Fearless Master of the Jungle (A Bunduki Jungle Adventure (13 page)

Tav-Han had promised he would
do all in his power to speed things along, but his wife and
daughter had been adamant that the preparations could not be
completed for another seven days at least. They would, both had
declared, even prefer that this was extended to ten days so that
the best results could be attained. Much as Dawn had shared the
blond giant
’s impatience, she had accepted the decision reached by her
Telonga ‘family’ just as she would have done if it had been made by
her mother on Earth. To conform with the local convention, she
could not occupy her future home while she was unmarried and would
have to stay at her adopted parents’ house each night until after
the ceremony.

Apart from short periods in
the
tree
house, the girl and Bunduki had spent the whole of the fourth day
working with the quaggas. Wanting nothing to distract the animals,
they had arranged to leave their borrowed
banar-gatahs
at the village with those which had
been retained by the hunters following the annihilation of the
People-Taker and his escort. What was more, at their request, only
Joar-Fane and At-Vee had been present during the training periods.
The Telonga couple had not entered the corral, but stayed on the
porch of the house to watch what was being done.

In addition to continuing the blanket
training, Dawn and Bunduki had worked at accustoming the quaggas to
being caught by a thrown lariat. Judging from the way the animals
had shown an understanding of the futility of fighting against the
constriction of a running noose, the knowledge must have been
inherited through experience gained during generations of
domestication. Or, considering that they had progressed to the
inclusion of a saddle by the early afternoon, there could have been
another reason.

To have achieved so much in
such short time was, as the girl and the blond giant had
appreciated, remarkable. In fact, they realized that all of the
quaggas
’
behavior since capture was extraordinarily fortunate as far as
their own needs were concerned. Not only had there been little sign
of aggression, but the animals were already beginning to respond to
the names, ‘Isabel’ and
‘Shambulia
’
.
Certainly the latter had never shown any inclination to
carry out the instruction, ‘attack’.

While the
quaggas
’
acquiescence might have stemmed from a recent acquaintance with
human beings, Dawn and Bunduki had grown increasingly convinced
that it was more likely to be the result of mental conditioning by
the ‘Suppliers’ who had already proved that they could influence
the behavior of wild elephants. In which case, having anticipated
their protégés’ need for reliable and superlative means of
transport, they could have arranged the meeting. The Earth couple
had been intended to see and capture the quaggas, which in turn had
been prepared so as to make training them a less difficult and more
speedy process than it would have been in their natural
state.

For all their summations, Dawn
and Bunduki had refused to be lulled into a state of
over-confidence or complacency. They had felt sure that there must
be a limit to the shortcuts their benefactors had made possible.
So, instead of mounting personally when the quaggas had no longer
shown any reluctance in bearing the saddles, they had contented
themselves with placing sacks filled with soil on their backs.
Watching the way in which the burdens were sent flying, they had
considered their caution was well justified. So they had persevered
with the same tactics until the disappearance of the sun had
brought the day
’s work to an end. By that time, both animals had been
growing tractable when carrying the loads.

Up until halfway through the
fifth morning, Dawn and Bunduki had continued to implant the idea
of accepting a weight on the saddle. When they had decided that the
lesson had been absor
bed, they had surprised Joar-Fane and At-Vee by
leading the quaggas from the corral. Descending from the tree
house’s porch, the Telonga couple had followed as they led the
animals to the shore of the lake. Reaching a point where the bank
was firm and level sand with no rocks or other obstructions to mar
its surface as it sloped gently into the water, they had halted to
commence the preparations which had provoked the Hunter’s question
and brief interplay of comments between the girls.

‘
I
hope
you know what you’re doing,’ Joar-Fane remarked, trying to
conceal her concern by adopting a tone of an unspoken, “But I doubt
it”. Little as she knew about such things, she guessed that what
was going to happen next could be dangerous. ‘After I spent all
that time wading in a cold stream and looking after your
banar-gatahs,
I’d hate to see those two get away.’

‘
I’ll
try my best to see it doesn’t happen,’ Bunduki promised,
fastening one end of the stout rope he had brought from the tree
house to the saddle horn.

‘
Huh!’
the little Telonga girl sniffed. ‘If
you
’
re
going to try
your
best,
Shambulia
is as good as on his way back to the
Land-Without-Trees.’

‘
I’m
beginning to think I shouldn’t have stopped the “Hairy
People” taking you
either
time.’
^xxxiv
Bunduki replied, knotting the
other end of the rope around his waist. Then he took out his knife
and passed it to At-Vee continuing, ‘Oh well, I may as well make a
start and see what happens.’

‘
Y
ou’ll make a fool of yourself as usual,’ Dawn stated, but
the words did not fool her friends. They knew she shared their
anxiety. ‘Go ahead. Then
I
’
ll
show you how to do it properly.’

‘
I’ll
never know why you went to fetch her back, brother,’ At-Vee
commented, wondering what would happen when Bunduki mounted and
drawing some comfort from the thought that the sand would be softer
to land on than the ground in the corral.

Much to
Joar-Fane
’s
and At-Vee’s surprise, although the latter had deduced one of the
reasons why the location had been selected, the blond giant did not
mount immediately. Instead, grasping the one-piece reins which were
now attached securely to the
bosal
of the hackamore, he started to walk slowly into
the lake. It said much for the confidence which had already
developed between them that
Shambulia
began to follow him with little hesitation. What
small reluctance was shown ended when Bunduki gave a softly spoken
order in the simple language of the
Australopithecus.
Experience had taught him this could
be understood better by the stallion than English or the
lingua
franca
of
Zillikian’s human population. The word-sounds were accompanied by a
gentle, yet commanding, tug on the reins. Stepping after
him,
Shambulia
advanced until standing belly deep in the water.

‘
Good
luck, darling,’ Dawn breathed, knowing why her husband-to-be had
waded in so far.

Aware that he was almost
certain to have a fight on his hands when he mounted the big
stallion, Bunduki had accepted the need to take precautions. So he
was employing two techniques practiced by, among others, the
Comanche Indians of the United States. They were calculated to
lessen the danger of injury to himself and the animal, as well as
reducing the chance of
Shambulia
’
s
escape if Bunduki was thrown.

Authorities in all matters
equestrian, the
Nemenuh
^xxxv
warriors had discovered that to
submerge an unbroken horse until the water was lapping around its
belly reduced its mobility and rendered it less capable of bucking.
Even if it should succeed in pitching off the rider, his landing
would be cushioned by the water no matter how awkwardly he fell.
Furthermore, as they were connected by the rope, the animal’s
flight would be impeded by having to drag him along and it would be
more readily recaptured.

There might be, the blond giant
realized as he grasped the
saddle horn and found the near side wooden stirrup
with his left foot, a chance that the same did not apply where a
quagga was concerned. However, he had never been a man to be held
back by vague doubts, possibilities, or uncertainties. So, throwing
a grin at his wife-to-be and friends, he swung himself astride the
saddle.

For a moment, nothing
happened!

Having grown to accept a weight
being placed upon the alien object which was attached to his body,
at first
Shambulia
noticed only that this one was considerably heavier than
its predecessors. Then the burden moved and he realized that it was
alive.

The realization provoked an immediate
and instinctive reaction!

Letting out an explosive snort
of mingled alarm and anger, the big stallion did not wait to try
and discover what kind of creature was sitting on him. Instead, he
set about making a determined effort to fling whatever it might be
from its perch. Even though hampered by the depth of the water, the
spine-arching bound he made was not to be despised. Rising until
his hooves were inches clear of the surface, on his way down, he
kicked upwards with his
hindquarters. Known in rodeo circles on Earth as
‘bucking straight away’, such a tactic was, on occasion,
exceptionally effective. However, for it to succeed, the rider’s
rump—having been lifted well above the saddle—had to descend upon
the cantle rather than returning to the seat.
^xxxvi

Alert to the peril, Bunduki
used the tremendous strength of his thighs to prevent his
displacement. However,
Shambulia
’
s
next attempt was to rear on his hind legs and, as the blond
giant was still using a
bosal,
this was far more difficult to control than if a
metal bit had been employed. Desperate measures called for just as
desperate counter-measures. So, keeping the reins in his left hand
as it also grabbed the saddle horn, he delivered a slap to the top
of the stallion’s head with his right hand. Startled by the
unexpected assault,
Shambulia
brought down his forelegs and took off again in another
‘straight away buck’ which proved no more effective than his
first.

Refusing to be put off by his
three failures to dislodge the blond giant,
Shambulia
continued to fight with
unabated determination and vigor. Possessed of the ideal physique
for such an effort—being large, very powerful and forceful in his
actions—he concentrated upon the high-rising, plunging bounds of
‘bucking straight away’ with only an occasional variation of
‘chinning the moon’,
^xxxvii
to break the monotony. He was
considerably hampered by being forced to fight in an unnatural
element for one of his species and repeatedly sought to correct
this.

In spite of the limitations
imposed upon him by relying only upon the
bosal
as a means of control and guidance,
Bunduki’s skilful manipulation of the reins and his weight combined
to prevent the stallion from regaining dry land. Nor, for all
of
Shambulia
’
s
dependence upon only two tactics, did he find the battle
monotonous and easy. In fact, delighted as he was by his success in
remaining astride the saddle, he was far from sorry when his
expertise and bodily bulk contrived to exhaust and bring the
stallion’s struggles to an end.

‘
There
you are,
Kichwa Mkubwa,
’
^xxxviii
the blond giant said,
addressing Dawn triumphantly if breathlessly, as he guided
Shambulia
ashore and
dismounted. The faces of the girl and the two Telongas were flushed
with the vigor they had expended upon yelling encouragement that he
had been too occupied to notice. ‘That’s how it
should
be done. Let’s see if
you
can do anywhere
near as well with Isabel.’

‘
Kichwa Mkubwa
yourself!’ Dawn replied, with a disdainful toss of
her head, but unable to conceal her elation at her husband-to-be’s
victory. ‘Stand back and watch an expert show you how it doesn’t
need all that splashing and fuss to win.’

For all her comment, the girl knew
that she would need to call upon all the strength and equestrian
ability she possessed if she was to be equally
successful.

Even as the stricken
banar-gatah
rider twirled on
his heels and fell, his hands clawing ineffectually at the arrow
piercing his throat, an understanding of what was happening began
to seep into the exhausted thought processes of the Protectress of
the Quagga God. She became aware that the killing of the warrior
was not an isolated phenomenon. In fact, gazing back and forth as
she clung to the lance as an aid to fending off the waves of
dizziness which were threatening to engulf her, she found that a
full scale and very effective attack was being launched almost
simultaneously upon the rest of Elidor’s unsuspecting
supporters.