Fearless Master of the Jungle (A Bunduki Jungle Adventure (25 page)

Watching the effect of
Bunduki
’s
statement upon his adherents, Tik-Felum had known that he could not
depend upon any of them attempting a disruption of the bid to
dispose of the second ‘crocodile’. They were taking the blond
giant’s words to heart. Remembering the difficulty he had
experienced in persuading his sons and Flant-Wlip to carry out the
first and infinitely safer interference, he had accepted that
nothing further along those lines would be possible.

Unwilling to concede defeat,
the Senior Elder had tried without success to find out what plan of
campaign Bunduki was meaning to employ. He was met with such a
blandly polite reply, that nothing would be decided upon until the
situation was surveyed, that he was compelled to leave his
curiosity unsatisfied. Nor had he been able to think up a suitable
refusal when the blond giant had requested assistance, backed with
a solemn promise that no harm would be allowed to come to those who
were assigned to the task. Instead, albeit reluctantly, he had had
to give his consent to Hav-Bart and nine other villagers
accompanying the
“Earths”. Nor did a hope that had arisen reach
fruition.

Showing a ready grasp of what was
needed, Hav-Bart had selected nine companions who he was certain
could be trusted. Studying them as he had stated his requirements
and given instructions for what he expected from them, Bunduki had
been convinced that the young Wurka had made a good choice and that
he could rely upon them to do as he required.

Once clear of the village, Dawn
and her husband soon forgot their levity and devoted their full
attention to the business in hand. Everything they needed was
available. In addition to the bows they were carrying, Hav-Bart was
fetching along the blond giant
’s
m
’
kuki
and shield. It was not that the latter weapons were to be
used in the work ahead, but they had all considered it inadvisable
to leave such tempting articles where Tik-Felum or his adherents
could lay hands on them. The rest of the Wurkas were carrying the
coils of rope and
machetes—
which the large bush-knives resembled—they had been asked
to supply. Apart from the girl, none of them had any idea of what
lay ahead. However, such was the faith inspired by Bunduki and
their eagerness to be free of the hated regime which was oppressing
them that they were willing to do as he had requested without
asking questions.

As a precaution against a repetition
of the ploy which had come very close to losing his first
objective, the blond giant had arranged for lookouts to keep watch
on the village. Others were left to guard against unwanted
interlopers who might have evaded the first pair of watchers.
Finally, after obtaining instructions on where to find their
quarry, he and the girl had continued unescorted. The remainder of
their helpers were to remain in concealment and without noise until
they were called.

After they had parted company with the
Wurkas, the Earth couple moved in complete silence. For all the
disturbance their movements caused, they might have been a pair of
enormous cats on the prowl. Nor, under the circumstances, were they
any less dangerous or savage than the wildest predatory creature in
the jungle.

Such was the measure of
competence displayed by Dawn and Bunduki that they arrived at their
destination without having been detected by either their prey or
its avian consort. They came to a halt, still in the concealment of
the bushes which fringed the water, and looked at a lagoon much
like the one in which they had encountered their previous problem.
There was one major difference, but it had been anticipated. With
the heat of the afternoon sun, the saurian had left the water and
was basking on the sand not more than twenty feet from them.
Sprawled out with its head towards the lagoon, it was unaware that
they were so close. Nor was the bird, a spur-winged plover on this
occasion, any more conscious of their presence. While its attention
was not diverted by an easily obtainable meal, it was engrossed in
carrying out
one of its symbiotic functions by picking debris from the
teeth of the saurian’s open jaws.

‘
It’s
another alligator,’ Bunduki breathed and held his bow towards
Dawn.

‘
If it
wasn’t, my lad,’ the girl replied, accepting the weapon and
watching her husband very carefully removing his back-quiver. ‘You
could forget it and use this damn thing.’

‘
If it
wasn’t and they sold life insurance on Zillikian, you’d say, “Go
ahead”,’ the blond giant answered, laying the quiver down and
freeing the
boleadora
to place on it. Still displaying excessive caution and
hardly taking his eyes from the creatures on the sandbank, he
discarded the bowie knife in a similar fashion. ‘Now all we have to
do is settle down and wait.’

Resting her
husband
’s
bow against a bush, Dawn slipped an arrow free from the bow quiver
and nocked it to her string. Then she stood as silently and
immobile as he did in spite of her anxiety over what lay ahead. Not
a hint of her feelings showed on her beautiful face, but she sensed
that Bunduki was aware of them. So she turned her head to give him
what she hoped would be a smile of reassurance.

Quitting its work, the spur-winged
plover took flight!

Not in panic, however, or
because the girl
’s movement had been detected.

Instead, the bird flew
unhurriedly across the lagoon and passed out of sight beyond the
river. Deprived of its consort
’s attentions, the alligator slowly closed its
powerful and awesomely equipped jaws. Wriggling its stomach against
the sand, as if making its resting place softer, its eyes closed
and it settled down for what the watchers hoped was a
sleep.

Although Bunduki adopted a
crouching posture like that of a sprinter awaiting the
starter
’s
pistol in a race that was taking place before the use of
starting-blocks became fashionable, he did not move. Nor did Dawn
offer to raise her bow into a position of greater readiness.
However, she could feel her heart pounding like a trip hammer and
she had a momentary fear that the noise it was making would
frighten away the alligator. Appreciating the absurdity of the
thought broke the tension a little and caused her to
smile.

‘
Damn
it,’ Dawn told herself silently. ‘If that big lump of mine doesn’t
know what he’s doing by now, our folks have wasted a lot of time
and effort on teaching him.’

‘
Go
on, you big ugly bastard!’ Bunduki breathed, just audibly to the
girl, watching the saurian open its eyes. Oblivious of her thoughts
and wanting to reassure her, he went on, ‘Go to sleep, damn it. I’d
ask Dawn to sing you a lullaby, but
that
would scare you so deep into the swamps we’d never
reach you.’

‘
Just
you wait, my lad!’ Dawn threatened in a whisper, without turning
her attention from the massive, scaly predator on the sandbank.
‘Wait until I get you home!’

Seconds dragged by on leaden feet, to
become a minute.

Then two!

Three!

Four!

Five!

Still Bunduki watched his prey,
wanting to make sure that it was fast asleep before making his
move. At the end of the fifth minute, he felt that the time had
come and was on the point of giving a warning nod to Dawn. Before
he could do so, a fish at the far side of the lagoon sprang into
the air to snap at an insect flying incautiously by. At the loud
splash caused by the attack, the alligator
’s eyes snapped open. They closed
again almost immediately, but the blond giant resigned himself to a
further period of waiting.

Another four minutes crawled into
oblivion.

‘
Oh
come on, darling!’ Dawn screamed, but only mentally. It’s fast
asleep. Get it!’

Sensing rather than glancing to
find out that she was looking his way, Bunduki
’s head made a brief
inclination as though he had heard his wife’s entreaty. Then,
giving a thunderous bellow like that of a male
Australopithecus
launching an
attack, he hurtled from his place of concealment and across the
sandbank.

Awakened by the commotion, the
alligator seemed to
be confused and hesitated for a vital couple of seconds.
Nor were the species
Alligator Mississipiensis,
or the Asiatic variety,
A.
Sinensis,
as agile as a crocodile on land.

With the sand being flung up by his
racing feet, the blond giant converged with the alligator. Swiftly
as he sprinted, it was obvious that it could not be prevented from
reaching its natural element, the water. Nor did he intend to try
bringing it to a halt on dry land. Rather he was hoping to make the
initial contact just before it entered the lagoon.

Watched by Dawn, who was
turning her bow into the shooting position, Bunduki covered the
remaining distance between himself and the alligator like a rugby
player performing a tackle. Alighting on the scaly back of the
wriggling saurian, as its nose was almost touching the water, he
secured holds with both hands. The left enfolded the jaws in such a
manner that his palm was covering the nostrils, tightened into a
vice-like grip. At the same time, passing around the massive and
knobbly body, the right obtained an equally secure hold of the
off-side foreleg. Even as he was securing himself, drawing the
saurian
’s
close to twelve foot bulk tightly against the right side of his
enormously muscled frame, they plunged head first from the
sandbank. As he had anticipated, the shoreline fell away sharply
beyond the resting place and they came down in a deep pool. They
made a complete somersault as soon as they went under. Running
forward and shouting—screaming almost—for the Wurkas to join them,
Dawn saw nothing of Bunduki but the soles of his bare feet for
almost a minute.

Staring in anxiety as the
alligator
’s
tail appeared briefly, to make a great arc and return beneath the
surface of the amber-colored water of the lagoon, Dawn tried to
comfort herself with the thought of how its physical make-up would
result in Bunduki’s task—while being anything but a sinecure—being
less hazardous than it appeared. For one thing, the muscles of the
saurian’s jaws supplied the majority of their power for closing
rather than opening. So a strong man could keep the mouth shut with
one hand, provided of course that he was able to obtain such a
hold. Secondly, as well as being more cumbersome on land, the
alligator was less adept in the water than a crocodile and not
nearly so dangerous a proposition. Lastly, although the blond giant
had not yet found an opportunity to avail himself of it, there was
a means by which the alligator could be subdued and rendered
harmless with comparative ease.

For all her knowledge, the girl was
deeply perturbed as the seconds ticked away. The only sign she had
of where her husband might be was given by the way in which the now
muddy water boiled and swirled in concert with the struggle going
on below the surface. Just as she was wondering if the alligator
had dragged him off, his blond head appeared. He had time, she
noticed with relief, to suck in a deep breath of air before being
taken underneath again.

Panting with their exertions,
Hav-Bart and some of the Wurkas arrived. As they had not been told
of the blond giant
’s intentions, they stared in amazement on being informed
by Dawn that he had deliberately tackled the ‘crocodile’ so as to
capture it alive. Although they dwelt in terrain that had many of
the
Crocodilia
as co-residents, they had never duplicated the Seminole
Indians of Florida’s methods of capturing the creatures.
^lxvii
So they could barely believe
their eyes and ears. But they still affirmed that they would do all
they could to help.

Five more times,
Bunduki
’s
head and, twice, shoulders came into view. On each occasion, he was
granted an opportunity to replenish his lungs. Following every
appearance, the alligator’s tail would lash in fury at the surface
and then the blunt, rounded, pike-like head would shoot above the
water and disappear again still locked in his unrelenting
grasp.

At last, the pace of the
titanic struggle began to slow down. The spectators noticed with
relief and delight that Bunduki was able to keep his head clear of
the water
and breathe more deeply. Also, the frenzied tail lashings
of the alligator were growing proportionately weaker. Finally,
after at least twenty minutes of continuous efforts, they were
floating still locked together as tightly as two lovers and almost
motionless on the surface of the lagoon.

‘
Get
ready!’ the blond giant called, raising his head clear of the
water. I’m going to bring him in.’

Having spoken, Bunduki and his
captive sank from view. For close to a minute there was no sign of
either, but Dawn calmed the Wurkas fears by explaining how he had
deliberately submerged to walk along the bottom and pull the
alligator after him. When he next appeared, it was obvious that he
had justified his wife
’s faith in him. Still retaining his double holds
on the jaws and foreleg, he twisted around until laying on his back
at the edge of the sandbank. Having hauled the alligator on top of
him, he wrapped his legs around its body in a
scissor-hold.