Like Dan and Allie, Sarah had graduated from a respected institution of learning. But for all their formal training, none of them could function effectively without the timeless knowledge and understanding that a man like Erope brought to their endeavours. Sarah hoped he knew this, and she wanted to indicate to him that she knew it too. But she could not think of any way to express her feeling adequately, so she only smiled, and reached out to touch him in a gesture of solidarity. She was glad to see the flash of white teeth and the slight nod that was his answer.

‘Glad to see you alive and well,’ Allie said with relief, when they arrived at the camp. ‘We were out looking for you earlier, but we had no idea which direction the herd might have taken yesterday. I thought perhaps you had trouble with the vehicle. Dan was about to mount a search party with the Game Department.’

‘You’ll have to contact them anyway,’ Sarah said. ‘There was a Shifta raid.’

They alerted the game warden and returned to wait for him at the site. Sarah watched as he photographed the tyre tracks of the poachers’ truck, and gathered up spent cartridge cases and other items of evidence. Sarah shivered. Lack of sleep, and reaction to the night’s events was setting in. So much death, so much destruction. Was this the main reality of Africa?

The warden interrupted her thoughts. ‘I’d be grateful if you could write up a report for me. With any additional observations your tracker might have.’

Sarah nodded, thinking about what she would have to write, hearing again the screaming of the elephant, seeing the carcasses of the creatures she had come to love, hacked and gouged and left to rot after the carnivores had done with them. She sat on the foot board of the Land Rover, sick and desolate, and began to rock back and forth in misery. After a moment or two, Dan came and crouched down in front of her.

‘That’s enough now,’ he said, his voice firm, but kind. ‘You have to pull yourself together, Sarah. There are things to do.’

‘They had no chance. I wish she had charged the bastards. Stamped all over them and trampled them to death. I heard her screaming, Dan. I’d have known her voice anywhere. When she was on a rampage and she was trumpeting, she had that special, strident note. It went up at the end, you know? None of the others did that.’

‘I know. It’s a bugger. You get attached to them. Like your family. Look, you’ve had a rough night out there. Let’s get you back to the camp so you can have a hot shower and get some sleep. And then write your report. The Game Department is going to need all the information you can give them.’