The Greystoke Legacy Read Online Free

terrified wail echoed through the clearing. It took a second for Robbie to realize it was coming from behind. He whirled around to see Clark throw his chainsaw aside and leap off the tree. The other man was lying on the ground; even from this distance, Robbie could see he was covered in blood.
    â€œHelp me!” roared Clark.
    Robbie sprinted over the uneven ground then suddenly halted at the grisly sight. The worker’s shirt was ripped in a diagonal slash from left shoulder to his stomach and blood pumped from the wound. Clark’s hands were already slick as he tried to apply pressure to keep the wound together. The man shook violently, shrieking with agony, and Robbie felt his stomach churn.
    Archie and Mister David ran past him.
    â€œHow . . . ?” spluttered Archie as he knelt down.
    â€œThe chain snapped an’ walloped him.”
    Robbie shuddered— that could have been me!
    â€œKeep the pressure on; keep that wound closed. It’s not deep. I don’t think any arteries are severed.” Archie barked at Mister David: “Get me rope and leaves. The biggest leaves you can find.”
    Archie moved fast. It had been a while since he’d practiced any of his medical skills. That had been another life; but the knowledge flooded back nevertheless.
    So busy were the men saving a life, they didn’t notice the subtle movement in the canopy high above. Robbie caught it though, just on the edge of his peripheral vision. It was too fleeting for him to believe it was anything more than his imagination.
    He was wrong. They had been watched from the moment they had left Karibu Mji.
    They had been watched . . . and they had been judged.

3
    â€œA lmost a day drivin’ through that?” Clark growled, stabbing a finger toward the dirt trail that was rapidly disappearing into darkness as the sun set behind brooding charcoal clouds. “He’ll be dead from fever before we hit the town!”
    Archie and Clark had been locked in a fierce argument since they arrived back at Karibu Mji with the injured man. Archie had done all he could to dress the wound with a few vines and leaves, and a little more with the camp’s medical kit, but it was far from enough. Robbie tried to force water between the man’s lips and mumbled assurances to distract him from the argument. It reminded him too much of the violent arguments back home. Arguments that had led to bloodshed.
    â€œIt’s worth the chance,” snapped Archie. “We’re talking about a man’s life!”
    â€œThen what, eh? Another day with some charity doc before an air ambulance reaches him. Then we’re talking about answerin’ some tricky questions, aren’t we, mate?”
    Archie glowered as he watched Mister David tend to their patient, who had now passed out through blood loss. The silence only lasted a minute before Archie and Clark started again. Robbie knew that if their logging operation was discovered it would land them all a life sentence in some squalid, cramped Third-World cell. That’s if they were lucky. He had heard reports of overzealous government teams who had shot first and asked questions later in a bid to stem illegal activities. And if they did manage to avoid the authorities they would still have to avoid the wrath of the guerrillas lurking in the jungle. The rebel soldiers of the FDLR were located close by and seldom hesitated in taking hostages or killing foreigners. One night, while tipsy, Clark had confided in Robbie that he and Archie had made a pact with the rebel leader, Tafari, offering kickbacks that allowed them to pillage the jungle while the rebels didn’t interfere and kept any competition away. Robbie was in no doubt that the FDLR would come down on them hard if they did anything to threaten the guerrillas’ security.
    Mister David interrupted their bickering with a blunt message: The worker had died.
    Nobody spoke. Robbie couldn’t