Extract 6 from       A Woman in Need


car. Lambert drove. Soon we left the city behind and
headed into the woods. I was very tense. Lambert
showed his dexterity, driving delicately in the woods.
When we were about eight kilometres into the bush, we
parked the jeep under the shade of a tree and we
started roaming the savannah woods in search of
game.
Not long after we started moving about when
Lambert set the ball rolling. The bang of his gun startled
me and I jumped in fright.
‘‘Let us go and fetch it’’ he said.
‘‘Fetch what?’’ I asked.
‘‘Oh, I have killed it,’’ he replied,
‘’It is an antelope.’’ Lambert confirmed.
Dogo was the first to follow the pathway and
closely coming behind him were Bello and Lambert. I
was behind them. The enthusiasm that I had earlier
showed started to wane.
I developed some sensation or rather some
tingling that made me feel like being sandwiched
between Bello and Lambert. I looked here and there to
be sure I was not being stalked by any wild animal
particularly a hyena. The savannah is notorious for
carnivorous animals and definitely, no novice would
pray to have an encounter with such an animal as a
hyena. They were reputed to be in large numbers in
these woods.
With the exception of myself, the team was
adequately equipped with skill and weaponry. This
made me personally uncomfortable, and I was torn
between exhilaration and regret. But I believed
somehow that the excitement overweighed the fear.
Each of them went a different way and I did not know
whom to follow out of the three sharpshooters. I was not
sure with whom I felt safer – the two sharpshooters
carrying rifles on the one hand, or the lone warrior
adept in the use of local weaponry on the other. The
local man said he preferred the bow and arrow because
the sound of the gun scared away the animals.
Now that Lambert had shot at an antelope, there
was little hope there would be any game in the vicinity
waiting for his silent arrows. I recalled Osuji saying that
Bello was a good shot. I decided to stay close to Bello.
We moved cautiously from one place to the other
because the whole thing needed a vigil disposition. I
was beginning to ask why we had found nothing where
the antelope should have been when suddenly Bello
beckoned me to silence. I knew he must have caught a
glimpse of a game and I peered in the direction he had
concentrated his attention. I was suddenly able to make
out the outline of a large animal. From its appearance, it
resembled a carnivorous animal and the animal
seemed to have caught our scent. I knew from my
reading about animals that most carnivorous animals
had a strong sense of smell.
I crouched behind a shrub as Bello took
deliberate aim and pulled the trigger. The animal gave

such a