Blood Diamond Chapter 10

Later, when he thought about it at leisure and could piece together those hot, fractured moments, Daniel would come to the conclusion that the first creature, as it ran from the sound of the drum, had issued a trumpeting that was not merely one of anger and pain and confusion, but was also a call for help. And this one, this second dalovu, had answered the call, and now it descended upon them with a singleness of purpose that could only be understood as revenge.

It fell upon the first man in its path and broke open his skull on its flying right knee. It swept upon a second and drove him into the soft ground. But this was no blind fury - there was intelligence at work. The beast swung its head, scanning these slight and tiny figures, seeking the leader. Without thinking – with the blind duty of a subject to his monarch, or a seaman to his captain - Daniel stepped in front of the King. The beast’s eyes seemed to widen and the tip of its fearful trunk to flare. It threw back its head in a terrific bellow and came thundering toward the pair of them.

Daniel first thought of distraction. He bounded forward to meet the creature, waving his arms and setting up an almighty yelling. He danced to one side, hoping the creature would follow him, but this was no dumb beast. It ignored the capering Daniel and rounded on the King, its great feet and knees flying. To his immense and regal credit, the King did not panic or cry out or try to flee. He did not even try to reach the drum, which was slung over his shoulder and behind his back. There was no time. He stood, his head level and with an air of kingly acceptance, to await his fate. It moved Daniel, this display of a monarch’s dignity – it should have been captured in some grand oil painting and taken on a tour of all the courts of Europe to demonstrate the true meaning of nobility.

The moment was perfect, yet Daniel had to spoil it. He turned and sprinted back. He dived, flinging himself almost under the feet of the beast, and crashed into the King. He knocked the King to the ground and they rolled and rolled toward the precipice, away from those trampling grey feet, and then they were suspended in space, still locked in the desperate clinch, and they were falling.

Daniel hadn’t thought out his plan with any kind of precision, but he had seen the growth of green creeper that snaked down from the side of the sudden drop. He knew not whether it could hold the weight of a man, let alone two, but he clutched blindly with his right hand. The fingers hooked through some woody tendrils. The thick vine pulled free of the wall under the sudden tug of their weight and they jerked free into space again. But the next root system held, and of a sudden Daniel and the King were hanging above a sheer and fatal drop, clinging to life by the strength of his fingers.

Copyright Rannulph Moore

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Ranulph Moore describes himself as an explorer, who became a writer to purge himself of the adventures that were crowding his life. He says he has seen it all, in a life spent observing the lives of others.
He will travel anywhere – as long as he can make a decent cup of tea and launder a linen jacket. He describes Africa as one of his great loves. He has spent time in every country on the continent.
If he can’t find a good champagne, he has been known to resort to gin. He has homes in Paris, Jura and Cape Town. At present, he lives in Madagascar, where he is researching his latest book.
Read an interview with Rannulph Moore.