A Cleft Of Stars

CHAPTER TEN

'Out, Bowker!' Koen jerked the machine-pistol towards the cave entrance. 'Quick as kiss-my-arse. Out!'

Day seemed to have followed unbelievably fast after Nadine had left my side to return to her part of the cave; a few minutes before Koen had appeared to escort me I had heard him shepherding her out into the command-post's enclosure where I had first spotted Rankin.

I decided to play things in a low key and did not react to Koen's tone. Daylight revealed him as an even tougher proposition than I'd thought. He had a weather-beaten face and powerful shoulders and chest. His arms were sunburnt the colour of seasoned stinkwood. He brought with him a stench of sweat, leather and gun-oil. His breath in the confined space was metallic with stale brandy and he was red-eyed from the night's vigil.

'All right. As you say.'

'I warn you, don't try to be smart with me, Bowker. It's the Doc's idea that you and the doll should have some coffee. If it was me, I'd let you sweat it out, march or no march.'

'March?'

'You'll see. Now — out!'

We passed through Nadine's mill section and the first warmth in the open was welcome after the ground-chill of the cave. There was the faintest surprise touch of moisture in the early air which made the nostrils tingle. I greeted Nadine with studied casualness. However, a remarkable sight greeted us: Rankin sitting up on Talbot's bed, drinking coffee. There was no sign of Talbot. It amazed me to think that a man of his age could have put up such a fight but he was as hard as nails from a lifetime spent in the open amongst the tough breed of diamond diggers; and he looked at least twenty years younger than his age. Although he was balding, his sparse brown hair was only slightly flecked with grey and merged into his deep mahogany tan. His hatchet face was sullen now and his eyes below a high forehead had the kind of angry glassiness of a bird of prey — winged, wounded, watchful, dangerous. His chest was bandaged and I guessed that Praeger must have spent a good deal of the night working on him. I got nothing from him except a hard stare from his pale eyes.

The wood smoke and coffee smelt good. Two mugs had been placed on the breastwork.

'Get it yourselves,' snapped Praeger without preliminaries. 'It's all you'll get, so make the most of it. You're going for a walk with Koen'

I took one mug for myself and the other for Nadine, moving unobtrusively in von Praeger's direction. His pistol was in his belt.

I hadn't reckoned with Koen, though. 'Keep away from the Doc with that mug, Bowker I Back!'

I halted. 'What are you up to now, Praeger?' I demanded. I felt self-confident in spite of the odds. Having come from my long self-induced emotional vacuum I felt keyed up, ready for anything.

I rounded on Rankin. 'It's about time you started talking, Rankin! You've got a hell of a lot to answer for to me and still more to explain to this idiot here. He says there's a bigger half of the Cullinan and that you and I have it.'

'The Great Star of Africa,' Praeger prompted.

I noticed then that there were bubbles of dried saliva at the corners of the leathery lips and that his grim pet was sniffing at tiny flecks of blood on his clothes: I wondered if I were seeing evidences of a sadism which had put an end to Talbot during the night.

Rankin showed no sign that he had heard; an eyelid may have flickered, but it could have been from the drifting smoke. I indicated Nadine. 'They've dragged her into this as well, Rankin. It needs only half a dozen words from you to put her in the clear.'

He looked at her, not at me, across the ton of his mug and said in a hoarse, inflexionless voice. 'The Hill is mine'

'Is that all you have to say?' I burst out angrily. 'You double-crossing. .

'Keep away from him, Bowker,' warned von. Praeger. 'I'm relieved to hear he can utter, though. They're the first words I've had from him and I trust there'll be plenty more — all about the Cullinan.'

'Damn the Cullinan! All I want is for this crook to confess that he framed me!'

'It seems that at least we have one thing in common: wanting Rankin to talk,' retorted Praeger, 'You've made a great show, Bowker, of trying to buck off the responsibility on to Rankin. But it doesn't fool me. You're both in this and you are both going to tell me — separately — all about it.'

A tiny muscle pulled in his face as he looked down at his hands, like a surgeon before an operation. I didn't care for the gesture.

Rankin remained silent. I wondered how long he would hold out under Praeger's methods.

Then I turned to Koen: 'You must know from what your father told you that I have nothing to do with all this.'

'I visited him once, in the death-cell. He never uttered a single word about the Cullinan. Why should he, anyway? I meant nothing to him as a son: I was just a hand to work the trommel on the diggings. Afterwards he cleared out and got a good job and didn't want to know me. Fair enough. But he told the Doc and I believe that.'

'It's so much utter rubbish, Koen

He grinned unpleasantly. may be sucking on the hind tit, Bowker, but thirty million dollars is one hell of a tit! I'll keep it that way!'

I regarded the three men, feeling cornered. Nevertheless, I kept working away at Koen.

'Take a cool look at this Cullinan thing, Koen. Okay, say Rankin here and my father salted the Premier? Those were the old days when only a couple of mines outside Kimberley were known. We've all heard romantic old-timers' stories about men crawling round with tobacco tins strung round their necks, picking up diamonds. Everything has come a long way since then. Every inch of South Africa has been prospected. There isn't a diamond area that isn't well known and hasn't been exploited. Answer me two things if you believe von Praeger: just where did the Cullinan come from? And do you think that under any circumstances the other half would have been left stashed away all these years? Thirty millions' worth?'

Koen appeared a shade(nonplussed. 'My old man knew. He told the Doc.'

I forestalled Praeger. 'No, he didn't, Koen. What he did say was, "the hyena's blanket". He never mentioned the Cullinan. Your Gestapo helper here killed my grandfather and kidded himself he first heard that same absurd phrase from him.' I rounded on Rankin. 'What, if anything, does it mean, Rankin?'

The injured man's granite mask did not alter.

'I hope he'll be more communicative when we're alone,' said Praeger. 'It's taken everything I know to have him sitting up there drinking coffee this morning.'

I could believe it. Praeger's eyes were more bloodshot than Koen's and he looked as if he were living on his nerves. I said harshly, 'I did you a favour, Rankin. Now's your chance to make amends for eighteen months of hell I spent in jail because of you'

Nadine added softly. 'That includes me, too.'

Koen took a half-jack of brandy from his hip pocket and deftly laced his coffee, without relaxing his grip on the machine-pistol. He eyed us consideringly.

Suddenly Praeger's strained voice broke in: 'Talk, talk, talk! Round and round in circles! That's all I hear!!

He strode across to me and thrust his face close to mine.

'A cleavage face, do you hear! The Cullinan had been cut. .! '

It was the moment I had been waiting for. I jostled him and whipped the automatic from his belt with my left hand, keeping him between me and Koen.

Koen faced me but the M-25 was aimed at Nadine's waist. She stared at us in horror. I had von Praeger fast in a kind of half-nelson with the pistol aimed beneath his left arm. Koen said, 'I'll cut her in half, Bowker — drop that gun!'

I lowered the weapon, seeking desperately for some last minute way of getting a shot in. I still had the pistol.

'In five seconds her guts'll be all over the floor-drop it!'

I let go and the pistol clattered on the rock. Praeger jerked loose, snatched it up and swung blindly at me.

There was an ugly clunk from the M-25.

'Stop! Keep still!'

Even Praeger came to his senses at the note in Koen's voice and he drew back from me.

Koen rapped out. 'For Chrissake, Doc, is there shit in your eyes? Do you want to get yourself killed?'

A child could have taken the pistol from him; he was shaking and biting his lips.

'For that, Bowker, I I. . I.

'Let's get cracking,' snapped Keen. see he doesn't cause any more trouble, Doc. You get on with Rankin. Let me know when you want me back. Same signal-three shots.' He leered at me. 'That'll be the time for you to start saying your prayers!

Come on, both of you!'

Nadine moved but I hung back. I felt Rankin, the key to everything, was slipping through my fingers while I remained powerless to do anything about it.

'March!' ordered Koen. 'March, you bladdy gomgat!' We had already started for the entrance when a thought struck me. It was so monstrous and yet so likely that I stopped short and Koen jammed the muzzle of the M-25 savagely into my back.

I ignored him and swung round to Rankin. 'Rankin,' I said, 'Did you kill my father too?'

We made a tight, nerve-shot little group, all eyes focused on the hard-faced man on the stretcher. I think he was about to reply, for my words brought a spark of animation to his face, but Praeger spoiled it.

'I'll ask you that on his behalf, Rankin!' He laughed a grating high laugh which set my teeth on edge. 'Think it over!'

'Get on!' repeated Koen. 'It's a long way to the river.'

I read dismay in Nadine's eyes and I tried to keep my face expressionless. Discovery of the boat would rob us of our last chance of escape and this was inevitable once we got anywhere near the pool at the confluence. 'If you don't want us to hear Rankin's screams when you start torturing him, The Hill's far enough,' I threw at Praeger. The heat will be pretty tough later on for such a long slog to the river.'

'We want you to see our aeroplane! replied von Praeger and they both began to laugh. The implication was lost on us.

We reached the entrance. They had made the dangerous crossing safe by rigging a handline from door to wall: the risk was cut to nothing. The thought of my action in negotiating it carrying Talbot appalled me in retrospect.

'The girl first,' said Praeger.

Nadine pulled the cowl of her flying-jacket over her head as protection against the sun, whose heat was becoming evident. Koen stood at the rear, the M-25 trained on our backs I rejected a plan to try and unsnick the rope once I had crossed, so as to maroon him temporarily while taking cover behind the wall, because the range was so short that he could spray the place with bullets and finish us off before we could hope to reach safety.

'Bowker! You next!'

With a growing feeling of helplessness I sensed that the crunch was at hand and I had nothing left to fight with but words.

'Von Praeger,' I said levelly. 'There are already two dead men at The Hill. I'm going to see that you and Rankin hang, if it's the last thing. !

'You'd be a fine poker player, Bowker,' he laughed in my face. 'Your hand is empty yet you go on calling as if you had a full house.'

'I warn you, Praeger..

'Let me warn you, Bowker. Do a lot of thinking on this little walk of yours with Koen. If you don't, it may be the last walk you take.'

'Shut up and get across,' snapped Koen.

There was nothing for it but to obey. While Koen made the crossing Praeger held his pistol on us and kept the hyena at the ready. Once clear of the wall, we three followed a well defined path, which was clearly Rankin's own, down the side of K2 towards the Wadi. It wound steeply but entailed no risks. Although it was still early, the heat was already becoming trying. There was a mirror-like dazzle off some very high thin cloud which magnified our discomfort. The suggestion of moisture earlier had vanished and the unmoving air seemed to throttle the countryside. The short hike underwrote the futility of any plan of ours to escape on foot. I marvelled at Koen being able to take the heat without a hat. As we neared the foot of K2 I said to Koen, 'Where's your plane? It might be easier for us to make a circuit rather than go directly via The Hill. The entrances to it are blocked with barbed wire and gates..

'I know. I'll shoot 'em open.'

I simply couldn't think of any other argument to forestall Koen's taking the direction which must ultimately reveal my boat.

Shortly afterwards Koen called a halt in the shadow of a big rock before starting on the shadeless, sandy crossing of the wadi. Ahead lay The Hill, sticking up like a long grey stone cruiser; the warship image was carried further by the projecting section below the tabletop resembling a naval cutwater. Koen drank some water from a canteen and followed it with another slug from his half-jack — a home distilled fire water made from peaches. I eyed the bottle, thinking it could become a deadly weapon if broken and jammed into. Koen's throat.. He passed the canteen on to Nadine and me.

'Apart from the gates, we'd make it much easier for ourselves if we kept to the hard ground along these hills,' I persisted. 'Also, the wadi's at its narrowest farther along opposite the tabletop and there's less sand..

Koen considered me curiously. 'You're very keen to stop me getting near The Hill, aren't you? What have you got there?'

'Gold,' said Nadine.

I'm not sure whether Koen or I was the more thunderstruck. She pulled off her cowl: the inclination of her head as she pretended to shake her long hair free told me everything: I read the double meaning in her lips and played up to it.

'We're in the hot seat through absolutely no fault of our own,' she told Keen. 'But I don't intend to be made mincemeat of by your crazy doctor friend. I can't confess to something I don't know. And I don't know about the Cullinan. Nor does Guy.'

He appeared to eye her with a new respect but his reply was unconvinced. 'Go on.'

She said vehemently, play-acting splendidly: 'I'm tired of being pushed around by a couple of bullies and I'm prepared to pay to get shot of you. You know who my father is.'

'Don't give me that line! Harold Raikes couldn't pay thirty million dollars ransom for his daughter!'

She went on angrily. 'you talk as if you had thirty million!

Where is it? Just tell me that and I'll go along with your story!' She waved at the blanched countryside. 'Fine — where? Just where, Koen?'

'The Doc says. . Bowker and Rankin..

'It's a dream; you're chasing shadows!'

I threw my weight in with Nadine's. 'I'll give you a playback of everything connected with the Cullinan, Koen. Just you tell me when you've heard it if your yarn makes sense.'

'I know the story,' he answered sullenly. 'The Doc told me everything.'

'Including the hyena's blanket?' I jeered. 'Just what the hell does that mean, Koen? It's the ravings of a sick man.'

'Listen to me, Koen,' added Nadine. 'Von Praeger was a Gestapo doctor. We don't know how many people he killed then. A man has got to find a reason for murdering if he's to stay sane. So what happens? Praeger carries on by justifying his conscience in the name of a bigger diamond than the biggest in the world. It's so far removed from reality that he had to invent a way-out code for it. I don't have to tell you what that is.'

Koen was clearly rocked, but still sceptical. 'The Doc heard those words the hyena's blanket from Bowker's grandfather and my old man. He didn't make them up himself.'

'Who says so?' I retorted. 'You can't check that one either: they're both dead. It's part of Praeger's cunning. He fixed his story so that there couldn't possibly be witnesses.'

Nadine followed up crisply. 'Believe it if you want to, Koen. Neither Guy nor I are stopping you. Go chasing your thirty million dream if you wish. What I'm offering you is a lot less, but it's right here and I can take you to it in the next couple of hours.'

His glittering brawn eyes went from Nadine to myself. I began to feel we had him on the ropes.

'Have you ever heard of the Ancient Ruins Exploration Company?'

He shook his head.

'It doesn't matter,' replied Nadine. 'It's a company my father set up to exploit gold from old ruins.'

'You can't do that legally,' objected Koen. 'I'm not that dumb.

Nadine sighed with mock patience. 'Gold is where you find Koen. Why do you think Guy and I came here with the scientific expedition in the first place? It was legal, perfect cover. We reconnoitred the place. Then, when everyone left we came back. We were using a plane because the treasure's in bits and pieces: it's light and easy to fly out. Then along came Rankin and spoilt everything by shooting the pilot.'

Koen remained mulish. 'Rankin was here. You came to fix things about diamonds with him. The Doc says so.'

'For God's sake stop saying the Doc says this and the Doc says that!' I burst out. 'Talk about sucking on the hind tit!

Let me tell it you, Koen, the way it was. I didn't know Rankin was at The Hill. Rankin shopped me. IDB. I gave him a brief summary of the case. 'What Rankin is up to is nothing to do with us. Ours is a separate outfit — gold, as Nadine says. You and Praeger have got your lines hopelessly crossed. When I ran into Rankin here- after what he'd done to me before, well, he got hurt, that's all.'

Koen unscrewed the stopper and took another drag at the brandy. He half closed his eyes against the harsh sunlight. '

Where's this treasure then?'

Nadine indicated the tabletop. 'There. Hidden. I know where. Half a million in solid gold. And there, Koen, not a dream. We'll cut you in on the deal if you let us go free.'

The frustrated greed of a thousand aborted diamond washes was in his face. 'Well I'll be damned for a fiddler's bitch! Right there, you say?',

'You won't. find it without me,' said Nadine. 'Take your choice, Koen. It's not thirty million but it's real. There aren't any risks. You'll get your whack in hard cash'

'Allemagtig!'

I laughed in what I hoped was the right conspiratorial manner.

'Listen to what· she's got to say, Koen.'

Suddenly his face was transformed by suspicion. 'The Doc said you were a smart talker, Bowker. What if I say I don't believe a word of it?'

Nadine came to my rescue. 'I'll make you a gesture of good will. I'll take you there and show you.'

I was out of my depth but I strung along with her. 'I don't leave Bowker behind. Not on your nellie!'

'Of course Guy will come,' she added calmly. 'We have to go up the secret stairway. We must also be very careful at about three-quarters of the way up. Let me explain: the stairway is actually a narrow cleft which is open to the sky. However, at this particular spot a big boulder has fallen down and nearly, but not quite, blocked it. As a result it's very narrow and you have to crawl through slowly. It's almost like a sloping chimney, in fact, for a while and I warn you it's tricky.' She took in the machine-pistol and Koen's broad shoulders. 'Do you think you'll be able to make it?'

He laughed grimly. 'You two will lead; I'll be behind with this in case of tricks.'

She shot me an almost imperceptible glance, then resumed: '

Right. Then I'll go first and Guy will follow. You will have to wait in the open while we negotiate the covered section one at a time. While Guy's there I'll slip up to the summit and make quite sure there's nothing loose which could fall down I got her message; my part in the plan was clear. I was to obstruct Koen by taking my time over the slow section where the rock cover protected me while Koen was exposed out in the open. She would then race on to the summit and pitch a rock down on his head. I remembered that during the expedition there had been talk of a stack of fashioned stones at the head of the stairway which the ancients had used for exactly that purpose against their enemies.

It brought me satisfaction that r was to be the Judas-goat who would lead Koen to the slaughter. However, the operation would require co-ordination, split-second timing and strong nerve. If Nadine's first brickbat missed him there wouldn't be a second chance. He would be behind me at point-blank range and Nadine would be equally vulnerable on the skyline above him.

'Okay, no harm in talking, is there? If this gold of yours is really there, maybe we can get down to business. But I want to see it first. You're still my prisoners, so watch your step!

Let's no!'

The growing tension was almost as energy-sapping as the stiff hike across the sand-filled wadi. Nadine kept up gamely. Koen gave us no opportunity to exchange even a whisper. I wondered what he meant to do about the rolls of barbed wire which blocked the gully we were heading for. I couldn't imagine he'd be fool enough to involve himself in a crawl through it and lay himself wide open to attack. I accordingly kept my mouth shut when we got near; the last thing I wanted now was for him to change his plans and head for the river. Koen surveyed the wire-blocked entrance, backed by a high fence.

'On!' he said briefly. We'll try the next one.'

We trudged farther, our discomfort growing steadily in the sun. After a while the remains of a wall appeared on the terrace above our heads and where it became less ruined the wire barrier had been discontinued. Soon we were confronted with a broad eroded gap in the terrace itself, new since the time of the expedition, which was stoutly fenced with a big double gate and lock. Because of its width, the customary rolls of barbed wire were absent.

'Stand clear!'

Keen fired a short burst from the M-25. The echo magnified it to sound like a heavy machine-gun. Nadine was shaken. I think it brought her an added sense of dismay at what Koen would do if her stone missile missed him in the stairway. Koen gestured at the remains of the lock fastenings which still held.

'Bowker Get this damn thing open!'

A couple of kicks from me and we were through. I wanted if possible to keep him away from my camping-place but our footpath to the secret stairway led directly past it. I was worried that there might be spent cartridges lying around near the fire which could blow the cover on my story about meeting Rankin quite by chance. The Mannlicher, too, gave me qualms. We were almost past when Koen caught sight of my orange yellow gunny sack. Looking suspicious, he led us into my camp, examining everything. The fire was a mess and ash was littered about. It was obvious-that it had not died down of its own accord; in fact, it looked as if two wild animals had fought in its remains.

'What's all this?'

'Only my camping-place.' I tried to keep my voice neutral. He spotted a spent shell from my clip and picked it up. My heart missed a beat.

'You're lying, Bowker. Look at the fire. Look at this.'

The spent case was dulled from being in the embers. I took it from him, commenting casually with a confidence I did not feel, 'That's an old type of cartridge, if you look closely. It's probably been lying around for years.' I had a sudden brainwave about the fire: 'Baboons,' I said. 'They'll tear up anything — and they're starving. I'm surprised they've left anything in one piece.'

A scatter of tins bore out my story. Koen, however, appeared to want to investigate further.

'I'm famished,' I added. 'I'm going to collect this stuff and put it in the shade so that it won't spoil.'

Unexpectedly, Koen sat himself down in the shadow of a rock with the machine-pistol across his knees.

'We'll all eat. I'm hungry too. I've been up since sparrowfart.'

'There was some brandy somewhere, provided the baboons haven't raided that as well.'

He cast about and found the bottle on its side and uncorked, but there was a little brandy left, which he added to his halfjack.

'Gesondheid!'

We toasted him back in water from the jerrican I had filled at the hut tank. Then we all had some food, though I, for one, was too tense to do more than nibble at it.

After what seemed hours we made our way under Nadine's guidance to the entrance of the secret stairway in my fig tree's root cage. I prayed that the Mannlicher might not show up and break Koen's somewhat relaxed mood. Fortunately there was no sign of it.

Nadine took the lead, I followed, and Koen brought up the rear. From the cage itself the start of the climb was easy but higher up we had to resort to wedging ourselves by our backs and legs across the rocky funnel for purchase, and worked our way upwards in that way. It was slow and tedious and we made frequent stops to rest. About 150 feet from the ground Nadine called out from above.

'Here we are! Come up, Guy, and I'll show you.'

I relayed her message to Koen. He made himself secure across the passageway by the same method of legs and back: his arms were free for the gun. The M-25 pointed up at us. He couldn't miss at that range.

The way ahead ran underneath the big boulder Nadine had described — a kind of upward sloping corkscrew — which would take us temporarily out of Koen's sight. The place seemed impossibly narrow and somewhat dark, too, away from the hard sunlight.

I edged close to Nadine. She reached down a hand and clasped mine. It could have meant goodbye, or encouragement. High above her head on the summit I detected the top of the stack of missiles.

'This is it.

Then she was gone, her slim body squirming easily through the narrow aperture.

In a few minutes I guessed she must be through but made no move myself. The longer I held back, the better became our chances.

I felt the tension in my bowels and for the first time in my life a slight vertigo. I therefore didn't look down when I spoke to Koen.

'I'll start off in a moment. She's not through yet. '

What the hell's holding her up?'

'It's very narrow.'

'Get on!' snapped Keen. His voice changed and hardened. 'I tell you..

'Up! Get up!'

I had no way of knowing whether T had given her time enough for her plan. I still delayed as much as I dared: moreover, while I was exposed she could do nothing with the missile. I was scared Koen would sight her near the stack. I jack-knifed upward suddenly, to be out of her line of fire, then flung myself full length to wriggle into the narrow space. I lay where I was, deliberately scuffling and pretending to make heavy weather of negotiating the passage. I could hear Koen breathing hard less than ten feet below me. Every second seemed an hour.

'What's up?' he demanded.

'I'm stuck.'

'I'll give you a shove.'

It was the last thing I wanted. Where was Nadine? 'Okay, Okay, I'm free now. His smothered oath and the loading clunk of the M-25 sounded as one. My fingers clamped involuntarily on their holds and a spasm of terror shot through me as I expected a burst to rip into me from below. Simultaneously there was a heavy crash of stone on metal, the scream and slam of one isolated shot, followed by a long volley whose racket in the confined space stunned me. Sick with anxiety for Nadine and marvelling that I was unwounded, I clawed my way upwards into the open.

I dreaded what I might see on the summit, but to my relief Nadine, her eyes wide with horror at what she had done, looked down into mine.

Her primitive missile had smashed the stubby barrel and long magazine into Koen's head and chest, breaking its force, which otherwise might have brained him. It was probably some animalistic survival instinct which had caused him to glance up, throw up the weapon and try to fire at the last moment before the thing crashed on him but he had been too late. A whole long burst had discharged as he fell; and his broad shoulders had eventually. saved him, lodging across a narrow section of stairway and suspending him senseless a hundred feet above the ground.

I was numb with reaction and couldn't make the rest of the climb. Nadine came down to me. Her tears fell into my face. When we had recovered we worked our way carefully down to Koen. Between us we managed to lever him safely to the bottom. Exhausted, we hid ourselves and him behind the curtain of fig roots, out of sight of Praeger.