Poacher by Leon Mare Read Free Book Online Page B

off.
    They gave the house a wide berth, circling
west towards the rhino camp. Rui was also feeling a lot more
confident in the absence of the Toyota. He patted the fine-toothed
hacksaw he was carrying. At least this was going to be a lot
quicker than hacking the tusks out of the skull of an elephant.
    They scaled the fence of the quarantine camp
and sat down in the shade, checking their AKs. While drinking from
their canteens, Joao instructed Rui to set the rifle to
semi-automatic. Letting rip at full automatic would give the
rangers a much more accurate idea of direction, in the unlikely
event of the shooting being heard in the compound. They then
proceeded into the camp. It was going to be like shooting fish in a
barrel.
    They had hardly gone a hundred metres when
they came across the rhinos. Carefully judging the direction of the
wind, Joao indicated that they should bear left. The rhino having
extremely poor eyesight, Joao confidently approached to within
twenty yards. The big bull was there, with a horn that made Joao’s
eyes water. With him were three cows and two calves. Joao motioned
to the cow on the left and indicated that Rui should shoot just
after him.
    The big bull went down in a cloud of dust. A
moment later Rui’s gun roared while Joao was getting the other big
cow in his sights. Their second shots coincided. Rui’s’s cow was
also down, but trying to get up. He let her have two more, and she
subsided.
    The other cow was running away at a tangent,
accompanied by the rest of the family. Joao shot again, and again
his luck held. The cow’s hindquarters sagged as her spine was
severed. Joao charged in and killed her. For a moment there was
absolute silence in the dust as if nature was stunned. Then Joao
whooped, and Rui followed suit.
    Within ten minutes the horns were in their
knapsacks.
    ‘Let’s get out of here,’ Joao said, sweat
beading his forehead.
    ‘Shouldn’t we skip the tusks and get to the
wire?’ Rui asked.
    ‘No,’ Joao said and headed north at a trot.
‘This is our last trip, and we are going to make it
worthwhile.’
    Rui was more inclined to take their winnings
and pack it in. He tried to convince Joao that this would be that
safer thing to do. He was still awed by the magnitude of what they
had done.
    ‘Stop whining, dammit,’ Joao said, panting
with exertion. ‘Keep running. We will have those tusks and be over
the fence before nightfall. It will take those dimwits at the
compound ages to figure out what’s happened, and they haven’t got
their white god with them to tell them what to do. Nothing will be
done until tomorrow, and by then we will be long gone.’
    They kept up their pace for another ten
minutes and then sat down under a camel thorn for a drink of water,
panting heavily and sweating profusely in the heat.
    ‘Man, did you see that?’ Joao panted. ‘Did
you see the big man go down, one shot, kapow! In the brain! You
didn’t do so badly yourself. Only two shots. And those horns!
Brother, we are in the big time. Let’s go. Another three hours and
we have the tusks as well.’
    Joao’s enthusiasm was contagious, and when
they set off once again at a stiff trot, Rui’s spirits were lifted
with every yard they put between them and the scene of the
slaughter. It was really beginning to look as if they were going to
get away with something nobody had ever considered possible.
    It was Tuesday, 11:20 a.m., and they were
inexorably approaching the area of the elephant carcass from a
completely unexpected direction.
     
    Sam and Louis had relieved the sentries on
the summit before first light. They had each had a big mug of
coffee and some rusks, lit their pipes below the skyline, then
climbed onto the big boulder at the top and watched the day being
born. The horizon was still grey in the east but already the high
cirrus clouds were being painted a light pink by the approaching
sun. To the north, a lion greeted the dawn with a mighty roar,
followed by diminishing