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‘Don’t interrupt!’ he snapped at me without looking. Then he returned to his prey. ‘No, a quarry is too good for you! You might actually get to breathe fresh air! No, I’ll put you in a match factory, where you will breath poisonous sulphur fumes until your lungs give up and…’
The camels were moving away faster now. ‘Rick! I really think you should…’
‘I said don’t interrupt!’
They were definitely moving as a group, and they were almost over the first hill already! Almost out of sight!
‘But I really think you should look at this!’
‘What is it?’ Exasperated, Mr Ambrose turned around. When I pointed, he followed my outstretched arm with his gaze.
‘Yes? A few camels walking over a hill. So what?’
‘It’s obvious, isn’t it? We follow them! We don’t need the bandits to be alive. Their camels will lead us back to their hideout.’
‘This is no time for ridiculous jokes!’
‘I’m not joking!’
Turning his head slightly, Mr Ambrose pierced me with his gaze. ‘Let me be clear… You want me to follow a group of beasts that smell like the doormat in front of a sewer entrance and look like the fury version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame into the desert, without knowing for certain that they are, in fact, heading anywhere specific?’
Swallowing, I held his gaze. ‘Yes.’
‘And this wild idea is based on…’
‘Call it female intuition.’
Mr Ambrose muttered something too low for me to hear. From the look in his eyes, though, I gathered it was something not very complimentary about female intuition in general and the people who had them in particular. Meanwhile, he was still holding his victim up by the throat. The man’s eyes had begun to roll in a rather unhealthy-looking manner.
‘Excuse me, Effendi, but she does actually have a point,’ came unexpected help from Youssef. ‘Camels are herd animals. If there are more bandits as you say, they are sure to have more camels, and they will probably belong to the same heard as these ones.’ He gestured to the bandits’ camels that were almost out of sight by now. ‘A riderless camel’s first instinct, apart from spitting you in the eye, is always to find its way back to the herd.’
‘Gnnk!’ the man on the end of Mr Ambrose’s arm pleaded, adding his support for the idea. ‘Lnnk! Rrgg!’
Mr Ambrose sat absolutely still for a moment. His eyes flicked between me and the disappearing camels.
‘You really believe this will work, Youssef?’ he asked, finally.
‘Yes, Effendi. It certainly cannot hurt to try.’
‘All right.’ Mr Ambrose opened his hand. Gasping for breath, his victim slammed back into the saddle. ‘We’ve wasted enough time! Let’s go!’ And he drove his camel forward.
We didn’t have to ride long. After only about half an hour, we reached a broad plain of dirt and sand, stretching out in front of us. At the end of the plain, a rocky cliffside rose up out of the ground, its impenetrable wall broken only by one single gorge, right in the middle. The camels were heading directly towards it.
Even f
rom this distance, we heard surprised shouts out of the gorge as the first riderless camel entered. Then, muzzle flashes lit up the shadowy gorge, and the shouts were abruptly replaced by gunfire.
‘We’ve been seen!’ Karim roared. ‘Men! Weapons out!’
What? I thought they already had their weapons out! Everyone had a rifle in his hand. But, at Karim’s order, they threw open their saddlebags and removed other objects that looked far more sinister. Some round, some cylindrical, but far too large for an ordinary rifle. All were made of dark, shiny metal the look of which sent a shiver down my back.
A shiver of excitement!
The gunshots in the distance had ceased. I guess whoever had shot had realized by now that we were still out of range. But, to judge by the look on Mr Ambrose’s face, that would soon change. We were going into battle! And I didn’t intend to sit back idly!
‘Give me that,’ I told one of the men who had exchanged his rifle for a new weapon, pointing to the rifle. After all, he didn’t need it anymore, did he?
The man hesitated, his eyes flitting to Mr Ambrose.
