Read Online Fury and the Power by John Farris - Free Book Online

through solid rock, or undersea. We ha' known fer many years tha' whales also communicate infrasonically. Audible elephant roomblings, trumpet calls, bellows, and the like are only part o' thir language patterns. Should one o' the elephants recognize oor vehicles and is feelin' chummy today, tha' one may coom close. Then ye will hear a purrin' will lift the hairs on the back o' yir necks. Aye, we'rrre in luke today!"
    Still in the hazy distance, thirty or more elephants were visible.
    "Fer animals tha' may stand twelve feet at the shoolder and weigh six ton, they oft are remarkably elusive," Pert said, putting a hand on Eden's shoulder. "We'll slow doon naow, hon."
    "How close will they allow us to approach?" Etan asked Pert. He was whisking fine dust from a camera lens with a camel's-hair brush.
    "They'll not be a bit shy. We ha' been hir many yirs, and I ha' known most o' the Amboseli elephants since they wir juveniles. Naow hir's a nice bit o' shade we will be grateful fer later. Joost pool off hir, hon. The lugga is dry, but thir are boreholes the elephants ha' made recently tae gie at water."
    Once they were parked beneath a dust-dimmed canopy of umbrella acacia, with the combi twenty-five feet away, Pert passed water around, then fiddled with the dials of her Nagra recorder. The elephants seemed to be moving their way in leisurely fashion, following, as a casually organized group, a familiar trail. All of them were the reddish brown color of the dust they raised. Still a quarter of a mile off, but Eden anticipated the elephants' arrival in the quickening of her heart.
    "Thir is protocol tae be obsairved," Pert cautioned, "which we ha' wirked oot wi' the elephants dunn' long pairiods o' habituation." She picked up her walkie-talkie and spoke to the others in the combi. "It's pee break rrright now, er hold it 'til ye float. On no account leave the vehicle once the animals are wi'in a hoondred meters o' oos." She put the walkie-talkie down and took a pair of binoculars from a battered metal case. "Thir are elephants both placid and patient, oothers one might describe as paranoid," Pert explained. "A few may simply be off thir feed any gi'en day, er tarmented by ants up the trunk. We avoid males in musth; in tha' unhoppy condition they may attack at the slightest pairceived offense."
    "Good cinema," Etan murmured, looking through a telephoto lens at the movement of elephants in their direction, like a small brown range of hills, restless topography.
    Pert glanced at him, a look of misgiving. "Any mature elephant kin stomp this vehicle flat as a tin o' kippers. Mind ye dinna ferget tha'."
    "What's musth?" Eden asked Pert.
    "Rrragin' hormones. The condition affects all mature males fer up tae four months o' the year. But few o' them ha' the opportunity to mate until they are a' least tharty years o' age. The estrous female wants only the best and strongest bulls tae father her calves. Dunn' musth the testosterone level makes a bull dangerous er offensive tae others. He lives as an ootcast er wi' other bulls competin' fer the same prize, all o' them stinkin' miserable, contentious, and losin' weight."
    Pert raised her binoculars to study the group of elephants.
    "Aye, this will be Czarina's clan. A matriarch, quite elderly naow, but fully as big and powerful as inny bull. No males along today except fer adolescents, but, let oos ha' a look—" She scanned a partly denuded acacia grove in which a few trees had been uprooted, focused on a lone independent male yanking up tufts of coarse grass, trailing the group by forty meters. "Karloff," she said softly. "Ha 'n't seen the auld boy o' late."
    "Do you name all of the elephants at Amboseli?" Pegeen asked her.
    "Most ha' noombers; others ha' been gi'en names, by whim er soomtimes by appearance."
    "Why Karloff?" Etan wondered, putting his camera down to wipe sweat from his eyes.
    "He is somethin' monstrous, and not merely in size. Years ago he was part o' a bond group o' elephants,