Leopard Hunts in Darkness - Smith Wilbur (книга бесплатный формат .TXT) 📗
"Time check." Businesslikeagain.
"05-17 hours," Craig told her and looked over side The brown snake of the Tuti road was angling away towards the north, and they were crossing the first line of hills Vusamanzi's village would be out there a few miles beyond the road.
The engine missed again, and Sally-Anne's expression was taut with apprehension.
"Time?"she demanded again "05.27,"Craig told her.
"We will be out of sight of the airstrip by now. Out of earshot too."
"Fungabera won't know where we are, where we are heading." "They've got a helicopter gunship at Victoria Falls." Tungata leaned forward over the seats. "If they guess that we are heading for Botswana, they will send it down to intercept."
"We can outrun a helicopter," Craig guessed.
"Not with our undercarriage down," Sally-Anne contradicted him, and without another warning, the engine cut out completely.
It was suddenly eerily quiet, just the whistle of the wind through the bullet-holes in the fuselage, the propeller windmilling softly for a few seconds longer, and then with a jerk stopping dead and pointing skywards likea headsman s blade.
"Well," Sally-Anne said softly, "it's all immaterial now.
Engine out. We are going in." And then briskly she began her preparations for a 11n f0fed landing as the Cessna started to sink gently away, towards the broken hilly and forested land beneath them. She pulled on MI flap to slow their airspeed.
"Seat-belts, everybody," she said. "Shoulder-straps also." She was switching off the fuel-tanks, the master switches, shutting down to prevent fire on impact.
"Can you see an opening?" she asked Craig, peering hopelessly through the smeared windscreen.
"Nothing." The forest was a dark green mattress below them.
q will try to pick two big trees and knock Our wings off between them that will take the speed off us. But it's still going to be a daddy of a hit," she said, as she struggled with the panel of her side-window.
"I can knock it out for you,"Tungata offered.
Good, "Sally-Anne accepted.
Tungata leaned over and with three blows of his bunched fist smashed the Perspex sheet out of its frame.
Sally-Anne thrust her head out, slitting her eyes against the wind.
The earth came up towards them, faster and faster, the hills seemed to grow in size, beginning to tower above them as Sally-Anne made a gentle gliding turn into a arrow valley. She had no air-speed indicator, so she was now flying by the seat of her pants, holding up the nose to bleed off speed. "Through the hazy smear of the windshield Craig saw the loom of trees.
ered. "Keep "Doors unlocked and open!" Sally-Anne Ord your straps fastened until we stop rolling, then get out as fast as you can, and run likea pack of long thin dogs!" She pulled UP the nose, the Cessna stalled and the nose dropped again likea stone, but she had judged it to a could drop through the horizon micro-second, for before it A she hit the trees. The wings were plucked out of the t ain st their shoulder-straps Cessna, and they were hurled ag with a force that grazed away the skin and bruised the f their speed flesh. But even though the impact took most o off, the dismembered carcass of the aircraft went slithering They were slammed from side and banging into the forest to side and shaken in their seats, the fuselage slewing violently and wrapping sideways around the base of another tree and coming, at last, to rest.
"Out! yelled Sally-Anne. "I can smell gas! Get out and rum" The open doors had been ripped away from their hinges, and they flung off their seat-belts and tumbled out onto the rocky ground, and they ran.
Craig caught up with Sally-Anne. The scarf had come off her head and her long dark tresses streamed behind her.
He reached out and put an arm around her shoulders, guided her towards the lip of a dry ravine and they leaped into it and crouched panting on the sandy bottom, clinging to each other.
"Is she going to flame out? "Sally-Anne gasped.
"Wait for it." He held her, and they tensed themselves for the whooshing detonation of leaking gasoline, and the explosion of the main tanks.
Nothing happened, and the silence of the bush settled over them, so they spoke in awed whispers.
"You fly like an angel, "he said.
"An angel with broken wings." They waited another minute.
"By the way, "he whispered, "what the hell is a long thin dog?"
"A
greyhound," she giggled with reaction from fear. "A dachshund is a long short dog." And he found he was giggling with her as they hugged each other.
"Take a look." She was still laughing nervously. They sto ad up cautiously, and'eered over the rim of the ravine.
The fuselage was crashed and the metal skin of the Cessna had crumpled like aluminium foil, but there was no fire.
They climbed out of the ravine.
"Sam! Craig called. "Sarah!" The two of them stood up from where they had taken cover at the foot of the rocky side of the valley.
"Are you all right?" All four of them were shaken and bruised, Sarah had a bloodied nose and a scratch on her cheek but none of them had been seriously hurt.
