Read Online Fearless Master of the Jungle (A Bunduki Jungle Adventure by J.T. Edson - Free Book Online Page B

banar-gatahs. Then Joar-Fane and At-Vee had led the animals
beyond a nearby ridge where they would be out of sight when the sun
came up. With them had gone the Earth couple’s bows and arrows.
Wading the stream, Dawn and Bunduki had carried their boleadoras. The lariats were
suspended across their shoulders. A set of Mun-Gatahs’ hobbles were
dangling over the hilt of each’s knife. Above them were hanging two
other devices which demonstrated the amount of thought that had
been devoted to preparing for the endeavor.
    The girl and the blond giant
had appreciated that, in the event of the boleadoras justifying their confidence, some
further means of control would be necessary to restrain their
captives until the hobbles were fastened. Although they wanted to
win over the animals with kindness, they had realized that in the
early stages a certain amount of rough handling could not be
avoided. The problem confronting them had been how this might be
kept to a minimum.
    After considering various
methods, Dawn and Bunduki had concluded that there was only one satisfactory
solution to their dilemma. They would use what, on Earth—where such
implements were employed for influencing the behavior of
recalcitrant horses—was known as a ‘twitch’. Producing the devices
had entailed no greater effort than finding two straight and sturdy
sticks about twenty-four inches in length, then attaching to one
end of each a small loop of the cord from which the boleadoras had been made.
Applying a ‘twitch’ was going to inflict some pain upon the
recipients, but this would be less than by any other method the
couple could envisage.
    By the time the first glow of the
breaking day was creeping into the sky, the girl and the blond
giant were already settled in the shelter offered by the rock.
While taking up their positions, they had neither seen nor heard
anything to suggest that their presence had been detected and their
quarry alarmed. So they had waited patiently and in silence to find
out whether their efforts would bear the required fruit. Not that
they had been kept in suspense for long. Daylight had come with the
speed that was always the case on Zillikian and, after a very short
period, the visibility was excellent.
    ‘ Here
they come!’ Dawn breathed, yet in tones redolent of anticipation.
‘They’ve no idea that we’re here and, provided our luck holds, they
won’t find out until it’s too late to do anything about
it.’
    Glancing in the direction that
his wife-to-be was peering, the blond giant nodded his agreement.
As she had intimated, everything was going in their favor so far. Not
only had their quarry remained in the vicinity and were coming to
drink at the usual place, but there was another piece of good
fortune. The angle at which the wind was blowing would carry their
scent away from the animals.
    The band of quaggas, with the
big stallion and the isabelline mare in the lead, were making their
way towards the stream. Although they were moving slowly and
exercising a const ant watchfulness, their behavior was no more cautious than
would ordinarily have been practiced and it did not suggest that
they suspected a trap. Their caution was only to be expected. No
creature could survive in the wild unless it was wary and
maintained great vigilance at all times.
    Nearer and nearer walked the
quaggas!
    Ahead of the band, the stallion kept
its head held high. While its pricked ears sought to pick up the
slightest threatening sound, the flaring nostrils constantly tested
the breeze. Its vision was not so well developed as the other
senses, but it was searching for any movements which might denote
the presence of a lurking predator. As a sign of its intelligence,
in addition to leading its band at a safe distance from the large
rock which its instincts warned could conceal an enemy, it was
devoting much of its attention to the other side of the stream.
However, the human beings who had prevented them from taking their
evening