Stalking Ivory (7 page)

Finally, Jelani managed to interject questions of his own. “Who are these people traveling with your Big Bwana? Are they good hunters?”

The cook, knowing that the reputation and social standing of the entire camp rested on the capabilities of the hunters, puffed out his chest. “Ayah, they are elephant hunters. Only a brave man would face an angry elephant.”

“I know of Big Bwana,” said Jelani. “He is a brave man, but I do not know these others. They do not look like hunters.” He shoved more
posho
into his mouth.

The cook stood and motioned for Jelani to come with him. “I will show you.”

Jelani stood and barked an order to the cat. Biscuit didn’t need any order to follow him, but the action impressed the men even more. Jelani followed the cook, and by the time Memsabu Jade called for him, he had discovered the answers to most of her questions. He returned to her with great dignity, head high and back straight, Biscuit’s leash firmly in hand.

“Did you have a nice visit with the men, Jelani?” asked Jade when he rejoined her.

“Yes, Simba Jike.
Tarmangani bundolo Tantor.
”

“Balu Tantor?”
asked Jade. Jelani shook his head no.

“I
CAN’T RECALL
a more boring evening,” said Beverly once they were settled around the fire back in their own camp. She stretched and grimaced as she worked out a kink in her lower back. “I suppose I could, but I don’t want to.”

“It wasn’t
that
bad,” Avery said. He glanced at his wife, who stared back at him and rolled her eyes. “Well, perhaps it was,” he amended. “But I’m not sure ‘boring’ is the right word for his crew. ‘Smoldering’ is more like it.”

Beverly nodded. “I know what you mean, my love. One would never suppose from listening to those arrogant, egotistical people that they had just lost the war and, with it, part of the Congo and German East Africa. And then there’s Frau Peroxide hoping to make my Avery her next conquest.” She raised her chin and sniffed in disgust.

Avery shifted closer to his wife and put an arm around her in a rare public display of affection. “Not to fear, my darling. She’s as bloody likely to take me from you as they are to regain their territories.”

Jade drained her coffee mug, looked at the empty cup longingly, and rose to refill it. Biscuit lolled at her feet and watched her movements. “I learned quite a bit.” She finished filling her mug and held out the pot to the others in an unspoken offer. Beverly declined, but her husband extended his half-empty cup. Jade topped it off and replaced the pot.

“Are you going to tell us or leave us in suspense all evening?” Beverly asked. “And by the way, you still haven’t finished your story about that elk and the horse.”

“That can wait,” said Jade. “I want to tally what we know about Harry’s crew. First, tell me what specifics
you
learned about Harry’s party, and I’m not talking about their past political history.”

Beverly began ticking off points on her fingers. “Von Gretchmar is a banker and his wife, Claudia, is a classic wealthy hausfrau who goes to a spa every year in Bad Harzburg to take the cure. Absolutely doting on her
Mann
and terribly short with poor little Mercedes. Not sure she knows one end of a rifle from another.”

“That’s a supposition, not a fact,” argued Jade.

Beverly nodded and stuck out a second finger. “Two, Mercedes does not belong in Africa. And her father has antiquated notions about her proper place. Three, the Prussian, Vogelsanger, loves to talk motors. Whatever business Mueller is in, if any, must not require much supervision from him. He doesn’t seem to have a brain in his head, and his wife—” She raised her hand to arrest Jade’s comment on making suppositions. “I know. Stick to the facts. Just don’t get me started on that hussy.”

Jade peered over her mug at Avery. “And you, Avery?”

He patted his wife’s hand in an attempt to calm her. “Vogelsanger was an officer of some rank. That much seems obvious by his bearing and the crispness of his bush clothes. They also don’t seem to be having much luck finding game, especially elephants.” He paused to think as his fingers traced patterns on the back of Beverly’s hand. “They certainly came equipped to hunt big game. Von Gretchmar has a decent enough arsenal with him. He was quite proud of his rifles, some of them of British manufacture but nothing very new.”

“Anything else?” asked Jade.

The Dunburys shook their heads in unison. “Now, are you going to grace us with your observations?” asked Beverly in mock deference.

Jade bestowed her wry Mona Lisa smile and set down her empty coffee mug. “That’s about it.” She watched and waited until Beverly had just taken a final gulp of coffee before she added, “And the fact that they’re lying about the elephants.”

Beverly sprayed out the mouthful of coffee. “I’m going to get you for that one, lovey,” she said as she wiped her mouth on her sleeve. “You did that on purpose.”

Jade chuckled. “You always were easy to get. Remember that time near Verdun?”

“
Don’t
bring that embarrassing incident up ever again, if you please, Jade.”

Jade laughed and clapped her hands together. “Em-
bare
-assing is right, Bev. Your face wasn’t the only thing that turned red.”

Beverly threw her coffee mug at Jade’s head. Jade ducked and the mug clattered into the surrounding darkness. A brief rustle followed as some night creature, startled by the missile, ran off deeper into the brush. A leopard coughed its dry, asthmatic chuff from the other side of a nearby
donga
. Jade took comfort in the natural wildness of the sounds, sounds of animals without agendas other than survival.

“I’m sorry, Bev. Really I am.” The barely suppressed grin on Jade’s face nearly made a lie of that statement.

“Ahem.” Avery cleared his throat for attention and put his arms around his wife’s waist before she could get up and pummel Jade. “As much as I’m dying to know about my wife’s, er, incident, you were about to tell us something about lying. What are they lying about and how do you know?”

“They’re lying about the elephants, and I know because Jelani told me just before we left Harry’s camp. We used the language of the ‘Great Apes’ as a code. That was your idea, Bev, remember?”

“What did he say?” asked Avery.

“He said
‘Tarmangani bundolo Tantor,’
or ‘White man kill elephants.’ But when I asked him about
balu Tantor
, or ‘baby elephants,’ he said no.”

“Jelani?” echoed Bev. “How does he know? He’s just a young boy and he wasn’t even around the Germans.”

“Their porters told him. Seems he had a very pleasant chat with the men and boasted about all the wonderful animals we’ve bagged so far. Of course, they couldn’t be outdone.”

“What wonderful animals have we bagged? Outside of some bustards and antelope for food, we haven’t attempted to hunt a blooming thing. Did you tell that lad to lie?” asked Avery.

“Of course not. He just included your rhino and our lions and hyena from the last safari. Not his fault they didn’t question his time frame.” She poked the fire with a long stick, then tossed the stick atop the flames and watched the fire flare momentarily. In the distance she heard the low trumpeting of an elephant, followed by the explosive crack of snapping tree limbs.
Probably not close,
she thought. Those sounds carried a long distance in the cool night air. For some reason she thought of them as
her
elephants and wondered if she had any business taking that view.

“How many have they killed?” asked Beverly.

“They’ve taken one of the younger bulls already,” said Jade. “Jelani saw the ivory.”

“But Harry said—” began Avery.

“Harry stayed away from the topic of hunting this evening,” interjected Jade. “And since Mueller muttered to the others in German not to say anything, I suspect Harry told them not to admit to any bagged elephants. He probably knew it would rile me again.”

“So did they kill that cow and her calf?” asked Beverly.

Jade shook her head. “No, they didn’t, which means they probably didn’t kill the askari from the King’s African Rifles, either. So I guess that means Harry isn’t a
complete
scoundrel.”

Beverly stood and stretched. “I’m relieved to hear it. But I don’t understand their reluctance to boast of their trophy. After all,” she reasoned, “they have a perfect right to hunt elephant. They have licenses.”

Jade arched her black brows. “Do they?” she asked. “We’re
assuming
that they each have a permit for elephants. Maybe they don’t. I wouldn’t be surprised if that weasel Hascombe bypassed the game warden. I can’t imagine that Blaney Percival issued any permits for elephant hunting up here.”

Avery stood next to his wife. “I suppose that may be true. Or Mr. Percival might have given them permits, but restricted their elephant hunting to the Chobe hills. I
was
rather under the impression that he didn’t want the elephants in
this
area hunted. Still, that will be easy enough to check on when we return.”

“I must admit I was taken aback by their attitude when you told them about the dead askari and the poachers,” said Beverly. “I expected that at least Claudia would appeal to her husband or Harry for protection. She just sat there like a mouse all evening after Mercedes went into her tent.”

“Yes, and Liesel wanted to go out and find them,” added Avery. “What did she say? Something about wild shifters?”

“Shiftas,”
corrected Beverly. “It means raiders.”

“Ack, how romantic,” said Jade, aping Liesel Mueller’s voice and accent. “Imagine to meet a wild
shifta
from Abyssinia.” She rolled her eyes and pretended to gag. “Tomorrow at first light Chiumbo will send a man off to Marsabit Post to alert the authorities. If no one is there, he’s to go to Kampia Tembo.”

Beverly’s mouth gaped wide open as she yawned.

“Fair imitation of a hippo, Bev,” joked Jade.

“I’ve heard all I care to concerning your ill opinion of poor Harry and his boring safari. I’m tired. I’m going to bed.” She turned to her husband and laid a slender hand on his arm. “Are you coming, darling?” Avery nodded and took his wife’s arm. Beverly paused in midstep and looked at Jade. “What about you, Jade?”

She tried to stifle a smile, but her twitching lips betrayed her. “I’m not sure Avery’s ready for a ménage à trois. I know I’m not.”

Beverly looked in vain for something else to throw at Jade and settled for scowling at her. “Don’t make me slap you, missy,” she said.

Jade hugged herself and rocked with silent laughter. “Poor Avery,” she said as she pointed to him. “He’s positively beet red with embarrassment.” She wiped a tear from an eye. “Couldn’t resist. But seriously, I want to develop those pictures I gathered up today. I really need to see if this trip wire process is worth the time and film, especially for the night shots. And I want to jot down some thoughts on the night sounds in my notebook. They’re almost worth an entire article by themselves, don’t you think?”

The Dunburys retired to their tent, and Jade sent Biscuit off to watch over Jelani. Then she began the careful process of developing her negatives. She planned to develop most of the film back in Nairobi. Consequently, she had brought only a small amount of chemicals with her, enough to develop some test pictures and hone her technique.

The nocturnal shot revealed a leopard rather than the hoped-for elephant, but Jade still smiled at the glimpse of hidden life at night in the forest. Leopards were shy animals, and even a profile of one amounted to a good catch. The first day shot showed the rump of an elephant, enough for her to know that the system worked only if the animal would step on the wire with a front foot rather than a hind one. Jade made a mental note to raise the wire height another inch or two.

The last daytime film sheet went into the developer. Jade took it through the series of baths needed to fix the image and held it up to her red-tinted lantern for a better view. At first she couldn’t make out what sort of animal had gained immortality in her lens. Then a slow smile spread across her face.

“Well, well. What have we here? Looks like some of our German friends were having their own wilderness experience today. Gracious me.”

Jade clipped the negative to the drying line at eye level. One face, at least, was identifiable amid the tangle of intertwined, half-clothed bodies and disheveled bush gear. Jade wondered first if Herr von Gretchmar knew that his doting Frau was cheating on him. But who was her lover? The pair stood clenched in a tight embrace, the man’s back to the camera. All Jade had in her negative was the back of his head as it nuzzled deep in Claudia’s bosom. No discernible bald spot gleamed from this man’s thick head of hair, but his one visible ear certainly stuck out far enough. Did Harry’s ears protrude like that?
These are big enough to belong to an elephant.
She couldn’t recall and wondered if it might have been the younger German of the party, Mueller. She’d have to pay more attention to his and Harry’s ears when they next met. Not that it was any of her business. Harry was a grown man; he could do as he pleased.