The Doctrine of Presence. Benjamin Vance

did he hit any?”

      “They’re hard to miss I guess. He hit one teenager; a boy. He was having a rough time breathing. He’s probably dead by now. The matriarchs were protecting him. One of ‘em gave me the strangest damn look, sort of like she knew I killed the guy.”

      Gimp said, “Here comes Stretch and he’s got an extra rifle over one shoulder.”

      We turned to look at Sankaw and I could barely make out a form with some kind of stuff on his shoulders. How Gimp knew it was Koinet, I couldn’t guess. Leo and I just looked at each other. Leo raised his weapon just in case it wasn’t our Stretch. However, as the short form got closer, we readily recognized him.

      As he walked up to the three of us he casually said, “ello gents; three more blokes who won’t shoot any more elephants. What do we do now?” He unslung his weapons, unceremoniously dropped a bolt action to the ground and sat down waiting for an answer.

      Gimp said, “Fuuuuck, Stretch, what the hell did you do? Wher’d you put the bodies?”

      “Left the bastards lie, Charley. They deserve nothing else. I brushed away our tracks; yours too Daiwee, and picked up their identification. I suggest we burn it all. That way gives us some time to deny we were here. It will probably be two days before the young boys go looking for them, and they may never go, not caring or perhaps believing a warden has them. I say we can leave or wait for the rag heads to come back. If we leave, the two will probably recruit more poachers. If we stay, the village will inherit their vehicle.”

      I didn’t know what to say. It took me a minute to assess the gravity of what he said. Finally, “You killed the other two? What did you do with the axes? They had axes too. What the hell Sankaw, why did you kill ‘em?”

      Koinet looked grim and tired when he looked up at me. I couldn’t determine if it was me, or the trip he had just made. He deliberately and pithily stated, “Daiwee I know you are apprehensive about this situation and I agree it has happened extremely fast. However, I consider it a privilege to kill those who would insult my country by killing its wildlife. This area is vast, yes, but not infinite. Its resources are finite. After our beautiful animals are gone, will the people who bought the carcasses and ivory give us more; NO!

      “There are many poor people in Kenya who are uneducated and uninformed. I cannot help that. Our country provides a means for any man or woman to improve him or herself. It is rich in natural resources and wealthy with water. People do not starve here unless they refuse to work. The natural world belongs to all Kenyans, not to just a few, and certainly not to foreigners. It may not be your way, but it is our way, it is my way; extremely urgent and entirely necessary.”

      Our opinion of Koinet changed drastically and immediately … once more. He was probably still Mao Mao at heart and proud of it. He had no remorse that we could sense. I decided to stay; we all did. Leo and Koinet reconnoitered the road that led to the village. We found a spot, about two kilometers from the village, on approach and hidden from it, which would make a good ambush spot. We established camp there and notified our base camp of the move. We waited three days for the rover’s return.

      It came in at night with the same two guys. How did we know; we photographed their bodies. We removed them to a location far from the road and “buried” them in a swamp with the hope a nice group of hyenas would solve our disposal problem in the same way Maasai “bury” their dead. We burned all identification after photographing. One was Iranian, one was Tanzanian. Koinet said, “I told you so, Mdosi.”

      After that episode, I would see the guy I killed, collapse in my dreams for weeks. I had gotten weak in my old age and couldn’t deny it. Leo sensed my concern and tried unsuccessfully to help.

      On Koinet’s recommendation, we sent N’tolo and Michaele into the village to let the people know there was a vehicle down the road which now belonged to them. They were instructed to inform the local warden if anyone, ever again, approached them to poach game. They assured the gentlemen with the modern weapons that they would, but I doubted it.