The Leopard Hunts In Darkness Part 32

"No further questions, your lords.h.i.+p." And Abel Khori rose smiling to cross-examine.

"So the truck flashed its lights at you?"

"Yes."

"And what happened then?" I do not understand."

"Did anybody in the Mercedes say or do anything when you saw the truck?"

"My lord-2 Mr. Petal began.

"I think that is a fair question the witness will answer." all, and The chauffeur frowned with the effort of rec "Comrade Minister Zebiwe said, "There it then mumbled, is pull over and stop.""

""There it is'T Abel Khori repeated slowly and clearly.

""Pull over and stop'I That is what the accused said when he saw the truck, is that correct?"

"Yes. He said it." No further questions, your lords.h.i.+p." all Sarah Tandiwe Nyoni." Mr. Joseph Petal introduced his surprise witness, and Abel Khori frowned and conferred agitatedly with his two a.s.sistant prosecutors. One of them rose, bowed to the bench and hurriedly left the court.

Sarah Tandiwe Nyoni entered the witness stand and took the oath in perfect English. Her voice was melodious and sweet, her manner as reserved and shy as the day that Craig and Sally-Anne had first met her at Tuti Mission.

She wore a lime-green cotton dress with a white collar and simple low-heeled white shoes. Her hair was elaborately braided in traditional style, and the moment she finished reading the oath, she turned her soft gaze onto Tungata Zebiwe in the dock. He neither smiled nor altered his expression, but his right hand, resting on the railing of the dock, moved slightly, and Craig realized that he was using the secret sign-language to the girl.

"Courage!" said that signal. "I am with you!" And the girl took visible strength and confidence from it. She lifted her chin and faced Mr. Petal squarely.

"Please state your name."

"I am Sarah Tandiwe Nyoni," she replied.

Tandiwe Nyoni, her Matabele name, meant' Beloved Bird'and Craig translated softly to Sally-Anne.

"It suits her perfectly," she whispered back.

"What is your profession?"

"I am the headmistress'bf Tuti State Primary School."

"Will you tell the c&lrt your qualifications." Joseph Petal established swiftly that she was an educated and responsible young woman. Then he went on: "Do you know the accused, Tungata Zebiwe?" She looked at Tungata again before answering, and her face seemed to glow. "I do, oh yes, I do, she whispered huskily.

"Please speak up, my dear." 11 know him."

"Did he ever visit you at Tuti Mission Station?"

"Yes" she nodded.

"How often?"

"The Comrade Minister is an important and busy man, I am a school-teacher-" Tungata made a small gesture of denial with his right hand. She saw it and a little smile formed on her perfectly sculptured lips.

"He came as often as he could, but not as often as I would have wished."

"Were you expecting him on the night in question?" I was." "Why?) "We had spoken together, on the telephone, the previous morning.

He promised me he would come. He said he would drive up, and arrive before midnight." The smile faded from her lips, and her eyes grew dark and desolate. "I waited until daylight but he did not come."

"As far as you know was there any particular reason that he was going to visit you that weekend?"

"Yes." Sarah's cheeks darkened, and Sally-Anne was fascinated. She had never seen a black girl blush before.

"Yes, he said he wished to speak to my rathe r. I had arranged the meeting."

"Thank you, my dear," said Joseph Petal gently.

During Mr. Petal's examination, the prosecutor's a.s.sistant had slipped back into his seat and handed Abel Khori a handwritten sheet of notes. Abel Khori was holding these in his hand as he rose to cross.e.xamine.

"Miss Nyoni, can you tell the court the meaning of the Sindebele word, Isifebi?" Tungata Zebiwe growled softly and began to rise, but the police guard laid a hand on his shoulder to restrain him.

it means a harlot," Sarah answered quietly.

"Does it not also mean an unmarried woman who lives with a man-" "My lord!" Joseph Petal's plea was belated but outraged, and Mr. Justice Domashawa sustained it.

"Miss Nyoni," Abel Khori tried again. "Do you love the accused? Please speak up. We cannot hear you." This time Sarah's voice was firm, almost defiant. "I do."

"Would you do anything for him?"

"I.

would."

"Would you lie to save him?"

"I object, your lords.h.i.+p. "Joseph Petal leapt to his feet.

"And I withdraw the question." Abel Khori forestalled the judge's intervention. "Let me rather put it to you, Miss Nyoni, that the accused had asked you to provide a warehouse at your school where illegal ivory and leopard skins could be stored!"

"No." Sarah shook her head. "He never would-"

"And that he had asked you to supervise the loading of those tusks into a truck, and the despatch of the truck-" "No! NoVshe cried.

"When you spoke to" him on the telephone, did he not order you to prepare a s.h.i.+pment of-2

"No! He is a good man, Sarah sobbed. "A great and good man. He would never have done that."

"No further questions, your lords.h.i.+p." Looking very pleased with himself, A441 Khori sat down and his a.s.sistant leaned over to whisp! his congratulations.

"call the accusd, the Minister Tungata Zebiwe, to the stand." That was a risky move on Mr. Petal's part. Even as a layman, Craig could see that Abel Khori had shown himself to be a hardy sc.r.a.pper.

Joseph Petal began by establis.h.i.+ng Tungata's position in the community, his services to the revolution, his frugal life-style.