Free Home is Goodbye by Isobel Chace Page A

and yet her aunt might well have thought that there was. It all went to show how terribly careful she would have to be when they got back to civilization.
    S o intent indeed was Sara on her aunt’s possible reactions that, for the moment, the full force of what had happened to her hadn’t occurred to her. She could look almost nonchalantly at the useless plane, exhilarated by a faint pricking fear somewhere at the back of her consciousness, and she smiled up at Matt almost mischievously.
    ‘How far from home are we?’ she asked.
    He gave her a rather crooked grin, amused in spite of himself by her easy acceptance of the situation.
    ‘Too far to walk!’ He went over to the Auster and dragged the navigation maps out of it, spreading them out on the ground at her feet. ‘We’re about here,’ he told her, indicating a spot on the map with his forefinger. ‘In the middle of the Masai country, possibly somewhere near the Sonjo.’
    ‘The Sonjo?’ she asked. She knew that the Masai were a tall, warlike tribe that spread over the border into Kenya, and had once dominated the whole of East Africa, but the Sonjo were new to her.
    ‘They live in fortified villages at the base of the Escarpment. Look, here are the Serengeti Plains. Here’s where I estimate we are, and here’s Sonjo.’
    Sara followed his finger across the map with dismay. ‘But that’s all of twenty miles!’ she said.
    ‘At least!’ he agreed dryly. ‘I hope you brought your walking shoes with you, Nurse Wayne!’
    She looked down at her neat but sensible lace-up brogues and smiled.
    ‘I’d hate to think how many miles this pair has walked,’ she laughed. ‘Miles of corridors and polished ward floors! Perhaps this will make a pleasant change for them!’
    But for all that she sounded so confident, her heart sank within her. Twenty miles of rough country was a very long way, and she was scared that they would meet some of the very animals that she had delighted in seeing from the safety of the Auster. She was plain scared — scared of what lay before her, and scared of being a burden to Matt, whom she had no doubt would have accomplished such a walk quite easily without her.
    ‘The people who come to look for us will spot the aeroplane,’ he told her. ‘We could stay here and wait for them?’
    It was a moment of decision. She knew quite well that he would say nothing that would give her any indication of what he would rather do. She thought that it might be easier for their rescuers if they stayed where they were, but on the other hand, she had no idea how long it would take before they were found, and it would be very much easier to walk now than hours later when they were both tired and thirsty.
    ‘Will they come today?’ she asked hesitantly.
    ‘They might, but I doubt it. We were a bit off course, you know. I’d been told that there were elephant galore around here and I thought you might like to see them.’ His mouth twisted ironically and she was horrifyingly aware of how he thought she might well see them now.
    ‘Is — is this grass around here elephant grass?’ she asked.
    He didn’t answer her, and she was glad of his silence.
    ‘We’d better start walking if we’re to get there before dark,’ she said at last, pleased to notice that she had sufficient control over her voice to stop it trembling. ‘Which way do we go?’
    They set out, walking side by side, with Matt carrying the maps and the other oddments from the aeroplane and Sara carrying her medical bag. The blazing sun beating down on their barely protected heads, and the constant, nagging anxiety as to whether they would make their destination made them cautious, and they checked continuously to make sure that they were going in the right direction.
    ‘I’m sorry to have landed you in this mess,’ Matt said suddenly, after they had trudged about two miles.
    ‘It’s not your fault the Auster broke down,’ Sara reminded him. She pressed her foot hard into her