Odyssey From Africa 9c10a

CHAPTER 9c Swift a sand shark spiraled nearer Baring teeth it eyed them coldly Han spun full about and kicked it In the center of its body But at this the sand shark merely Shrugged and moved off several paces Han and Matto reached the surface Gasping air and treading water Still they grasped the stretching tendril Of the octopus which drifted Underneath them in the current Pulling them along the shoreline Hard they lunged toward the shallows Heaved the octopus behind them Briefly glimpsed a shark's unblinking Baleful eyes approach the surface Feeling one or two sharp tugs as Shark and man contested briefly This immense molluscan trophy. Han and Matto soon prevailed and Dragged the carcass onto dry land Thus their battle with the monster Yielded them a seafood supper Of gargantuan proportions CHAPTER 10a Hiatus But the challenge now that faced them Was the means of preparation How to cook the great sea creature? Han and Kwona did some thinking As the children, boulder-hopping Looked for pretty stones and seashells Han stepped inland to a sand dune Near the rocks and started digging With a slab of wave-smoothed driftwood Dug a trench of length and broadness So a man could lie inside it Like a grave-trench for a burial While Han sweated at this labour Matto rubbed two sticks together Finally a flame enkindled Which they fed within the trench pit Once the fire had blazed up fiercely Then died down to orange embers Han and Matto covered up the Fire with smoothly rounded pebbles Son and father now ran shoreward Hoisted up the octopus and Laid it down into the trench Upon the fire-scorched bed of pebbles And another layer of pebbles Next they laid upon the creature Till it all was covered over Baking in a stony oven Now the evening's rapid onset And a shoreward breeze that lingered Brought a coolness to the shoreline To the air above the sand dunes And as dark unveiled the starlight All the family came together Round the stones which radiated Warming heat and rich aroma Lisa slept alongside Rosy With her mother lying by her Han and Matto in the meantime Taking turns to watch for danger And Ipiki made his night-flight Circling round about the campsite As the smell of roasting mollusc Did attract some nighttime creatures Once a solitary hyena Skirted round the resting family Then approached with curious interest Pale eyes glinting in the moonlight