WORRALS IN THE WILDS

by Captain W. E. Johns

XIV. DESPERATE MEASURES (Pages 143 – 154)

“Worrals did not easily give way to despair, but as the glowing ball of fire that was the sun toiled over the horizon to light the continent for another day, she came very near to it. They would have to trek on foot to Magube, and later on, to Keetmannshoop. Worrals was worried as she knew they had to get Bill to a doctor as soon as possible. Worrals wonders about the Hereros. “Not without good reason, they might turn nasty over the death of N’swena who had lost his life in her service. They must remember to send something to the widow, if he had a wife”. Exhausted, Worrals falls asleep and is woken by the sound of an aeroplane. It is not one she has seen before; it is an old Monospar, a civil machine, with the markings of the South African Air Force. She jumps up, waving, and the plane lands. It contains the police inspector who she has tricked in Cape Town. He is accompanied by a man in khaki drill and the pilot of the aircraft. He arrests Worrals and intends to take her back to Cape Town. He is not interested in anything she has to say. “Save it for the Court,” rapped out the inspector. “No girl makes a fool of me and gets away with it,” he added grimly. Worrals tries to speak to the man in khaki, who says he is Major Wilson, the District Commissioner. Getting nowhere, Worrals is forced to desperate measures and she throws ash from her burnt out plane into the eyes of the inspector and pilot. She then jumps in their plane as a shot whistles past her shoulder. The District Commissioner is able to jump aboard just as she is taking off and he threatens Worrals with a gun. “Have you ever seen a really good crash, Major Wilson?” asks Worrals. “No”. “Then shoot away, and you will”. Worrals tells Major Wilson she hopes to save her friend who is in danger of being bumped off by a couple of rogues. “When innocent people – like me – oppose the law, you may be sure there is good reason for it”. Worrals tells Major Wilson to listen as she is going to tell him the story.