"entire of itself. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am
involved in mankind"." The Lifs dark eyes glowed. "Yes, Mr. Barton,
John Donne. I think that in you I have been lucky. You are fire, and
Gareth Swales is ice. It will work for me. Already there is a bond
between you."
"A bond?" and Jake laughed, a brief harsh bark of laughter, but then
stopped and thought about the Prince's words. The man had even greater
perception than Jake had at first realized. He had a knack of turning
over unrecognized truths.
"Yes. A bond," said the Lij. "Fire and ice. You will see." They
were silent for a while, standing high on the steel turret of the car,
bare-headed in the sun, each man thinking his own thoughts.
Then the Lij roused himself and turned to point into the west.
"There is the heart of Ethiopia,"he said. "The mountains." They both
lifted their heads to the soaring peaks, and the great flat-topped
Ambas that characterized the Ethiopian highlands.
Each table land was divided from the next by sheer walls of riven rock,
blue with distance and remote as the clouds into which they seemed to
rise, and by the deep dark gorges that looked to split the earth like
the axe-stroke of a giant, plunging thousands upon thousands of feet to
the swiftly raging torrents in their depths.
"The mountains protect us. For a hundred miles on each side no enemy
may pass. "The Prince swept his arms wide to encompass the curving
blue wall of rock that faded both north and south into the smoky
distances where they merged with the paler bright blue of the sky.
"But there is the Sardi Gorge. "Jake saw it cleave the wall of
mountains, a deep funnel driving into the rock perhaps fifteen miles
across at its widest point, but then narrowing swiftly and climbing
steeply towards the distant heights.
"The Sardi Gorge," the Prince repeated. "A lance pointed into the
exposed flank of the Lion of Judah." He shook his head and his
expression was troubled and once again that haunted, hunted look was in
his eyes. "The Emperor, Negusa Nagast, Baile Selassie, has gathered
his armies in the north.
One hundred and fifty thousand men to meet the main thrust of the
Italians which must come from the north, out of Eritrea and through
Adowa. The Emperor's flanks are secured by the mountains except here
at the gorge. This is the only place at which a modern mechanized army
might win its way to the high ground. The road up the gorge is steep
and rough, but the Italians are engineering masters.
Their road making wizardry dates back to the Caesars. If they force
the mouth of the gorge, they could have fifty thousand men on the
highlands inside of a week." He punched his fist upward towards the
far blue peaks. "They would be across the Emperor's rear, between him
and his capital at Addis Ababa, with the road to the city wide open to
them. It would be the end for us and the Italians know it. Their
presence here at the Wells of Chaldi proves it.
What we encountered there today was the advance guard of the enemy
attack which will come through the gorge."
Yes, "Jake agreed. "it seems that is so."
"The Emperor has charged me with the defence of the Sardi Gorge, said
the Prince quietly. "But at the same time he has ordained that the
great bulk of my fighting men must join his army which is now gathering
on the shores of Lake Tona, two hundred miles away in the west. We
will be short of men, so short that without your cars and the new
machine guns you have brought to me, the task would be impossible."
"It isn't going to be a push-over, even with these beaten-up old
ladies."
"I know that, Mr. Barton, and I am doing everything in my power to
improve the betting in our favour. I am even treating with a
traditional enemy of the Harari to form a common front against the
enemy. I am trying to put aside old feuds, and convince the Ras of the
Gallas to join us in the defence of the Gorge. The man is a robber and
a degenerate, and his men are all shifta, mountain bandits, but they
fight well and every lance now arms us against the common enemy." Jake
was conscious of the faith that the Prince was placing in him; he was
being treated like a trusted commander and his newly realized sense of
involvement was strengthened.
"An untrustworthy friend is the worst kind of enemy."
"I don't recognize that quotation?" the Prince enquired.
"Jake Barton, mechanic. "Jake grinned at him. "Looks like we've got
ourselves a job of work. What I want you to do is pick out some of
your really bright lads. Ones that I can teach to drive a car or men
that Gareth can use as gunners."
"Yes. I have already discussed that with Major Swales.
He made the same suggestion. I will hand-pick my best for you."
"Young ones, "said Jake. "Who will learn quickly." The Ras sat
crouched like an ancient vulture in the strip of shade thrown by
Gareth's car, the Hump; his eyes were narrowed like those of a sniper
and he mumbled to himself. drooling a little with excitement.
When Gregorius reached out and tried to view the fan of cards that the
