Jackal's Dance (18 page)

King had risen and stretched. They waited in silence for the calling to commence. Megan switched on the tape recorder while both Josie and Fletch had cameras at the ready. Suddenly sound came,
weeuugh
. . .
weeuugh
, strangely different though, taken up and repeated by throat after throat. King spun around and stared intently in the direction from where it had come. Queen struggled up and trotted to join him. Missy and the pups sought instant safety in the den. Obviously agitated, King and Queen set off towards the commotion.

There was something peculiar about the call and the way all five animals had reacted to it. Following in the bus, the professor and his students were astonished to come across eight jackals surrounding a thorn-bush thicket. They seemed to be dancing – springing into the air on stiffened legs, bounding into the thicket and bouncing back again as though attached to elastic bands – and all the while the strange call
weeuugh
. . .
weeuugh
. . .
weeuugh.
Without hesitation, King and Queen joined in.

‘There must be something in there,' Eben observed. ‘Look at their hackles. I've never seen or
heard anything like this. I'm willing to bet it means danger of some kind. This is incredible. Is the tape running, Megan?'

‘Yes, Prof.'

The activity around the thicket didn't stop. Six more jackals arrived and joined in. They were not from families along the riverbed. That meant they were rivals, normally chased off in no uncertain manner. But on this occasion their presence was more than tolerated, it seemed to be welcome.

A good ten minutes after the strangers' arrival, a tom leopard burst from the thicket and bounded away. The jackals gave chase, leaping and dancing all around, ducking and diving this way and that whenever the big cat snarlingly spun on them. As if at a given signal, they abruptly called off the chase and returned, bickering between themselves, to the thicket. Judging by the squabbling noises from within, they were polishing off the remains of the leopard's kill. The outsiders who had joined in to send the leopard packing, bounded away with a share of the spoils, leaving the riverbed families to fight over the rest.

‘Leopards normally prey on jackal,' Professor Kruger had remarked. ‘In fact, they're particularly partial to them. If ever we needed proof of the little fellow's bravery, that was it. I've never seen anything like it before.'

Fletch was coming to respect the jackal for its courage, intelligence and family loyalty. He hated the idea of what they were about to do. It was true
that tranquillising and ear-tagging did no harm to the animals, but there was inevitably a degree of panic and fear that went with it. He accepted the necessity for accurate identification but he regretted upsetting the family in the process.

Only King, Queen and Missy were to be tagged. The pups might suffer an adverse reaction to the tranquilliser. The professor hoped to record three more families before this trip was finished. Once today's tags were in place, they would still have to wait while the animals recovered – a necessary precaution against the unlikely but possible event that a hyena or other predator was in the area. At least after yesterday, the large and fit leopard was not likely to be back in a hurry.

They followed a meandering game trail. Fletch led the way, Kalila behind him, then Megan, with Troy bringing up the rear. The professor, Angela and Josie were approaching the den from a slightly different angle, a precaution against the slight possibility that the family might still be out and about, rather than settled for the day.

‘Want me to take the sandwiches?' Troy asked Megan. Lazy he might have been, but watching her hop-skipping along and seeing the spreading patch of perspiration on the back of her shirt made him aware of how much harder she had to work at doing something he took for granted.

She flashed a smile over her shoulder. ‘I'm fine, thanks anyway.'

Kalila looked back and frowned at them both. ‘Sshhh!'

Megan nodded but Troy rolled his eyes. They had a good two kilometres still to go.

Somewhere off to their right, a long way away, an elephant trumpeted. It served to remind them all that they were in the domain of wild animals. Caution and bush sense had to remain uppermost in everyone's mind.

Professor Kruger and the two girls also heard the elephant. Angela gave a little, ‘Oh!' and stopped, listening.

‘It's a long way from here,' the professor said. ‘Keep going.'But he hadn't liked the noise. The call had been savage and prolonged, and sent a clear message. This particular elephant was not happy. Angry elephants could charge anything that moved, as Eben was very well aware.

‘What if it's coming our way?' Angela asked fearfully.

‘Chances of that are pretty slim. There's not much in the way of food or water in this direction. He or she will probably stick to the mopane scrub.' Eben's voice carried more certainty than he felt. If any animal in the African bush had earned his attention and respect it was
Loxodonta africana.
Its shuffling gait at speed was deceptive, not even the finest athlete could outrun it. Climbing a tree, if the animal knew you were there, was a waste of energy. The elephant would push and shake, either uprooting the whole thing or causing you to fall from it. The best defence for an unarmed person on foot was to get downwind. Without the warning of
smell, chances were the animal wouldn't locate you. Eben sucked a middle finger and held it up. A light morning breeze was blowing towards the distant sound. They were directly upwind.

There it was again, perhaps further away. Eben relaxed slightly. ‘It's a long way from here,' he repeated, not adding that he'd prefer it to stay that way. The mere sight of an elephant gave him nervous flutters.

And then it happened. With no warning, he began to wheeze. Both girls had already witnessed Eben's asthma attacks. Angela found and handed him the puffer, which he always carried in a side pocket of his small backpack. Knowing how much he hated to be seen like this, the two girls moved a short distance up the track. ‘Poor bugger,' Angela said softly.

Josie made no comment but nodded agreement.

They both knew that when the professor recovered, his embarrassment would make him more irritable than usual for the rest of the day.

Five minutes later, Eben rejoined the girls. Before he could say anything, the elephant screamed again. This time it sounded much closer.

‘They can run at forty kilometres an hour,' Josie said, more to bridge the awkward silence than anything.

‘Just keep going,' Eben snapped. ‘And no more talking.'

Half an hour later, the two groups were hunkered down together about sixty metres from the jackals' den. They had to wait until the animals
went inside. While the two females and pups were guaranteed to do this, the male was never a certainty. Sometimes he stayed above ground.

They had to catch the animal to administer the tranquilliser. Quick and clever and always seeming to anticipate danger, jackals were not ideal subjects for a dart gun. More often than not the dart missed completely, and any that penetrated ran the very real risk of causing serious damage. Once all six were in the den, the net would be placed across the entrance. Then, extreme patience was required while they waited for the animals to panic and run. That's where the gloves came in. Heavy leather which protected the wearer to just above the elbow.

Sweat ran freely in the heat. Queen, Missy and the pups were lying near the den's entrance. King was a short distance away, showing no sign he was in any hurry. Angela stifled a sneeze. Josie's stomach cramped. It was time to change her tampon but it would have to wait. Kalila wondered where the elephant was. Megan was having similar thoughts. Fletch concentrated on the jackals. Troy prepared a hypodermic needle and, working silently and swiftly, mixed the powdered Rompun with solvent and put four vials of the tranquilliser into the top pocket of his shirt. When the action started it would be his job to administer the drug.

Two things happened almost simultaneously, blasting all thoughts of jackal from everyone's mind. In the distance they heard a vehicle. And the elephant screamed, so damned close that it might have been standing next to them.

Fletch glanced over his shoulder, mouth instantly dry. ‘Jesus!' he yelled.

Everyone looked back. A tuskless female was no more than two hundred metres away staring myopically in their direction, her trunk lifted inquiringly, searching for the scent she'd lost. ‘Nobody move,' Fletch hissed. The jackals, startled by his initial reaction and probably unnerved by the elephant herself, had fled into the den. The cow knew humans were nearby but she couldn't see them. The wind had shifted, eddying around her and sending conflicting signals as to where the study group might be. Without their scent, and if they kept perfectly still, she might not find them.

Troy blew air softly through his teeth to attract Fletch's attention and nodded away to the left. Fletch looked. A Land Rover was making bumpy progress towards them, approaching at ninety degrees to the elephant's right flank. Then she also heard it. Her head swung towards the noise and she bellowed again. Whoever was driving had not, until that moment, seen the animal. The elephant took one look at the vehicle and, without hesitation, charged. The driver performed the smartest U-turn any of the students or the professor had ever seen and bounced away through the bush, the elephant in hot pursuit.

No-one wasted time speculating about the vehicle or its driver.

‘Let's go,' Eben bellowed. ‘She'll come back.'

Tagging mission aborted, the students beat a hasty retreat, taking the most direct route back to camp.

‘What do we do now?' Angela asked, so frightened her legs were trembling.

‘Strike camp and head for the lodge,' the professor said. ‘She's a killer.'

‘How do you know?' Megan had been having some difficulty keeping up with the others until Fletch took one elbow and Troy the other. Between them, they half-carried her.

‘Tuskless,' Eben said. ‘And injured by the look of it. A bad combination.'

‘Two good reasons for making ourselves scarce,' Troy commented. ‘I didn't see any others but if that one picks up our scent she won't mess about.'

‘I hate having to do this,' Eben told them, panting a little from the pace. ‘But to stay out here with that cow in the vicinity would be madness. We'll come back once she's been dealt with.'

‘Dealt with!' Josie didn't like that. ‘You mean she'll be killed?'

‘Probably.' Eben didn't go for it much either. ‘Etosha can't have a rogue elephant menacing the tourists. One of the vets will probably put her down.'

‘Prof, do you think I could go with him when he does?' Troy asked.

‘I'll put it to them,' Eben promised. ‘Anyone else interested?'

‘They might take one outside observer. I doubt it would be more,' Fletch said. ‘Troy asked first. Let him go.'

They heard the elephant again, bellowing in the distance. ‘Could she have given up on the Land Rover?' Kalila asked fearfully.

‘Not being blessed with second sight I find that question impossible to answer.' Eben's voice carried sarcasm and annoyance. It was a cover-up for fear.

‘It'll be some time before she starts looking for us,' Troy confidently announced to the group.

‘Oh yes. And what makes you such an expert?' Kalila demanded, stung by the professor's rebuke.

‘Seems logical. She may not come back at all. Depends on whether or not she picks up our scent. That elephant wasn't sure where we were.'

Eben added, ‘If she's the one we heard earlier, then our scent had been blowing directly towards her. She knew approximately where to find us. Then she got a crosswind and lost us. Troy is right, she might just wander away but it's a risk we can't take.' Although disappointed, the professor could not compromise the safety of his charges. It was totally irrelevant that they had all signed a release indemnifying the university in the event of any serious accident. ‘Let's hope we still have time to come back and tag the jackal.'

Striking camp was done with a minimum of fuss. Each student dealt with his or her own tent and belongings first and then mucked in with the mess and ablution facilities. The elephant could still be heard, not far off, back towards the jackals' den. Eben didn't feel safe until everyone was in the bus and under way. Even then, he did not relax until they had more distance between them and the tuskless female.

Billy Abbott's breathing only returned to normal once he drove through the gates at Logans Island Lodge. The elephant charge had completely unnerved him. Seeing his rear-vision mirror filling with unbroken grey was the most terrifying experience of his life. Africa's big five were a joy to behold, but only on television, in a book or from a safe distance. Watching the herds of zebra or springbok, or other antelope was okay but because there was always the chance of a dangerous encounter Billy rarely ventured off-road. Someone with his need for personal privacy should have revelled in the opportunities his work offered. Strangely, Billy preferred his seclusion to be in the company of others.

This morning he had asked Thea to summon the professor for a meeting but she curtly said she was too busy. And as much as he loved to give orders, Billy could see that his wife was telling the truth. The rangers were all off doing different things, so he couldn't ask them. Reluctantly, he had gone himself.

As he drove, the lodge manager was trying to formulate an argument that would convince Eben Kruger to use the relative safety of the Logans Island camping area for the remainder of his group's stay in Etosha. Billy, like most administrators with Nature Conservation, was uneasy about allowing the professor to continue camping out in the reserve. If an accident occurred, heads would roll. Possibly including his. He'd met the professor once only – when the students checked in – and
knew from the man's brusque manner, not to mention what the others had to say about him, that Eben Kruger would not be easy to convince. But a rogue elephant was a rogue elephant. And Billy had responsibilities. The professor might not like it but that was his problem. He knew they were studying black-backed jackal and anticipated finding the group somewhere along one particular dry river course which was home to a number of jackal families.