Dust Clouds of War by John Wilcox

Author:John Wilcox [John Wilcox]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780749017194
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Published: 2015-10-16T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

Simon Fonthill’s jaw dropped as he regarded the figure before him. Her so-familiar grey eyes and white teeth shone from a face that was almost as dark as that of the sailor standing next to her. She was dressed in a tangerine-coloured blouse that was open at the neck, revealing a cheap, Arabian necklace, above pantaloons that flared, houri-like, at the ankles, and she wore open-toed native slippers on her brown feet. Her fair hair, turning grey, was tucked away under a brightly coloured scarf. His heart missed a beat as he regarded her, looking as though she had just stepped from a native bazaar – half her age and ridiculously attractive.

He regained his composure, his face a mixture of surprise and indignation. ‘Alice!’ he cried. ‘What the hell are you doing here? And dressed up like something from the Arabian Nights?’

‘Doing here? Well, looking for you, actually. And it looks as though we’ve found you.’ She looked him up and down, her eyes twinkling in her dusky face. ‘As for the Arabian Nights, my darling, you look as though you have stepped from the stage of Aladdin – and, my goodness, I think you could do with a bath.’

And then she stepped forward, put her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly.

Simon untangled himself, coughed, and looked at the two Germans in some embarrassment. Then he turned to Jenkins. ‘Get these two into the cabin on the launch, where we’ve got the rest of the bloody German navy. And make sure the door is bolted behind you.’

Jenkins waved his rifle towards the two prisoners who stepped reluctantly – their faces still a picture of bewilderment – into the launch.

Fonthill turned to Mzingeli. ‘Put a couple of rifle shots into the hull of the speedboat and set it adrift. It should soon sink.’

Then he spoke to Mustapha. ‘I presume, sir,’ he said, ‘that you are the captain of this craft?’

‘Yes, indeed, effendi. I bring your wife from Mombasa, here to look for you.’

‘Well, I am obliged to you for looking after her. But you must get your vessel under way now and beat back up the channel towards the open sea, for we might both be pursued from the German cruiser.’

Alice’s eyes lit up. ‘Oh, Simon. You’ve found her! I knew you would.’

Three rifle shots from the speedboat showed that Mzingeli had opened up the hull of the little boat and he pushed the craft away and then climbed back aboard the dhow. Jenkins, his task as jailer completed, followed him less adroitly. Mustapha shouted orders and the crew of the Calipha began to haul up its anchor.

‘Where are we going?’ asked Alice. ‘I wanted to catch a glimpse, at least, of the Königsberg. Is it far from here?’

‘No. But all this shooting will have alerted the crew and they must have at least one boat left that could pursue us. So we must get out of here. We will take you aboard the launch to one of our warships off the delta.

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