The Way of War Pt. 14

Chapter 38

Over the next six weeks, Shaun was helping Aunt Vicky and learning the administration of The Crater and animal reserve.

He and Sharron had driven to Nairobi for him to inspect the plants there. And for Sharron to have some clothes made and also select some furnishings for the home

The war was continuing with advances made in Italy and every one was speculating when the invasion of Europe would begin. Sharron had begun helping out with some of the classes in the Crater's school. The children ranged in age from five to fourteen-years-old.

They were a mixture of Ghurkha and Matabele boys and girls who were learning reading and writing, math, history and geography.

Sharron taught English to the older children and loved it. Later, she would enthuse to Shaun about the progress of some of her pupils, which would bring a smile to his face

Then one day he announced that they were going to visit Sultar and Yasmin at the Game Reserve. "We'll be staying for a few days, as I need to build my hours up."

Sharron frowned, "What do you mean?"

He laughed, "My flying hours, we have a Piper Moth at the Reserve. You'll get the chance to really see the animals and the country from it."

"I didn't know you could fly, when did that happen?"

"When I was at university, I gained my wings in the University Flying School," Shaun smiled, "I had intended to join the RAF at the outbreak of war. But has I had lost my parents through flying, Aunt Vicky talked me out of it. Anyhow, we bought the aircraft prior to the war for checking on the reserve. Poachers were getting too ambitious, the aircraft gave us an edge in tracking them. Now Sultar uses it to keep a check on things."

The next day they loaded up the Ford pickup. Shaun packed his rifles in the back and then handed Sharron a holster with a .38 Smith and Wesson revolver. "You'll need to wear this as a protection against snakes or cats. Normally, if you fire it, the noise frightens them away." She noticed he had his .45 automatic strapped to his waist as well.

It took almost six hours of driving before they reached the Reserve's base camp. Yasmin was on hand to welcome them. She conducted them to one of the guest bungalows, and after seeing them settled, said she would see them for dinner.

"Does the Reserve have many guests?"

"Not now with the war on, but before the war we got quite a few. They came to photograph the animals, which is better than shooting them. It gave us quite a good cash injection for the reserve as well," Shaun replied.

Later that evening, as they sat eating dinner in Yasmin's bungalow, Shaun asked Sultar if the Piper Moth was ready for flight in the morning.

"All fuelled up and ready for you. While you are up there, could you check along the river? We've been getting quite a bit of attention from poachers there lately. They're mainly after the rhinos and elephants. Jason tracked them back to the river just last week."

"Who are the poachers?" Sharron asked.

"Most of them are white hunters. With the war on, there's no call for safari guides, so they try poaching to get some money. There's a ready market from the Arabs and Chinese," Yasmin replied.

"So what happens if you catch them?" Sharron asked.

"They go to jail," Shaun replied. "The problem is, they would rather fight to stay out of jail and they are prepared to kill to do that."

"The main problem is Mueller, he lives just across the border. He's completely ruthless and won't hesitate to kill anyone in his way. We lost a ranger and another was badly shot up by him five months ago. The authorities won't act against him unless there is proof, which he makes sure there is none." Sultar said.

Yasmin continued, "He's clever, he pays the natives to let him know if there are any Rhino or Elephant near the river. He never goes any further than eight or ten miles from it, so he can get back over it in a hurry."

"So why not set a trap for him?" Shaun asked. "Get word to him there's Rhino close to the river, then wait for him."

"We've thought of that," Sultar replied, "but he as his own group of informers and we don't know who they are."

They changed the subject and began to talk about the war and its effect on the tourist trade.

***

The next morning Shaun drove them to the landing strip, whilst he did the pre-flight checks on the aircraft, Sharron strapped herself into the front cockpit.

"All set darling?" Shaun asked, as he climbed into the rear cockpit.

A ranger swung the prop as Shaun cried out, "Contact!" The little, four-cylinder-engine caught and steadied. After letting it warm up a moment, Shaun increased the revs and the Moth began to roll forward. Soon the little aircraft was bumping along the grass runway, then suddenly the bumping stopped and they were airborne.

Sharron gazed down as the vista of the veldt broadened. She could see the ranger's headquarters and paddocks as the aircraft gently circled while gaining height. Then Shaun started to move towards the distant river. Below, she could see herds of antelope and zebras grazing, and a family of giraffes came into view, nibbling on the tree tops. Then a herd of elephants cavorting in the mud of a sizable waterhole.

After a while, the silver gleam of the river came into view. They lost height as Shaun slowed to follow the course of the river downstream. A large herd of wildebeests were watering on the other side of the river, but scattered as the aircraft flew over them.

"We'll start to head back now darling," Sharron heard over the voice tube. She raised her hand in acknowledgment. The aircraft banked slowly to head back when two natives suddenly dashed from cover and started to wade across the river. She could see Shaun intensely watching at the men. A short while later he turned and then dived. Sharron saw three Rhinos scattering from the aircraft, Shaun banked around and dived on them again, driving them further into the veldt away from the river. He repeated this three times before the aircraft settled on a course back to the base.

Once the aircraft had safely landed, Shaun dashed into the flight control hut to use the telephone. Sharron followed, mystified by his actions.

He came out of the hut smiling, "Sorry darling but I needed to report about those Rhinos. Sultar's taking some of the rangers out to check on them."

Sharron still looked bemused, so he added, "Those natives that crossed the river don't belong to the Reserve, they could be the lookouts for poachers."

That night they eat with Yasmin, Sultar was still out with the Ranges.

Yasmin explained to Sharron, "The problem is during the dry season, like we have at the moment. The animals move towards the river for water and the greener vegetation that grows along the banks. This makes them easy to spot by the poachers, who only have to cross the river to kill them."

"I'm taking Jason and two Ranges to help Sultar tomorrow, darling. You won't mind staying with Yasmin for a few days will you?"

Sharron shook her head, "Just be careful," she said.

Chapter 39

Shaun set out at dawn along with Jason and the two rangers, his Cartwright .303 clipped to the rear partition of the Ford pickup alongside Jason's Mk 1 SMLE .303.

"What does your dad think of you using a rifle?" Shaun asked grinning. Jason smiled and answered, "He's not too thrilled about it. A Matabele warrior should always use the Assegai," referring to the short handled stabbing spear used by the Matabele and Zulu tribes.

"Well you have to change with the times, "Shaun murmured.

"You know if it is Mueller, he's likely to shoot first before talking." Jason said.

Shaun nodded, "If he's using his .450 double barrel, that's a hefty bullet to argue with."

They lapsed into silence as the miles rolled away. Eventually pulling up at a Maasia village.

Shaun climbed out along with Jason whilst the two Rangers stretched their legs. Jason handed the chief the traditional bags of salt and tobacco. Before asking if they had seen or heard of the white poachers that may be around.

The chief claimed that none had been seen, but the herd boys claimed that natives from across the river had been seen staking Rhino's three days ago near Tambar ford.

Shaun thanked the chief before leaving the village.

Back in the Ford, Jason murmured "It makes sense, if they use a truck to transport the ivory or Rhino horn, then a ford would be the logical crossing point."

"The question is, have they already poached the Rhino's. I wonder where Sultar is. I must try and see if we can get hold of some ex-army radio transmitters to keep at the station and on the vehicles. So everyone can keep in touch with each other," Shaun replied.

Jason nodded, keeping a watchful eye on the track they were following.

After a further two hours of driving while Shaun was concentrating on the track and the compass mounted on the dash board, he murmured, "We should be close to Tambar ford by now."

Jason nodded "I think it best if we go the rest of the way on foot, we don't want them hearing the engine."

Shaun pulled up edging the Ford into a thicket off bushes. They climbed out bringing their rifles with them, Jason removed an ammunition box and extracted a handful of clips, putting them in his pocket. Shaun followed suit, followed by the Rangers.

They set of with Jason in the lead the others strung out behind him, carefully placing their feet down in the dry undergrowth. After about two miles, suddenly Jason raised his arm with his fist clenched. Every one froze, slowly Shaun made his way up to him, "problem?" he murmured.

"I heard gunfire over to the west, I think Sultar has run into the poachers."

Shaun nodded he knew Jason's hearing was much better than his. "We had better make for the ford to cut off their retreat." Jason nodded and set off with a faster pace.

They broke through the undergrowth to a beach of sand, the river due to the dry season had retreated to a sluggish stream some thirty feet away.

Jason spotted the tyre tracks that exited the ford.

"Right arrange yourselves along the bank here," Shaun commanded. The men flopped down behind the three foot bank that had once been part of the river.

"Remember shoot out the tyres when it comes into view."

They all heard the engine and the crashing of the undergrowth before the truck suddenly appeared from the screen of bushes.

The rifles cracked out and the front tyres were blasted flat. The truck veered to one side and flipped over as the nose of it buried itself into the sand.

The four natives in the back jumped out and took cover behind the truck as a large white man struggled to climb out of the cab dragging a rifle with him.

"Surrender you are under arrest." Shaun cried out.

The white man replied in Afrikaans and fired the rifle at him. Shaun ducked as a heavy bullet struck the bank by his head. The natives grabbed rifles and began firing at them.

Shaun crawled along the safety of the river bank before rising to take in the scene. The white man was hidden behind the bonnet of the engine with a double barrel rifle propped on top of it.

He heard Jason's rifle crack and saw a native flop backwards screaming. The white man swung his rifle round to sight on Jason as Shaun fired, the bullet glanced of the bonnet causing the man to duck for cover. Another native screamed as a shot from one of the Ghurkha's hit him.

A silence fell on the scene as each group waited for someone to show themselves, then Shaun heard the sound of an engine approaching. Sultar was coming with his rangers. The other group must have heard it as well as suddenly first one and then another native dashed from cover of the truck and ran towards the river.

Shaun's group opened fire on them, the two natives fell screaming into the water at the edge of the river. Shaun heard the large boom of the white man's rifle and one of the Ghurkhas cried out.

Jason and the other Ghurkha crawled over towards the wounded man, as with a yell the white man leapt to his feet and ran towards the river.

Shaun aimed his rifle carefully and squeezed of a shot. The man spun round with a curse and fell, his leg shattered. Shaun walked towards him his rifle held steadily upon the man.

The man was big and ugly with thick lips which drooled has he groaned in pain.

"Bastard rooineks," he repeated over and over.

It was obvious to Shaun he would not be going anywhere with his leg wound. He picked the man's rifle as Sultar's truck arrived on the scene. He took in at a glance what had occurred. Whilst they attended to the wounded, a Ghurkha was dispatched to bring in Jason's truck.

"We caught them tracking the rhino's I tried to arrest them but Moeller decided to make a fight of it. One of the Ghurkha's was wounded and they escaped as we attended to him. But now we have him, he's going away for a long, long time what with poaching and attempted murder to answer for."

They collected the weapons of the poachers and loaded them onto the trucks along with the bodies and wounded. Rangers stood guard and with an expression on their faces, Shaun knew they would not hesitate to shoot anyone who tried to escape.

They set off back to base, with Shaun sat in the cab with Jason. "Yasmin will be kept busy with these customers," Jason murmured.

Once back at the base rangers rushed of to offload the trucks taking the wounded over to the building that doubled as a hospital and aid station. Sultar sent another ranger off to Nairobi to fetch the police superintendent. "We will have to look after Mueller and his men until the police arrive," Sultar murmured to Shaun.

"How's the rangers who were wounded?" Shaun asked.

"One got creased by an 8mm, the one in your party got it in the arm fortunately in didn't hit bone otherwise that .450 nitro express bullet would have ripped his arm off. As it is he's lost a lot of muscle in that arm that will take a lot of healing to repair. I've told Yasmin to keep Mueller sedated until the police arrive. By the way Sharron is in the hospital giving Yasmin a hand."

Shaun nodded, not being surprised at Sharron's involvement. He returned to their safari hut and stretched out on the bed, falling asleep in seconds.

His sleep was disturbed by a noise, he opened his eyes and saw Sharron. She was in the process of changing her cloths. He watched her as she wriggled out of the slacks she had been wearing, exposing her long slim legs and her taunt backside clad in small cotton panties. She discarded the shirt she had on and her breasts wobbled free from confinement. He felt the stirrings growing in his groin.

"Hello" he murmured. She turned round a smile on her face, "Hello darling, did I wake you?"

He shook his head, "not really, but I was glad to wake up to the view I have." She frowned searching to understand his remark, then a slow smile appeared upon her face as she realised what was coursing the lump in his trousers.

She slowly pushed down the panties to her ankles and kicked them away. "Do you mind if I join you on the bed," she asked and lowered herself down on to it. He opened his arms for her to come into his.

Nine months later David Guy Ramage was born to Shaun and Sharron. The war in Europe was coming to a close and the prospect of peace was in the air. The Crater continued to develop under Shaun's management as did the Game reserve. Radio sets now linked the Crater and the headquarters at the reserve and also the trucks. He had added a DC3 transport aircraft and a Spearman 75 to the Piper Moth, all bought from RRAF in Rhodesia. The Dakota was invaluable for transporting beef and other produces made by the Crater as well as bringing in tourist's and spares for the equipment used by either the Crater or Game reserve. Jeff Colburn an ex-RRAF bomber pilot was employed to fly the DC3 and a ground crew took care of the various aircraft that now made up the Crater's small air force.

Sharron was kept busy raising David and running the school and keeping the books for the many businesses now under the Crater banner. She kept in close contact with her mother and father and from them leant of the development to create a new homeland in Palestine for Jews.

Shaun had kept in contact with the Prof and Cookie, Prof was now a Captain heading up the Navigation School, whilst Cookie had been promoted to Company Sargent Major of the Demolition Training School. Prof had married his Barbara, and she in turn had started work in the Cairo Museum.

Then finally one day news arrived, the war was over. There was celebrations in the Crater as well as in Nairobi and the country settled down to a peace time environment. Early in 1946 Sharron took time off from the Crater to fly home with her son to show him to his grandparents. Shaun couldn't get away due to the restructuring of the Crater many outlets.

Chapter 40

When Sharron arrived back with David a month later, Shaun found her somewhat subdued.

Out on the stoop that night she talked about what was troubling her.

"The provisional committee are to demand that UN stands by its commitment to give the Jews there own homeland, especially now the true picture of the Nazi extermination camps has come to life. There are thousands of unplaced Jews wondering around Europe that no country wants, all making their way to Palestine. But the Grand Mufti in Jerusalem as stated that all Jews will be driven into the Med. Shaun they are ringed by Arab nations who want all Jews dead.

The British are trying to keep the lid on things, but there has already been incidents at the kibbutz's and ambushes. We are starting to arm ourselves whenever we can, but there are not enough arms or equipment. Daddy has resigned his commission and now sits on the council, he says a war is coming."

Shaun smiled "Sharron you said we. So you identify yourself with them?"

Sharron smiled back sadly. "The Jews are my people, I don't give a damn about religion, but I do care about my people. If it comes to a fight I will join them."

Shaun nodded, "I think I need to see your father and find out how best to help."

The following month found Shaun sitting in the lounge of the King David Hotel inPalestine waiting for Sharron's father. When he arrived they embraced and moved out to the veranda, where Shaun ordered coffee. After discussing about little David and Sharron Shaun got down to business.

"How can we help Sir?"

Silverman smiled, "Shaun if hAas I expect we get the withdrawal of the British Mandate of Palestine and the UN's acceptance of a Jewish state, then we will have to fight to keep it. There are 250,000 Jews in Europe who wish to come here, they have no home in Europe. Europe doesn't want them. But they are prevented from landing here by the British blockade. We are managing to smuggle some in, but if war comes we will need every last one of them. We will have over two million Arabs around our boarders determined to kill us all.

We need arms and equipment, we need radio equipment to be able to coordinate with. Most of all we need training, there are a few who served in the British armed services, but we need more."

Shaun nodded, "Two of my former command have agreed to help, and both are in Egypt at the moment awaiting demob. Both are training instructor's one in navigation the other in explosives.

Shaun went on to outline his proposal that they be offered jobs within the Jewish administration, but would return with him to Kenya to undertake training of Jewish personnel who would be based at the Crater. "They could be trained along the lines of the LRDG, as a fast response unit. The equipment and vehicles would be easier to obtain in Kenya than here. I can buy ex-army radios under the guise there for the Crater and game park and ship them to you. But there would be problems regarding language, I don't think either my men or I speak Hebrew, so the men arriving would need to speak English. The other problem is food, they wouldn't be able to get kosher food at the Crater," Shaun said with a smile.