The Dark of the Sun - Smith Wilbur - Страница 35

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floor and were chopping potatoes and onions into the five gallon pots.

The gendarmes were all laughing at something Shermaine had said.

Her usually pale cheeks were flushed with the heat; there was a sooty

smudge on her forehead. She wielded the big knife with professional

dexterity. She looked up and saw Bruce, her face lighting instantly and

her lips parting.

"We're having a Hungarian goulash for lunch - bully beef, potatoes and

onions."

"As of now I am rating you acting second cook without pay."

"You are too kind," and she put her tongue out at him. It was a pink

pointed little tongue like a cat's. Bruce felt the old familiar

tightening of his legs and the dryness in his throat as he looked at it.

"Shermaine, the locomotive is damaged beyond repair. It is of no further

use." He spoke in English.

"It makes a passable kitchen," she demurred.

"Be serious." Bruce's anxiety made him irritable. "We're stranded here

until we think of something."

"But, Bruce, you are the genius. I

have complete faith in you. I'm sure you'll think of some truly

beautiful idea." Her face was solemn but she couldn't keep the banter

out of her eyes. "Why don't you go and ask General Moses to lend you his

transportation?" Bruce's eyes narrowed in thought and the black inverted

curves of his eyebrows nearly touched above the bridge of his nose.

"The food better be good or I'll break you to third cook," he warned,

clambered down from the cab to the ground and hurried back along the

train.

"Hendry, Sergeant Major, come here, please. I want to discuss something

with you." They came to join him and he led the way up the ladder into

one of the covered coaches. Hendry dropped on to the bunk and placed his

feet on the washbasin.

"That was a quick one," he grinned through the coppery stubble of his

beard.

"You're the most uncouth, filthy-mouthed son of a bitch I have ever met,

Hendry," said Bruce coldly. "When I get you back to

Elisabethville I'm going to beat you to pulp before I hand you over to

the military authority for murder."

"My, my," laughed Hendry. "Big talker, hey? Curry, big, big talker."

"Don't make me kill you now -

don't do that, please. I still need you."

"What's with you and that

Frenchy, hey? You love it or something? You love it, or you just fancy a

bit of that fat little arse? It can't be her titties - she ain't got

much there, not even a handful each side." Bruce started for him, then

changed his mind and swung round to stare out of the window.

His voice was strangled when he spoke.

"I'll make a bargain with you, Hendry. Until we get out of this you keep

off my back and I'll keep off yours. When we reach Msapa

Junction the truce is off. You can do and say whatever you like and, if

I don't kill you for it, I'll try my level best to see you hanged for

murder."

"I'm making no bargain with you or nobody, Curry. I play along until it

suits me, and I won't give you no warning when it doesn't suit me to

play along any more. And let me tell you now, Bucko! I don't need you

and I don't need nobody. Not Haig or you, with your fancy

too-good-to-kiss my-arse talk; when the time comes I'm

going to trim you down to size. - Remember that, Curry. And don't say I

just didn't warn you." Hendry was leaning forward, hands on his knees,

body braced and his whole face twisting and contotted with the vehemence

of his speech.

"Let's make it now, Hendry." Bruce wheeled away from the window,

crouching slightly, his hands stiffening into the flat hard blades of

the judo fighter.

Sergeant Major Ruffararo stood up from the Opposite bunk with surprising

grace and speed for such a big man.

He interposed his great body.

"You wanted to tell us something, boss?" Bruce straightened out of his

crouch, his hands Slowly relaxing. Irritably he brushed at the damp lock

of dark hair that had fallen on to his forehead, as if to brush Wally

Hendry out of his mind with the same movement.

"Yes," controlling his voice with an effort, "I wanted to discuss our

next move." He fished the cigarette pack from his top pocket and lit

one, sucking the smoke down deep.

Then he perched on the lid of the washbasin and studied the ash on the

tip of the cigarette. When he spoke again his voice was normal.

"There is no hope of repairing this locomotive, so we have to find

alternative transport out of here. Either we can walk two hundred miles

back to Msapa junction with our friends the Baluba ready to dispute our

passage, or we can ride back in General Moses's trucks!" He paused to

let it sink in.

"You going to pinch those trucks off him?" asked Ruffy.

"That's going to take some doing, boss."

"No, Ruffy, I don't think we have any chance of getting them out from

under his nose. What we will have to do is attack the town and wipe him

out."

"You're bloody crazy," exclaimed Wally. "You're raving bloody mad."

Bruce ignored him. (I estimate that Moses has about sixty men. With

Kanaki and nine men on the bridge, Haig and de Surrier and six others

gone, we have thirty-four men left.

Correct, Sergeant Major?"

"That's right, boss."

"Very well," Bruce

nodded. "We'll have to leave at least ten men here to man that ambush in

case Moses sends a patrol after us, or in case of an attack by the

Baluba. It's not enough, I know, but we will just have to risk it."

"Most of these civilians got arms with them, shotguns and sports

rifles," said Ruffy.

"Yes," agreed Bruce. "They should be able to look after themselves. So

that leaves twenty-four men to carry out the attack, something like

three to one."

"Those shufta will be so full of liquor, half of them won't be able to

stand up."

"That's what I am banking on:

drunkenness and surprise.

We'll hit them and try and finish it before they know what's happened. I

don't think they will have realized how badly we were hit; they probably

expect us to be a hundred miles away by now."

"When do

you want to leave, boss?"

"We are about twelve miles from Port Reprieve - say, six hours" march in

the dark. I want to attack in the early hours of tomorrow morning, but

I'd like to be in position around midnight. We'll leave here at six

o'clock, just before dark."

"I'd better go and start sorting the boys out."

"Okay, Ruffy. Issue an extra hundred rounds to each man and ten

grenades. I'll want four extra haversacks of grenades also." Bruce

turned to Hendry and looked at him for the first time. "Go with the

sergeant major, Hendry, and give him a hand."

"Jesus, this is going to be a ball," grinned Wally in anticipation.

"With any luck I'll get me a sackful of ears." He disappeared down the

corridor behind Ruffy, and Bruce lay back on the seat and took off his

helmet. He closed his eyes and once again he saw

Boussier and his wife standing together in the truck as it rolled back

down the hill, he saw the huddle of frightened women, and Andre standing

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