Free The Sound of Thunder by Wilbur Smith Page B

Friedman. I gather yours is Sean Courtney. Now where’s that bottle and we’ll celebrate your arrival. ” The commotion had summoned the others from their wagons and Sean was introduced to each of them. It seemed the uniform of the Guides was a khaki tunic without insignia or badges of rank, slouch hats and riding breeches. There were ten of them.
    A touhh-looking bunch and Sean found their company to his liking.
    Naked except for a towel draped round his waist, Saul did duty as barman, then they all settled down in the shade to a bout of drinking.
    Tim Curtis entertained them for the first twenty minutes with a biographical and biological account of Sean’s career, to which Saul contributed comments that were met with roars of laughter. It was obvious that Saul was the Company wit, a function which he performed with distinction. He was the youngest of them all, perhaps twenty-five years old, and physically the smallest. His body was thin and hairy, and in a pleasant sort of way he was extremely ugly. Sean liked him.
    An hour later when the brandy had taken them to the stage of seriousness which precedes wild and undirected hilarity, Sean asked, “Captain Curtis .
    “Lieutenant, and don’t for-get it,” Tim corrected him.
    “Lieutenant, then. What is our job, and when do we do it?”
    Tim scowled at his empty glass, then looked across at Saul.
    “Tell him,” he instructed.
    “As mentioned earlier, we are the legion of the lost. People look on us with pity and a mild embarrassment. They pass us by on the far side of the street, making the sign of the Cross and murmuring a spell to avert the evil eye. We live here in our own little leper colony.
    “Why? “Well, first of all, we belong to the most miserable little runt in the entire army of Natal. An officer, who, despite a formidable array of medals, would not inspire confidence in a young ladies” choir. He is chief liaison officer for the Coloni troops on the general staff. Lieutenant-Colonel Garrick Courtney, VC.” D.S.O.”
    Saul paused and his expression changed. “No relation of yours, I trust?”
    “No,” lied Sean without hesitation.
    “Thank God,” Saul continued. “Anyway, this is why people pity us.
    The embarrassment arises from the fact that nobody recognizes our official existence. Even the drawing of rations must be preceded by a comic opera dialogue between Tim and the Quartermaster. But because we are called
    “Guides” everybody expects us to get out there and start doing a bit of guiding.
    So in some weird fashion the failure of General Buller to advance even one hundred yards in three months is laid at our door.” Saul filled his glass. “Anyway, we haven’t ran out of brandy yet. ” “You mean we don’t do anything?” Sean asked incredulously.
    “We eat, we sleep and we drink.”
    “Occasionally we go visiting, ” Tim added. “Now is as good a time as any. ” “Who do we visit?”
    “There is a most interesting woman in the area, not five miles distant. She owns a travelling circus-forty wagons and forty girls.
    They follow along behind the main army to comfort and encourage it.
    Let’s go and get some comfort and encouragement. if we start now we’ll get to the head of the line-first come, first served.”
    “I’ll leave you to it,” Saul stood up and drifted away.
    “He’s a good kid,” Tim observed as he watched him leave.
    “Is it against his religion?”
    “No. But he’s married and takes it seriously. How about YOU?
    “I’m not married.
    “Let’s go then.”
    Much later they rode home together in the moonlight, both pleasantly melancholy with love and liquor. The girl who had taken Sean to her wagon was a friendly lass with a pair of fat maternal bosoms.
    “I like you, mister,” she told him afterwards.
    “I like YOU also,” he replied truffiftilly.
    Although Sean experienced no more shame or guilt than after satisfying any of his other bodily needs, yet he knew that half an hour with a stranger