough. “One debe and what little is in any of the canteens. How far are we from the river?”

  “Too blasted far. The river bends away at this point. It won’t come back to us until we’re nearly at the base camp.” He threw his hat on the ground and stomped on it, reminding Jade of the angry rhino. “Looks like you’re going to have to drive to the river and refill your debes, Roger. Take one of the men. We’ll wait for you here.”

  “May I make another suggestion?” said Jade. She didn’t pause for an answer. “At the risk of sounding very unladylike, if you men haven’t relieved yourselves yet, you’re probably carrying enough, er, water to do the job. At least,” she added, “once you throw in the canteens and Roger’s last debe.” She grinned widely. “We three females can, of course, avert our eyes, or you can always hold up a blanket like we did. Oops, I forgot; the rhino obliterated the blanket.”

  Avery’s eyes opened noticeably wider as the significance of her statement sank in. Beverly put her hand over her mouth to hide her smile and turned away before it grew into audible snickers. Madeline joined her, but Roger’s face kept his usual angry, bad-luck expression. Jade didn’t notice any of them. She riveted her eyes on Harry Hascombe.

  His lips tightened, his square-cut jaw twitched, his mouth opened once, then closed. Finally he put his hands on his narrow hips and looked at the Dodge. Gradually his shoulders began to quiver and then shook until his upper body rocked with silent laughter. Harry slapped his knee and called the native men over. When he translated her suggestion, the men roared with laughter. Avery blushed.

  “Ladies, shall we retire to the shade behind the Ford while the men do their duty?” suggested Jade.

  After the radiator was at least partially filled, and the rhino head dispatched from its body and strapped behind the Dodge, they drove west for another hour to the base camp. Their first clue to the river’s presence was the tree belt that followed the Tsavo River’s returning path and the distant herds found near water. Finally a ring of canvas tents appeared like quivering ghosts in the late afternoon’s shimmering heat waves. One oxcart laden with three water barrels stood to the side, gasoline cans stacked under it in the shade. The two oxen grazed placidly nearby in a thorny boma.

  Harry stopped the Dodge and greeted Ruta, the tall Maasai from Harry’s ranch whom Jade recognized as Biscuit’s caretaker. She watched them talk for a while and from Harry’s various gestures tried to deduce the subject of conversation. At one point it must have involved the cars since he pointed to the Dodge and then to the water barrel.

  Jade got out of the car and stretched while keeping one eye on Ruta. Now, there was a curious man. She wondered about his seeming attachment to Harry. But as she didn’t speak Maasai, it seemed unlikely that she’d ever pry any secrets out of him. At least, he understood some Swahili. That might come in handy. Beverly slapped her on the backside with a canvas duffel. “I’m not getting your bags, dearie.”

  “Some friend you are.” Jade watched the men struggle with the huge rhinoceros head. “Aren’t you glad he’s not insisting on having the entire carcass stuffed and mounted?”

  “Don’t give him any ideas, my dear girl. It’s enough that we have to haul the head of that wretched thing around with us. By the by, I noticed your ointment didn’t keep the rhino away.”

  “I told you it wore off the boots and belt. And if you’ll remember, I wasn’t wearing my hat at the time.”

  Madeline came up in time to hear the last part and nudged Jade with her elbow. “I noticed. And so did Harry, it seems. You really must try a better cologne. Harry doesn’t seem to care for your essence of . . . what did you call it, Beverly? Incontinent ferret in heat?” She giggled, and Jade scowled.

  “And you, poor thing, have to share a tent with that smell,” added Beverly.

  “She doesn’t need to if she doesn’t wish to,” retorted Jade in a husky tone. “We planned for enough tents. Madeline can occupy hers—alone.” She turned to get her gear from the Ford.

  “I’m not at all certain that I’m brave enough to sleep out here by myself,” admitted Madeline. “If that ointment of yours really does keep lions away, it might be worth putting up with.”

  “Suit yourself,” said Jade. She smiled. “Next thing you know, you’ll be smearing it on the tent flaps yourself.”

  Jade returned from the car with her camera bag, Winchester, and personal duffel and was headed for the tents when Roger spotted her. He broke off his relatively animated conversation with Harry and waved for her to wait. She did, and he ambled over to her, stopping far enough away to prevent another sneezing attack.

  “I want to thank you for your assistance back there.” He nodded to the east. “A bit unorthodox, but it did the trick.”

  Jade wasn’t sure if he meant her bullfighting with the rhino or the solution to the radiator shortage, so s
he only nodded and waited. She didn’t want to stifle him once he’d finally started speaking.

  “Anyway, I was giving some thought to your previous questions about my real father. I’ve always wanted to know more about him myself, you see. You being a journalist and all, I thought you might tell me how to go about finding out, so I’ve been racking my mind for anything that might be useful. I can only think of one other thing.”

  Jade felt inclined to encourage him now. “Oh? What is it?”

  “Well, I remember Mother telling me that he died before I was born. She held me very close and told me to remember that I was a very worthy child. I recall she strongly emphasized those last two words and I’ve always wondered if that was some sort of clue.” He frowned and shoved his hands in his trouser pockets. “I don’t suppose that makes much sense, though.”

  “Actually,” said Jade very softly, “it might.”

  Roger pulled a small box from his right pocket. “When Mother died, I found this among her things. I carry it with me whenever I leave the ranch in case anyone takes to robbing me while I’m gone.” He looked sideways at Jade and added, “It’s about all I have of hers, you understand.”

  He opened the box and showed Jade a pair of cuff links. One was inscribed with a G and the other with a W. “Do you think they mean anything?” he asked.

  “Yes,” said Jade as she stared at the cuff links that she remembered seeing in Gil’s portrait. “What was your mother’s name?”

  “Dolly. Why do you ask?”

  “We need to talk, Mr. Forster.”

  His suspicions were correct. The woman had tremendous courage. That was all well and good. Killing had almost become tedious, his victims presenting as much challenge as the goats he practiced on. In recent years, he’d come to appreciate the hunt almost as much as the final kill.

  Almost.

  CHAPTER 20

  “Most of the Big Four are only dangerous when aroused. Unfortunately, the rhinoceros and the Cape buffalo are aroused by your very existence. Indeed, both have made it their goal in life to trample anything in their path. But when ranking the Big Four, one must always keep in mind that the lions of Tsavo make their living eating buffalo. They’d eat rhino, too, if rhino were worth eating.”

  —The Traveler

  JADE LEANED AGAINST THE CAR AND stared at Roger, searching for some fraternal likeness to David. “Tell me everything you know,” she said.

  “It’s little more than what I already told you,” admitted Roger. “I don’t think my stepfather cared to hear about my father. The only thing else I recall my mother saying was how she got to Mombasa. Father, my real father, was very sick. They’d been prospecting somewhere when he took a bad turn. Some Afrikaaner named Kruger, I think, brought them to Mombasa. Mother went into labor and when she was released, she learned Father had died.”

  Jade couldn’t believe her ears. All the names fit, Kruger and Abel. Even his mother’s name of Dolly was similar enough to Dolie to suspect that Gil spelled her nickname differently from most people. Then there were those cuff links. She wondered if Harry had suspected all along. She decided to ask. “Did Harry ever tell you why I’m out here?”

  “Actually, I’ve heard talk that you’re asking about Gil Worthy.” He looked at his boots. “I admit it’s why I even brought up the topic with you. I knew the initials on the cuff links might be a coincidence, but then I thought about what my mother said, and I wondered. Do you think Gil was my father?”

  Jade nodded. “Your mother’s name matches, and I’ve seen those cuff links before.”

  “No one else knows about them,” he said. “They’ve always been part of my mother’s secret. I’d prefer they remain a secret.” He looked at Jade with such intensity that she agreed even though she couldn’t understand why.

  “Of course, but you will probably have to produce them in London as evidence.”

  Roger nodded. “I understand. So what does this mean now? Am I rich?”

  Jade recoiled a bit. She had been so intent on finding David’s lost brother and fulfilling a vow that the mention of money seemed cold and heartless. “I don’t know,” she answered. “I do have something to give you, and something else to tell you. Your father didn’t die when you were born. He went back to England. Maybe he thought your mother died. Maybe he was delirious. But he did come back in 1915 to find you. It looks like he was murdered in Nairobi.”

  Jade expected Roger to show shock or sorrow over his father’s desertion or death. He didn’t. But then, his father had been dead in his mind for his entire life. Just then Harry bellowed for Roger.

  “Whatever you have for me,” said Roger, “give it to me tonight.” He left to find Harry.

  “It’s not good enough!” bellowed Harry. “Make it thicker.”

  Roger’s scornful voice added, “It’s a wonder you lazy louts aren’t dead and digested.”

  The advance men had already built a boma for the oxen and nearly finished a similar thorny protective barrier around the tents, but both Roger and Harry saw too many thin spots for their liking. They insisted on strengthening it. Whereas Harry’s order came off with the authority of a headman, Jade noticed that Roger’s comments simply dripped with loathing.

  “The Tsavo lions are a different breed,” Harry explained to the hunters. “Larger, for one thing, and the males don’t sport that big, thick mane. Their manes, what there is of them, look more like a juvenile’s, sparse and short. The prides are smaller, too, so the males actually hunt.”

  “How large is larger?” asked Jade.

  “Males average four fifty to five hundred pounds.”

  Jade whistled. “That’s grizzly size.”

  “Colonel Patterson’s people built bomas,” stated Avery. “I can’t say it did them any good. Those lions broke right through.”

  Harry’s laugh came out as more of a derisive snort. “Patterson? I think the old boy was one to embellish. But that was a particularly nasty lot of lions plaguing them; that’s for certain.” He pointed to the boma. “That’s why we want this twice as thick.”

  “I thought only wounded or sick lions resorted to man-eating,” said Jade.

  “Not here in Tsavo,” said Harry. “Here, the beasts make a habit of it. But then, look at their alternative and decide what you’d rather take down: a buffalo capable of stamping you into a bloody pancake or a very tender human.” He eyed Jade as he emphasized the word “tender.”

  Roger interjected. “It’s their heritage, too. This area used to be a part of the old ivory route, only ivory wasn’t the only commodity taken through here. Slave trading was part of the bargain. Weak slaves were left to drop. That’s an easy mark for any lion.”

  “Yes,” added Harry in a sinister undertone. “And the young ones learn from watching Momma and Daddy.”

  “I have gleaned two facts from this discussion,” summarized Avery. “Vigilance is critical, and I’ll end up with a lion skin sans decent mane.”

  “You’ll be lucky if that’s all you end up with, Dunbury,” said Harry. “Don’t go looking for trouble out here. It will find you first. Roger, check on the rest of the gear. I’m going to talk to the tracker.”

  “I’ll talk to Memba Sasa,” said Roger. “He’s temperamental and more used to me.”

  Harry shrugged. “Suit yourself, Rog. I’ll see to the camp, then.” He turned to the others. “You can choose your tents from the three central ones. Roger and I flank you on either side.” He tugged his hat brim in a parting salute. Jade grabbed Harry’s sleeve to stop him as he turned away. Harry turned with a wide grin. “Why, Jade. Hate to see me go?”

  Jade released his shirt and laughed. “Not at all. I just want to know where I should tell my gun bearer, Pili, to sleep.”

  “Oh,” he said with obvious disappointment. “We have tents set up behind this inner circle for the men, although most of the Wakamba porters prefer to sleep outside. Still, if we are bothered by lions, most don’t recognize a closed tent as anything and pa
ss it by. The men know that. Your man will take one of those tents.”

  “Fine,” said Jade. “And just so you know, I believe Mrs. Thompson is bunking with me.”

  “Right.” Harry turned on his heel and strode off to the other side of the camp.

  Jade threw her duffel into her tent and set the Winchester on the cot. She fished her camera out of its bag, and her hand brushed the second ring box. “I found your brother, David,” she whispered. “And when we get back to Nairobi, I’ll find your father’s killer.” She tucked the ring box back into a corner of the bag next to the sealed packet, took up the camera, loaded it, and headed out to photograph the camp.

  With all the delays, the day was well advanced by the time they arrived. The temperature had cooled into the low nineties, and long shadows stretched like a yawning cat along the ground. Somewhere to the west, Mount Kilimanjaro rose up, but Jade saw only clouds when she squinted in that direction. The mystical mountain, considered by some to be the soul of Africa, stayed hidden behind its veil, too proud to be ogled by mere mortals like her.

  The great volcanic mountain left its calling card, however, in the black rock around it. The camp sat at the base of several smaller hills to the north and across the river to the south. The tree belt showed where the Tsavo River came into its own just west of them as the many tributaries flowed together under the watchful but hidden eye of Kilimanjaro. She felt a thrill run through her just knowing the mountain was there behind its veil.

  Avery joined her. “Not exactly the land of milk and honey, is it?” he said. “Rather lean-looking territory. But I came to fetch you. Bev is insisting on a bath now,” he explained. “Mr. Hascombe is going to hunt for the pot, as they say, and I thought perhaps I would lend a rifle. Care to join us?”

  “Does Harry approve of my tagging along on this hunt?”

  Avery grinned as if to suggest it shouldn’t matter whether he did or not. “Your people are paying his fee,” he said.