Gale made no reply. Truth is, she was frightened.
But Jan! “Hi folks!” she called. “Want a good hot drink? It’s coffee!”
A solemn old man edged closer. Gale watched, fascinated. Jan offered him her cup. He took it, sniffed it, then drank it down.
Instantly the natives swarmed about them. Almost as quickly the hot coffee they had hoped would last through the night and the next day was gone.
“Might as well be sociable!” Jan laughed merrily, and the natives laughed with her. Then they did an astonishing thing. After cutting two stout poles, they ran them through beneath Jan’s tired jeep. Then at a grunt from their leader, they picked up the poles, jeep and all, and solemnly marched away. Like chief mourners, Jan and Gale marched behind.
It was quite a long march. The jeep could not have made it alone. There were huge rocks in some places, and narrow stretches in others, but somehow the clever savages made it, and in due time the jeep, quite unharmed, was deposited on the trail above the mud bank. At that the natives disappeared into the bush from which they had come.
“That,” said Jan, “was mighty stout coffee!”
“It was,” Gale agreed.
“And now, let’s ramble!” Gale took her place at the wheel and again they rambled on into the night.
* * * * * * * *