The Leopard's Prey (27 page)

As he spoke, the sun rose and spilled golden light and long fingers of shadows across the dusty landscape. The grasses here grew sparsely and looked browner as the dry season stretched on. In the daylight, Jade again saw the fierce, volcanic pillars and cliffs to the south, a forbidding, harsh landscape. She knew she was lucky to have escaped with only a torn wing.

“Thank you,” said Jade. “I am grateful. I need your help.” All this time, the other warriors did not turn around or approach the Jenny. Their discipline amazed her. Anytime
she
saw a plane, she wanted to touch it and peer up into the motor. And she’d seen plenty of them. “I must leave the airplane and walk back to Naivasha town. If I stay here, the men will find the
kifaru toto
too late, and it will die. If I leave the airplane, an animal will chew on it or scratch its back against it.”

“And the man with the wood leg will beat you?” Tajewo didn’t wait for her answer to his rhetorical question. To him, it was obvious.

Tajewo called to the men. They gathered in a clump, discussing the matter. She caught the occasional surreptitious look at the linen-and-wood contraption beside them and even more open stares at her. After a few minutes, three of the men set off at a trot to the east.

“Three warriors will find the
kifaru toto
and bring it back here. If it is too young to eat grass, they will take it to the
kraal
and give it milk.” Tajewo pointed to the southwest. “It is a half day’s walk to the village. The rest will guard the ar-plane. In this, I can repay the one who killed my brother’s killer.”

“Thank you,” said Jade. “Now I can find the farmhouse I saw and see if someone can help me go home.”

“
I
will take you to that
kraal,
” he said, using the term for the “village.” “But I do not think anyone is there. It is filled with emptiness for many years. Then I will take you to Nai’posha,” he said, giving the town the original pronunciation.

“That’s odd,” mumbled Jade more to herself. “I was sure I saw a truck there.” Well, perhaps it was too old and broken down to bother with anymore when the settlers gave up and left. Perhaps someone new had taken over the farm recently and Tajewo just didn’t know it yet. She gathered her few supplies from behind the cockpit seat, replaced Sam’s jacket, and fell into step beside the tall Maasai.

“YOU CAN’T GO in now, sir,” said the night nurse. “Visiting hours have not begun yet.”

“I have to see Mr. Featherstone. It’s most important.”

“Mr. Featherstone is in need of his rest and … sir!” she shouted as Neville pushed past her. “Stop this instant!”

“It’s all right, Nurse,” said the doctor, who’d just come in to make his morning rounds. “We can give him five minutes.”

The nurse turned on her heel with a huffed “Well!” and went back to her desk. Neville didn’t wait for anyone to change their minds and hurried over to Sam’s bedside.

“Good to see you alive and kicking,” said Neville. “Hello, Avery.” He fidgeted with his hat, as though nervous about something. Avery rose and nodded toward the chair, offering it to Neville.

Sam shifted his stumpy leg under the sheet. “Only kicking with one foot right now, Neville. Thanks for bringing me here. I heard you brought Jade, too,” Sam said. He made the statement sound like a question, hoping for some information that would dispel his worry that she’d gone off on another wild escapade.

Neville, still standing, nodded. “I think she stayed most of the night. Yesterday morning she came by the house to tell us they finally managed to get the quinine down you with some subterfuge. As I understand it, she made you think it was a lemonade.”

Sam started. So that was where the memory of home had come from. “Is she in the waiting room or at the farm with Maddy?” he asked, his voice hopeful.

Neville shook his head. “That’s why I needed to see you. She’s not back yet.”

Something in his voice made Sam sit up straight. “Not back from where?”

“I’m not sure,” said Neville. “Wherever you planned to go, I assume.”

Sam’s bass voice dropped to a low rumble. “Are you telling me she went up in the plane?”

“What are you talking about?” asked Avery. “What happened?”

Neville looked from one man to the other. “Jade said that Sam told her to go up without him.” He looked directly at Sam as he finished. “She said you
insisted
on it, wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Sam’s eyes opened wide and his face blanched. “And she’s not back yet? I didn’t ask her to go up alone.” He threw back the covers and began searching for his clothes. “Doctor!” he yelled. “Where’s my damn leg!”

“Calm yourself, man,” said Avery. He pushed against Sam’s chest in a futile attempt to keep him in bed. “Neville, a hand here, if you please, and tell me what the deuce is going on.” Then to himself: “How can a sick man be so bloody strong?”

The doctor raced over to them. “Mr. Featherstone, get back into bed this instant.”

“Where’s my leg?” demanded Sam, still resisting Avery’s increasing pressure. “Neville, find my leg.”

Neville straightened and peered around the room as if the leg would suddenly appear floating in front of him. “I don’t know—”

“We’ll find your leg, Sam,” said Avery, “
after
you get hold of yourself and tell me what the blazes is going on.”

Sam collapsed back against the pillow, beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead. His breath came in shallow pants. “My stars, I’m weak as a kitten,” he mumbled.

“The hell,” muttered Avery.

“That’s why you aren’t to be released yet,” declared the doctor. “There is no reason for—”

“There is every reason in the world, Doctor,” growled Sam. His ebony eyes glared at the doctor. “Miss del Cameron has crashed somewhere, and I have to find her.”

“What?” shouted Avery. A stern “Shush” and an equally harsh glare came from the nurse standing two beds over taking a patient’s pulse. Avery scowled, but dropped his voice. “What the hell is going on?”

Sam held up one hand, indicating that he’d speak as soon as he got his breath back. “I was supposed to fly Monday morning for that zoo company. Scout for a rhino calf. It seems our Jade flew off alone in my place.”

“She said you told her to. Begged her, in fact,” said Neville.

“Well, I didn’t!” said Sam. “At least not consciously. I was probably raving or something.”

“Has Jade soloed before?” asked Avery.

Sam shook his head. “She’s handled takeoffs and landings on her own and a complete flight once, but I’ve always been in the front seat, ready to take over if necessary.”

“And was it ever necessary?” continued Avery. He poured a glass of water and held it out to Sam.

“No. She’s good.” Sam stopped and took a drink. “She controls the plane smoothly, understands allowing for drift, and she knows how to scout for an emergency-landing site.”

“So what’s the worry?” asked Avery. “She sounds like a competent pilot.”

“The worry is that she’s not back yet. She should have been back two hours after takeoff. It’s been an entire day. Something’s happened.”

“She probably stayed out too long and put down somewhere to refuel,” said Avery. He looked at Neville. “When did your man tell you that she hadn’t returned?”

“An hour ago. I had machinery problems most of the day yesterday, and Maddy helped me. We didn’t get back to the house until dark. Kimathi kept watch from the fields all day and then all night by the hangar. When Jade didn’t return during the night, he hurried back to tell us.”

Avery frowned. “It
does
sound as though she’s had some sort of trouble.”

Sam pushed himself to a sitting position and steadied himself with both hands on the bed. “And there are places in the bush where you don’t want to be stranded. Now, if you’re all through mollycoddling me, I intend to go and find her.”

“You really shouldn’t leave,” said the doctor, who had remained silent during the discussion.

Sam took hold of Avery’s shoulder and hauled himself up. “I’m leaving, Doctor. Give me whatever pills I need to take, but I’m leaving. And bring me my leg!”

The doctor motioned the nurse forward and instructed her to bring Mr. Featherstone’s effects. She scurried off, her steps hastened by four pairs of stern male eyes on her back, and returned with a bundle of clothes, a pair of boots, and a wooden leg. She dumped the entire assemblage on the foot of the bed and hurried away again after Sam’s particularly frightful scowl.

“I want to make it clear that your leaving goes against my advisement,” said the doctor.

“Understood,” said Sam as he pulled on a pair of drawers followed by an undershirt. “It’s not that I’m ungrateful, mind you, but there’s more at stake here than my rest.”

The doctor fidgeted with Sam’s boot. “If this is the young lady who was here Sunday night, I can certainly understand your desire to assist her. But she seemed a capable young woman. I’m sure she’s in no
real
danger. Didn’t strike me as the type to just fly off, as you put it.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “You mistook the statement for something metaphorical, Doctor. I’m speaking literally.” He finished attaching his prosthetic and tugged on his trousers. “She did fly off. And in my airplane.”

“Oh, dear,” muttered the doctor.

“And you have no idea,” continued Sam as he buttoned his shirt, “just how much trouble that little green-eyed varmint can get into.” He steadied himself against the back of the chair before sitting down in it. “My boots, if you please.”

“Let me give you a hand there,” said Neville.

Sam shook his head. “Thanks, but it’s actually easier to pull it over the leg than have someone push.” He pointed to the sides of the wooden foot, showing where countless rubbings had polished the wood to a fine sheen.

“Do you have any idea where Jade went?” asked Avery.

“Probably. If she pulled out my map, she would have found my notes. I’d intended to head west past Naivasha and to the edge of the Maasai reserve. Supposed to be good game there.”

Neville nodded. “Indeed. Planned to take Maddy there on a holiday. The lake is splendid.”

“I have my vehicle at hand,” said Avery, “If we can round up some chaps with cars, we can make it there quickly enough to conduct a broad search.”

“She’s probably at Naivasha waiting for us,” suggested Neville.

“Maybe,” said Sam. He didn’t sound hopeful. “Who did you have in mind?”

“There was a dinner last evening,” said Avery. “A reunion of Volunteer Mounted Rifles.”

“Right,” said Neville. “I saw the notice in the paper. They meet once a month at the Norfolk Hotel.”

“Do you think they’ll help?” asked Sam.

“They’d damn well better,” said Avery. “After all, they are, or were, a military unit.”

“Of sorts,” said Neville, “but strictly volunteer and no one really saw much service. They mainly patrolled the rail lines and some of the fringes of the territory in case of enemy invasion or warring natives.”

“Then it’s about time they did something to earn their keep,” said Sam. “And we can find someone from that Perkins and Daley company, too.” He stood. “Let’s go.”Avery and Neville flanked Sam to the door. Once outside, Sam leaned against the outer wall.

“I’m sure Jade’s all right, Sam,” said Neville, trying to sound hopeful.

“I pray that’s the case,” said Sam, “and if she is and she smashed up my plane, I’ll kill the reckless little minx.”

CHAPTER 15

And just what sort of activities would one expect in such an exclusive club?
They plan and carry out cattle raids, go on lion hunts, and learn the customs
so that they can become valued elders in their turn.

—The Traveler

TAJEWO COULD HAVE loped easily across the grasslands, but Jade was too worn-out from the previous night trying to sleep in a cramped cockpit to keep up for very long. After a few hundred yards, she slowed to a brisk walk, and Tajewo did the same. They traveled in silence. A chunky rock hyrax popped its head up over a red rock and ran back into the shadows. Jade watched a giraffe stride with its languid, liquid grade to an acacia tree. Its long blue-black tongue stretched upward and wrapped itself around a leafy branch, stripping it bare as it retracted into the gaping mouth. A second one joined the first giraffe at the opposite end of the tree.

Jade took in the high shoulders and sloping back. A fascinating creature, especially when it splayed its forelimbs to drink. There was nothing remotely like this animal in the United States. It was no wonder people wanted to see them in the zoos. Such sights occupied Jade for a while, but finally after a quarter mile, curiosity about Ruta and the Maasai warriors in general won out.

“Do warriors often leave the
kraal
like Ruta did?”

Tajewo kept his eyes on the grasses for any danger, a hidden predator, a sleeping bull who would not appreciate being awakened. “No. A warrior must never eat alone, for this means that a warrior, no matter how poor, will have food.”

“Then why was Ruta alone?”

“He was a great warrior. Once, he was throwing his spear to keep his arm strong. A new warrior did not see. He ran in front of him and was killed. His family said my brother did this thing to win a girl. But he did not. They would try to kill him now. It was best that he hide, so he left.”