Duty-Calls ( 5 )

Judith crashed into my arms , knocking me off-balance . I staggered and we both fell onto the table , scattering the cutlery. I picked myself up instantly and rushed to the door . Before I could get out , my aim being to investigate the source and cause of the noise , Judith's panic-stricken voice stopped me in my tracks . " Please , for the sake of the children don't go out of that door ," she begged , picking herself up from where she had fallen during the commotion .

Then I remembered what she had earlier told me when I was recalled back to work . That cattle-rustlers had been spotted in a neighbouring village . I quickly banged the door shut and shot home the bolt . At the same time I recalled the  cattle I had passed at the  hay pastures . Come to think of it , there had been no herders in the field . The animals seemed to graze in an ungainly troop . It suddenly occurred to me that I had unsuspectingly come face to face with those dreaded raiders who ruthlessly and cold-bloodedly shot to death anybody and anything that stood in their way . The fact that no herder greeted me as was usual served to confirm that indeed those were stolen animals . Two such incidents leaped to mind .

A woman was shot in the legs when she came upon raiders who were attempting to open her cattle- shed . It is reported that the middle-aged mother of eight had felt an urge to relieve herself in the wee hours of the morning and , there being no toilet around , she decided to ease herself behind the cow-shed . She had just lifted the hem of her nightie and was in the act of crouching when a movement by the kai-apple hedge that surrounded the compound , caught her eye . It was so slight that she dismissed it as just a figment of her imagination , or that may be it was her eyes playing tricks on her in the dark . She let go of her bowels full-blast , sending spurts of excrement against the wall of the shed . Being done , she straightened up , her joints crackling like dried twigs . A commotion inside the cow-shed startled her back to her senses . ' It's that thieving-bull again ',She breathed out . She was referring to this particular bull that always found his way out of the shade and strayed into other people's plantations ,  no matter how firm the door was bolted . Numerous were the fines that the old-couple paid out to irate farmers for the damage that the bull caused to their crops . She rounded the corner and was about to call out to her husband to come out with the flash-light and help her check out on the animals , when she noticed that the door was wide open . Horror galvanized her into action and she rushed towards the yawning door . To date , she cannot tell what happened first ; her sighting of the figure lurking in the shadows , the blast that tore-off her knees or the resulting pain that blotted-out all sense , blacking her out . She lost a good amount of blood not to mention the loss of her limbs and most of her livestock . It took doctors the better part of a year to restore and stabilize her condition . The fact that she lives to tell the tale is nothing short of a miracle .

Another woman , a widow , was shot in the stomach when she attempted to stop raiders from taking her cattle . She bled to death while being rushed to the nearest heath facility . In both incidents , the cattle were never recovered . By the same breath , no culprits were found .

So my wife's fears were justified as a matter of concern . I listened with racing heart as the noise of those pursuing the raiders got nearer and nearer ; my homestead being just alongside the perimeter of the hay-pastures .
" Look at these foot-prints ", somebody called out to the others . Sure looks fresh to me , those bastards have about fifteen-minutes' head-start over us . Quick , let's cut across that stretch of grassy patch ," He commanded . From the safety and comfort of my bedroom , I could hear the thud of their boots as they raced across the field . I knew they stood no chance against the thieves if they came to a confrontation . The one used sophisticated guns as compared to our men whose means of defence was crude bows and arrows , machetes , clubs , stones and slings .

Heaving a sigh of relief , I flung myself onto the bed and , throwing all cobwebs of caution to the wind , surrendered myself up to sleep . It had been quite a handful of a night , coming close to four o'clock in the morning .

The alarm-clock jolted me back into wake-fullness . I groped out for the gadget and switched it off . My head was heavy , I had a sore throat . I unsteadily got out of bed , switched on the bed-lamp and looked at the clock . Five-thirty . Christ ! Time for another gruelling day at the office . Judith was fast asleep , and so were the kids . It would be another hour before she woke-up the kids and prepared them for school , by which time I'd be at my desk in the office . At the same time , it would be determined whose cattle were stolen .