The Doctrine of Presence. Benjamin Vance
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verbal from the villagers, but Sankaw said they knew all about it. He guessed the poachers were either in the village or the entire village was related to the poachers. We decided to keep track of movements in the community. On the way back to our camp we spotted a small elephant family of seven with two big female tuskers. They stopped, curious, and watched us go by.
That evening we moved one Unimog to the back slope of a ridge half a mile from the small village and set up a night vigil. In six nights we had nothing to show for our troubles but red eyes and yawns. Then on the morning of the seventh day two ragheads showed up in a camouflaged rover. One was black and one was probably Middle Eastern. They conferred with two villagers and shared a drink or two. Leo said, “The villagers just got paid”, but I suspected something worse.
One of the villagers called two young boys over and talked with them awhile. Then he went into a hut and returned with a rifle of some sort. It was not a Kalashnikov. It was a bolt action and he extended the barrel by screwing on a silencer, which everyone around him admired and touched. We knew we had our poachers. Later, we watched the naked young boys walk into the bush carrying small spears, small shoulder packs and not much else. They had been sent to search for elephant tusks; still on the elephants.
Leo volunteered to follow the boys and keep us informed. This was about the time I physically realized how old most of us were. This night vigil and walking in the bush were not agreeing with Greenie, or me. Even though I always tried to keep fit, I was feeling my age after a few weeks in the boonies. A periodic adrenalin rush is not enough to strengthen old sinew. On top of all that mental whining, I missed Samantha. I noticed Greenie, who was a bit overweight, was beginning to tire easily and sit down a lot. I suspected we needed different clothing and lighter loads.
As an aside, I talked to Greenie and the African men later, and got recommendations for clothing and equipment changes. It helped. We cut off sleeves and pants and used more insect repellant. It was better to nurse scratches than failing heart muscle. Although it seemed cooler, some of us needed to tone down the white of our legs a bit. That’s when Owusu hit his stride. Apparently he was very proficient in bush medicine. He soon toned down our skin with a natural browner and provided natural insect repellant. We actually stopped wearing mosquito nets on our faces except at night. He put something in the fire that pretty much ran the bugs off, but we still wore the long-sleeved getup in the evening, especially while on watch.
Leo was still following the boys at 1:00 a.m. He radioed in a whisper the boys had stopped for the night and were sleeping soundly. The next Leo-gram I received noted that, “The little shits eluded me for a while!” but he found them bathing and playing in a stream just before light. There were about ten elephants, plus Leo, watching the boys. We called up Gimp. He was present in about an hour. We had a plan that did not include the kids and it did not allow a first shot by the poachers. I didn’t like it, but Leo and Gimp convinced me it was boiler plate.
Leo split from the boys and returned to our position to get some sleep. Gimp watched while Greenie and I slept as well. He woke us when the boys returned to the village. It took about three hours for the kids to get back. Koinet informed us there was no way to effectively determine how long an elephant family would stay in one area, but with only sporadic rain that time of year everything was fairly dry and he expected them to stay close to the stream for at least twelve hours.
The boys apparently ate something as soon as they returned home. The leading poacher went to the boy’s hut and called them out. He gave them a tongue lashing and drew back his hand to hit one before their mother intervened vociferously. Gimp had the perp in his crosshairs at that moment. The boys apparently told him of elephant presence and approximately where, because there was a lot of gesturing and pointing and obvious excitement.
Soon the head poacher and two other villagers left the village with two axes and two rifles. Both had silencers; very expensive looking silencers. I could not believe killing one of the earth’s most wonderful beasts could be so nonchalant, matter of fact; taken for granted. This was the reason we were there and no one wanted to screw it up. I tracked the adult villagers. Gimp, Leo and Greenie stayed to watch the village, then got worried about me and sent Sankaw to watch my six. I guess they talked it over and began to worry I would shoot the little man, so they informed me he would be behind me somewhere. I couldn’t wait for him for fear of losing the others, so I pressed on. Having realized the possibility that the poachers would wait until dark to attack the elephants, I carried a night vision monocular, but not a night scope. I proceeded slowly, barely keeping them in sound and sight range. They talked and laughed a lot. At one point there was a soft metallic sound of a shot fired, then a lot of mumbling and laughing. Shot at what, I don’t know. Perhaps it was a test firing. I thought, “So much for boiler plate.”
We reached the approximate location the elephants had been, but they were gone. The men talked a bit and split up. One went north, one went south along a small stream and one without a rifle stayed put. After thirty minutes or so, I heard a faint noise to my left about seventy yards. I turned slowly and caught a glimpse of Sankaw’s head. I whispered into my mike for him to turn right and that I was about seventy five yards from him. He soon and silently found me. I told him what was happening. He said if either man found elephants they would immediately start killing. That hadn’t occurred to me; made my blood run cold. I radioed Gimp, told him the situation and Sankaw and I split up, headed north and south. As I crossed the little stream to the north for what seemed like the tenth time I heard an elephant bugle. I pressed on hurriedly. Then I heard an elephant scream. Anyone knows a scream.
I was almost on a dead run and breathing hard with adrenalin and fear when I entered a small clearing and beheld running elephants to my right and a man taking aim on an already wounded young male elephant with respectable tusks. Instinctively, and totally without thought I put a three round burst in him. He crumpled like a string-puppet. The elephants left in a hurry except for the small tusker, who was breathing with difficulty. Two of the big females came back to protect him and challenge me. One stood with her ears forward and looked at the dead man, and then she stared at me … as if she knew.
The only noises I heard after that were an occasional crash of brush as they made their way at the slow pace of the wounded teenager. I retrieved the dead man’s identity papers, his weapon; it was not a bolt action, and threw his ammo into the stream. I radioed Sankaw to follow the other two guys until they started back toward the village. He confirmed the transmission and told me he would stay just long enough to complete his job.
I returned to the observation post and sat with Gimp. I told him what had happened. He tried to comfort me in his own way, saw it wasn’t helping and said, “Body count of one Daiwee; be proud.”
I commiserated a little and told him I didn’t hesitate killing the guy. I paused, and then said, “The asshole had an evil grin on his face when he turned around. He died with it stuck there. I looked down at him and felt no remorse while he quivered.”
“Good show Daiwee, I know you didn’t think we were going to do this without bloodshed … did you?”
“Naw, but why can’t we. My God, this is like a frikkin’ war. We’re supposed to have dominion over the earth and all its animals. I think this is what happens when one goes against the word.”
With his eyes still on the village, Gimp quietly asked, “What word, Daiwee?”
Leo, who had just walked up answered for me, “Genesis, chapter one, verse twenty six, God gave man dominion over all the earth. I don’t think he appreciates us killing for sport or for avarice. Someday we’ll pay the price.”
Desperate to shed my vague remorse I said, “Hey Leo, did you get some sleep?”
Still looking at the village, “Yeah, I’m still a bit groggy though. I don’t like sleep deprivation very much. Shit, I used to be able to function after forty eight hours. Now I can barely make it twenty four.”
Gimp said, “Daiwee had to kill a guy Leo. ‘Took his weapon; a beat up Kalashnikov with a thousand buck silencer, that’s it over there on the ground.”
Leo took his gaze away from the village to look at me and the rifle, “No shit Daiwee?”
“No