Authors: Evelyn Waugh
‘And
where are you going?’
‘After
Seth and Boaz. We’ve a rendezvous five days’ ride out of town at a farm of
Boaz’s on the edge of the Wanda country. There’s just a chance of getting the
boy back if he plays his cards properly. But there’s bound to be serious
fighting, whatever happens.’
Shivers
of half-pleasant alarm went through his listeners.
‘Mr
Seal,’ Lady Courteney benignly interposed at last. ‘I think it’s very
mischievous of you saying all this. I’m sure that things are not nearly as bad
as you make out. You’re just
talking.
Now go and get yourself some
whisky and talk to Prudence, and I think you might put that dirty gun outside
in the lobby.’
‘Oh, Basil, what
is
going
to happen? I can’t bear your going off like this and everything being so messy.’
‘Don’t
you worry, Prudence, everything’ll be all right. We’ll meet again, I promise
you.’
‘But
you said it was dangerous.’
‘I was
just piling it on to scare the old women.’
‘Basil,
I don’t believe you were.’
‘I
should think they’ll take you off by air from Khormaksar. You’ve got Walsh
down at Matodi. He’s a sound-enough fellow. As soon as he learns what’s
happened he’ll get through to Aden and arrange everything. You’ll be all right,
just you see.’
‘But
it’s you I’m worrying about.’
‘Don’t
you do that, Prudence. It’s one of the things there’s no sense in at all.
People are always doing it and it doesn’t get them anywhere.’
‘Anyway,
you look lovely in those clothes.’
Basil talked a great deal
at dinner; the same large party was assembled, but he kept them all silent with
tales of Sakuyu savagery, partly invented, partly remembered from the days of
Connolly’s confidence. ‘… shaved all the hair off her head and covered it
with butter. White ants ate straight through into her skull … You still find
blind old Europeans working with the slaves on some of the farms in the interior;
they’re prisoners of war that were conveniently forgotten ,about when peace
was made … the Arab word for Sakuyu means Man-without-mercy … when they get
drink in them they go completely insane. They can stay like that for days at a
time, utterly unconscious of fatigue. They’d think nothing of the road out here
if they thought they’d find alcohol when they got here. May I have another
glass of whisky? …‘
When
the men were left together at the table, the Minister said, ‘My boy, I don’t
know how much truth there is in all you’ve been saying, but I think you might
not have talked like that before the ladies. If there
is
any danger, and
I for one don’t for a moment believe there is, the ladies should be kept in
ignorance of the fact.’
‘Oh, I
like to see them scared, ‘ said Basil. ‘Pass the decanter, will you, Jagger,
and now, sir, what arrangements are we making for defence?’
‘Arrangements
for defence?’
‘Yes,
of course you can’t possibly have everyone separated in the different
bungalows. They could all have their throats cut one at a time and none of us
any the wiser. The compound is far too big to form a defensible unit. You’d
better get everyone up here, arrange for shifts of guard and put a picket of
your sowars with horses half a mile down the road to the town to bring the
alarm if a raiding party comes into sight. You run in and talk to the women.
I’ll arrange it all for you.’
And the
Envoy Extraordinary could find nothing to say. The day had been too much for
him. Everyone was stark crazy and damned bad-mannered too. They could do what
they liked. He was going to smoke a cigar, alone, in his study.
Basil
took command. In half an hour the Legges and the Anstruthers, bearing children
wrapped in blankets and their meagre supply of firearms, arrived in the
drawing-room.
‘I
suppose that this is necessary,’ said Lady Courteney, ‘but I’m afraid that
you’ll none of you be at all comfortable.’
An
attempt to deceive the children that nothing unusual was afoot proved
unsuccessful; it was not long before they were found in a corner of the hall
enacting with tremendous gusto the death agonies of the Italian lady whose scalp
was eaten by termites.
‘The
gentleman in the funny clothes told us,’ they explained. ‘Coo, mummy, it must
have hurt.’
The
grown-ups moved restlessly about.
‘Anything
we can do to help?’
‘Yes,
count the cartridges out into equal piles … it might be a good thing to
prepare some bandages too … Legge, the hinges of this shutter aren’t too
good. See if you can find a screwdriver.’
It was
about ten o’clock when it was discovered that the native servants, who had been
massed in the Legation kitchens from the surrounding households, had silently
taken their leave. Only Basil’s camel boys remained in possession. ‘They had
compounded for themselves a vast stew of incongruous elements and were sodden
with eating.
‘Other
boys going home. No want cutting off heads. They much no good boys. We like it
fine living here.’
News of
the desertion made havoc among the nerves in the drawing-room. Sir Samson
merely voiced the feelings of all his guests when, turning petulantly from the
table, he remarked: ‘It’s ‘no good. My heart is
not
in halma this evening.’
But the
night passed and no assault was made. The men of the party watched, three hours
on, three hours off, at the various. vulnerable points. Each slept with a
weapon beside him, revolver, rook rifle, shot-gun or meat chopper. Continuous
low chattering in the rooms upstairs, rustle of dressing-gowns, patter of
slippers and frequent shrill cries from the youngest Anstruther child in
nightmare, told that the ladles were sleeping little. At dawn they assembled
again with pale faces and strained eyes. Lady Courteney’s English maid and the Goanese
butler went to the kitchen and, circumventing with difficulty the recumbent
camel boys, made hot coffee. Spirits rose a little; they abandoned the undertones
which had become habitual during the last ten hours and spoke in normal voices;
they began to yawn. Basil said, ‘One night over. Of course your real danger
will come when supplies begin running short in the town.’
That
discouraged them from any genuine cheerfulness.
They went
out on to the lawn. Smoke lay low over the town.
‘Something
still burning.’
Presently
Anstruther said, ‘I say, though, look over there. Aren’t those clouds?’
‘It’s a
week early for the rains.’
‘Still,
you never know.’
‘That’s
rain all right,’ said Basil. ‘I was counting on it today or tomorrow. They got
it last week in Kenya. It’ll delay the repairs on the Lumo bridge pretty
considerably.’
‘Then I
must get those bulbs in this morning,’ said Lady Courteney. ‘It’ll be a relief
to have something sensible to do after tearing up sheets for bandages and
sewing sand-bags. You might have told me before, Mr Seal.’
‘If I
were you,’ said Basil, ‘I should start checking your stores and making out a
scheme of rations. I should think my boys must have eaten a good week’s
provisions last night.’
The
party split up and attempted to occupy themselves in useful jobs about the
house; soon, however, there came a sound which brought them out helter-skelter,
all together again, chattering on the lawn; the drone of an approaching
aeroplane.
‘That’ll
be Ballon,’ said Basil, ‘making his get-away.’
But as
the machine came into sight it became clear that it was making for the’
Legation; it flew low, circling over the compound and driving the ‘ponies to
frenzy in their stables. They could see the pilot’s head looking at them over
the side. A weighted flag fluttered from it to the ground, then the machine
mounted again and soared off in the direction of the coast. The Anstruther
children ran, crowing with delight, to retrieve the message from the rose
garden and bring it to the Minister. It was a brief pencil note, signed by the
squadron-leader at Aden.
Am bringing two troop carriers, three bombers. Be
prepared to evacuate whole British population from Legation in one hour from
receiving this. Can carry official archives and bare personal necessities only.
‘That’s Walsh’s doing.
Clever chap, always said so. But I say, though, what a rush.’
For the
next hour the Legation was in a ferment as a growing pile of luggage assembled
on the lawn.
‘Official
archives,
indeed. There may be some papers about
somewhere, William. See if any of them seem at all interesting.’
‘We’ll
have to put the ponies out to grass and hope for the best.’
‘Lock
all doors and take the keys away. Not that it’s likely to make any difference.’
‘Envoy,
you can’t bring
all
the pictures.’
‘How
about passports?’
The
visitors from the town, having nothing to pack, did what they could to help the
others.
‘I’ve
never been up before. I’m told it often makes people unwell.’
‘Poor
Mr Raith.’
Basil,
suddenly reduced to unimportance, stood by and watched the preparations, a
solitary figure in his white Sakuyu robes leaning over his rifle like a
sentinel.
Prudence
joined him and they walked together to the edge of the compound, out of sight
behind some rhododendrons. She was wearing a red beret jauntily on one side
.of her head.
‘Basil,
give up this absurd Emperor, darling, and come with us.’
‘Can’t
do that.’
‘Please.’
‘No,
Prudence, everything’s going to be all right. Don’t you worry. We’ll meet again
somewhere.’
Rain
clouds on the horizon grew and spread across the bright sky.
‘It
seems so much
more
going away when it’s in an aeroplane, if you see
what I mean.’
‘I see
what you mean.’
‘Prudence,
Prudence,’
from Lady Courteney beyond the
rhododendrons. ‘You really can’t take so many boxes.’
In
Basil’s arms Prudence said, ‘But the clothes smell odd.’
‘I got
them second-hand from a Sakuyu. He’d just stolen an evening suit from an
Indian.’
‘Prudence.’
‘All
right, mum,
coming
… sweet Basil, I can’t really bear it.’
And she
ran back to help eliminate her less serviceable hats.
Quite
soon, before anyone was ready for them, the five aeroplanes came into sight,
roaring over the hills in strictly maintained formation. They landed and came
to rest in the compound. Air Force officers trotted forward and saluted,
treating Sir Samson with a respect which somewhat surprised his household.
‘We
ought to start as soon as we can, sir. There’s a storm coming up.’
With
very little confusion the party embarked. The Indian troopers and the Goan
butler in one troop carrier, the children, clergy and senior members in the
other. Mr Jagger, William and Prudence took their places in the cockpits of
the three bombers. Just as they were about to start, Prudence remembered
something and clambered down. She raced back to the Legation, a swift, gay
figure under her red beret, and returned panting with a loose sheaf of papers.
‘Nearly
left the
Panorama of Life
behind,’ she explained.
The
engines started up with immense din; the machines taxied forward and took off,
mounted steadily, circled about in a neat arrow-head, dwindled and disappeared.
Silence fell on the compound. It had all taken less than twenty minutes.
Basil
turned back alone to look for his camels.
Prudence
crouched in the cockpit, clutching her beret to her head. The air shrieked past
her ears while the landscape rolled away below in a leisurely fashion; the
straggling city, half shrouded in smoke, disappeared behind them; open pasture
dotted with cattle and little clusters of huts; presently the green lowlands
and jungle country. She knew without particular regret that she was leaving
Debra Dowa for good.
‘Anyway,’
she reflected, ‘I ought to get some new ideas for the
Panorama,’
and
already she seemed to be emerging into the new life which her mother had
planned for her, and spoken of not long ago seated on Prudence’s bed as she
came to wish her good night. Aunt Harriet’s house in Belgrave Place; girls,
luncheons, dances and young men, weekends in country houses, tennis and
hunting; all the easy circumstances of English life which she had read about
often but never experienced. She would resume the acquaintance of friends she
had known at school, ‘and shan’t I be able to show off to them? They’ll all
seem so young and innocent …‘ English cold and fog and rain, grey twilight
among isolated, bare trees and dripping coverts; London streets when the shops
were closing and the pavements crowded with people going to Tube stations with
evening papers; empty streets, hate at night after dances, revealing
unsuspected slopes, sluiced by men in almost mediaeval overalls … an English
girl returning to claim her natural heritage …