Free 08 Safari Adventure by Willard Price Page A

just like the stupid little runt to fall into one of these things.’
    Just for that, thought Roger, I’ll let you worry a little longer, you big clown. I don’t need you. When I am good and ready I can get out of here all by myself.
    He ran his hand over the wall of the pit, hunting for roots that would help him climb to the top. He found nothing that would bear his weight.
    He heard Hal and the warden moving away. Sudden panic seized him. ‘Hal!’ he called.
    ‘Did you hear anything?’ he heard Hal say.
    ‘Not a thing.’
    ‘Just a moment.’ Crunch, crunch - Hal’s footsteps as he returned through the brush. Then his voice, ‘Roger!’
    ‘What can I do for you?’ inquired Roger with mock politeness.
    ‘You son of a gun! What a scare you gave us! Are you on a stake?’
    The cheetah chose this moment to miaow. It sounded like a cry of pain.
    ‘The poor kid is on a stake. We’ve got to do something fast. I’ll get a rope.’
    ‘I’m afraid it’s too late,’ Crosby said. ‘That poison works fast.’
    But Hal was already on the run to the supply van. He returned at once.
    ‘I’m going to let this rope down to you. Do you have enough strength left to tie it round yourself?’
    ‘I’ll try,’ said Roger as weakly as possible.
    Down came the end of the rope. A sudden mischievous idea struck Roger and he almost laughed
    aloud. He put the rope round the cheetah’s body just behind the front legs and tied it.
    ‘All right,’ he called.
    The rope tightened. ‘WoW, he’s heavy,’ Hal said.
    “The stake is holding him. We’ll have to pull harder to get him off it. Now, both together.’
    Up went the cheetah. For him this was a new style travel and he didn’t like it much. He snarled, and it was a real snarl this time, not a purr. It was an angry, growling, spitting cat whose head came up through the hole in the faces of the rescuers. They almost let him drop again, so great was their surprise. The cheetah scrambled out on to solid ground, showing an excellent set of savage teeth.
    ‘A leopard!’ cried Hal. Then he saw his mistake. ‘No, a cheetah,’
    Then he heard Roger’s laugh, clear and strong. It was too hearty a laugh to come from anybody with a stake through his midriff.
    Hal and the warden looked at each other grimly. ‘You young devil!’ Hal called. ‘Wait till I get you out of there.’
    That sounded like trouble. Roger was tempted to stay down until Hal cooled off. But how about the cheetah? Perhaps it would run away. He didn’t want to lose it.
    He needn’t have been afraid of that His new friend came back to the edge of the pit and looked down, whining. It danced about, showing every sign of pleasure when Roger was drawn up to the surface.
    If Roger expected to be greeted like a prodigal son and have his big brother weep on one of his shoulders and the warden on the other, he was disappointed.
    ‘Bend him over,’ said Hal. ‘Let me get a crack at him.’
    The warden seized the young rascal behind the shoulders and bent him double over his knee. Hal spanked until his hand ached. He was stopped only by a sharp bite behind and a tearing sound as the cheetah laid open the seat of his trousers.
    Then the three men sat down on the ground and laughed while the cheetah, seeing that things had changed for the better, pranced joyfully around them.
    ‘He seems to have taken quite a liking to you,’ said Crosby. ‘It’s lucky you got him before the poachers did. That gorgeous hide would be worth a couple of thousand dollars in New York. Cheetah coats are even more fashionable just now than coats of leopard skin.’
    ‘Nobody’s going to wear his coat,’ said Roger, ‘except himself. I’m going to keep him for hunting.’
    ‘He’ll make a wonderful hunter. A cheetah has a poor sense of smell, but marvellous eyesight - and he can go like the wind. He’s easily trained - if he likes you. Never whip him. Never even scold him. He gets his feelings hurt very easily and then you can do