Hunting Teddy Roosevelt by James Ross

Author:James Ross [Ross, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Regal House Publishing
Published: 2019-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

A pair of askari came to Maggie’s tent and barked something in German, gesturing with their rifles for her to follow. Was this to be her release? She wanted to ask about her traveling bag, but she knew no German, and Major Vorbek had kept her travelers’ phrasebook with its crude map. If this was not her release, what else might it be? She had seen Teddy and Major Vorbek exchanging heated words the previous afternoon, though the askari had prevented her from joining them. Both camps had been unusually busy all morning.

Led by one askari and followed by the other, she hurried along a path through the ravine that separated the German camp from the safari and both from the Wakamba village. Beyond the camps, the path climbed out of the ravine and around a seemingly depopulated Wakamba village, before ending at a packed-earth clearing where hundreds of natives had gathered in ceremonial finery under a bright midday sun. Young warriors stood on one side of the clearing, holding iron-tipped wooden spears and hide-covered shields decorated in patterns of white lines and dots. The women gathered on the opposite side, dressed in lengths of dark cotton kanga cloth similarly decorated. Maggie felt underdressed and overheated in her dark, ankle-length skirt and white cotton blouse.

Parting the crowd of women with their rifles, the askari brought her to the front and stood on either side to keep the curious at bay. Teddy and Vorbek sat on wooden stools in the center of the clearing facing a grass hut at its edge. The noise and animation increased as the minutes passed, and then gradually subsided to near silence, broken only by the sound of flies and of dry wind over parched grass.

Clearly, this dressed up gathering had nothing to do with her release. Was it the start of another Ngoma? An elderly man, dressed in bark cloth, emerged from the grass hut. His right hand held a length of dark wood attached by hide strips to what looked like a lion tail. Two young warriors stood by his side gripping their own shields and spears.

Teddy and Vorbek stood at the old man’s approach. Maggie was too far away to hear what was being said. But it seemed that Vorbek did most of the talking. Or perhaps it was translating. Then, on a word from Teddy, one of the safari’s gun bearers entered the clearing, leading a dark brown mare, followed by a dozen porters carrying sacks of mealie and other miscellaneous bundles. Teddy spoke again, and then Vorbek. The old man flicked his lion’s tail whip in the direction of the horse and trade goods, and, as if on a signal, the crowd broke into rhythmic chant, of which she understood only the word, M’waAmerika.

What was she witnessing? Ever since the murdered askari had been found the morning after the Ngoma, Major Vorbek had restricted her to the German camp with the excuse that there was a murderer on the loose and courtesies, such as intercamp visits with her countrymen, must be suspended.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.