‘My father has always succeeded in everything he turns his hand to. Hell, he was a war hero, a state governor, a hunter and sportsman all before he turned forty, and as if that wasn’t enough, he became the youngest and most successful President of America ever. He respects winners and despises losers.’ He took a sip. ‘From what you’ve told me, you and I have lived through the same situation. You should understand.’
‘You think your father despises you?’
‘No. He loves me but he doesn’t respect me. I want his respect more than anything else in the world.’
‘You’ve just taken a bigger rhino than he has.’
They looked across at the enormous carcass, the horn glinting in the firelight.
‘That’s a start.’ Kermit nodded. ‘However, knowing my father, he’d put much more value on an elephant or a lion. Find one of those for me, Fairy Godmother.’
Manyoro was sitting at the other fire with Ishmael, and Leon called across to him, ‘Come to me, my brother. There is something of importance we must discuss.’ Manyoro got up and came to squat across the fire from him. ‘We need to find a big elephant for this
‘We have given him a Swahili name,’ Manyoro said. ‘We have named him Bwana Popoo Hima.’
Leon laughed.
‘What’s so funny?’ Kermit asked.
‘You have been honoured,’ Leon told him. ‘Manyoro at least respects you. He has given you a Swahili name.’
‘What is it?’ Kermit demanded.
‘Bwana Popoo Hima.’
‘That sounds disgusting,’ Kermit said, suspicious.
‘It means “Sir Quick Bullet”.’
‘Popoo Hima! Hey! Tell him I like that!’ Kermit was pleased. ‘Why did they choose that name?’
‘They’re very impressed by the way you shoot.’ Leon turned back to Manyoro. ‘Bwana Popoo Hima wants a very big elephant.’
‘Every white man wants a very big elephant. But we must go to Lonsonyo Mountain to seek the counsel of our mother.’
‘Kermit, the advice I have from Manyoro is that we go to a Masai lady witch doctor on a mountaintop. She will tell us where to find your elephant.’
‘Do you really believe in that sort of thing?’ Kermit asked.
‘Yes, I do.’
‘Well, it just so happens that so do I.’ Kermit nodded seriously. ‘In the hills to the north of our ranch in the badlands of Dakota there lives an old Indian shaman. I never hunt without going to see him first. Every real hunter has his little superstitions, even my father, who’s the hardest-nosed guy you’ll ever meet. He always carries a rabbit’s foot when he goes out into the field.’
‘It pays to give Lady Luck a wink and a nod,’ Leon agreed. ‘This lady I’m taking you to meet is her twin sister. She’s also my adopted mother.’
‘Then I reckon we can trust her. When can we leave?’
‘We’re more than twenty miles from the main camp. We’ll lose a couple of days if we take the rhino head back there first. I plan to cache it here and Manyoro will pick it up later. That way we can leave at once for the mountain.’
‘How far?’
‘Two days, if we push along.’
The next morning they hoisted the rhino head into the high branches of a pod mahogany tree and wedged it in a fork where it was well out of the reach of hyenas and other scavengers. Then they headed east, and camped only when it was too dark to see the ground ahead. Leon did not want to risk one of the horses breaking a leg in an antbear hole. During the night he woke and lay for a minute listening for what had disturbed him. One of the horses whickered and stamped.
Lions! he thought. After the horses. He threw off his blanket and reached for his rifle as he sat up. Then he saw an alien figure sitting at the smouldering ashes of the fire. It was shrouded in an ochre-red
‘Who is it?’ he demanded.
‘It is me, Loikot. I have come.’
He stood up and Leon recognized him at once, although he was several inches taller than he had been when they had last met only six months before. In the same period his voice had broken and he had become fully a man. ‘How did you find us, Loikot?’
‘Lusima Mama told me where you were. She sent me to welcome you.’
Their voices had roused Kermit. He sat up and asked sleepily, ‘What’s going on? Who’s this skinny kid?’
‘He’s a messenger from the lady we’re going to visit. She sent him to find us and bring us to the mountain.’
‘How the hell did she know we were on our way? We didn’t know ourselves until last night.’
‘Wake up, Bwana Popoo Hima. Think about it. The lady is a sorcerer. She keeps her eye on the road and her foot on the gas. You wouldn’t want to play poker with her.’
In the middle of the morning they raised the flat top of Lonsonyo Mountain above the dreaming blue horizon ahead, but it was late in the day when they stood under its towering mass, and dark before they rode into the
Leon walked across to her and went down on one knee. ‘Give me your blessing, Mama,’ he asked.
