Short Fiction by Mack Reynolds (ready to read books .TXT) 📕

to reject it, but a desert-born thirst changed her mind. She took it without thanking him.

The lanky Canadian said mildly, “I tried to explain to her that the Tuareg aren’t exactly innocent children of the desert. They’re known as the Apaches of the Sahara. For a couple of thousand years they’ve terrified the other nomads. They were slave raiders, bandits. When the Commission started its work the other tribes were glad to sell their animals and take up jobs in the new oases. Send their kids to the new schools we’ve been building in the towns. Begin fitting into the reality of modern life.”

Her eyes were flashing now. “The Apaches of the Sahara, eh? Bien sur! If I remember correctly, the American Apaches were the last of the Indian tribes which you Americans destroyed. The last to resist. Now you export your methods to Africa!”

Johnny McCord said mildly, “Miss Desage, it seems to be the thing these days to bleed over the fate of the redman. Actually, there are a greater number of them in the United States today than there were when Columbus landed. But even if you do carry a torch for the noble Indian, picking the Apaches as an example is poor choice. They were bandit tribes, largely living off what they could steal and raid from the Pueblo and other harder working but less warlike Indians. The Tuareg are the North African equivalent.”

“Who are you to judge?” she snapped back. “Those tribesmen out there are the last defenders of their ancient desert culture. Their flocks are their way of life. You mercilessly butcher them, rob their women and children of their sole source of food and clothing.”

Johnny McCord ran his hand over his face in an unhappy gesture. “Look,” he said plaintively. “Those goats and sheep have already been bought and paid for by the Commission. The Tuareg should have destroyed them, or sold them as food to be immediately butchered, several years ago. Where they’ve been hiding is a mystery. But they simply have no right to be in possession of those animals, no right to be in this part of the country, and, above all, no right to be grazing in our transplants.”

“It’s their country! What right have you to order them away?”

Johnny McCord held up his hands, palms upward. “This country is part of the Mali Federation, Miss Desage. It used to be called French Sudan and South Algeria. The government of the Federation gladly accepted the project of reforestating the Sahara. Why not? We’ve already succeeded in making one of the most poverty-stricken areas in the world a prosperous one. Far from there being unemployment here, we have a labor shortage. Schools have opened, even universities. Hospitals have sprung up. Highways have been laid out through country that hadn’t even trails before. The Federation is booming. If there are a few Tuareg who can’t adapt to the new world, it’s too bad. Their children will be glad for the change.”

She seated herself stiffly. “I am not impressed by your excuses,” she said.

Johnny shrugged and turned to Mohammed Mohmoud who had been standing silently through all this, almost as though at attention.

Johnny said, “Did you learn where this band comes from? Where they had kept that many animals for so long without detection?”

The Muslim officer shook his head. “They wouldn’t reveal that.”

Johnny looked at Derek Mason. The Canadian shook his head. “None of them spoke French, Johnny. Or if they did, they wouldn’t admit it. When we first came up they looked as though they were going to fight. Happily, the size of the captain’s command made them decide otherwise. At any rate, they’re putting up no resistance. I let them know through the captain, here, that when they got back to Tissalit, or Timbuktu, they could put in a demand for reimbursement for their animals⁠—if the animals were legally theirs.”

Johnny looked at the Malian officer again. “How come you’ve returned to camp? Shouldn’t you be out there with your men?”

“There were a few things to be discussed,” the Muslim said. He looked significantly at the French reporter.

Hélène Desage said, “Let me warn you, I will not tolerate being sent away. I want to hear this. If I don’t, I demand you let me communicate immediately with my magazine and with the Transatlantic Newspaper Alliance for whom I am also doing a series of articles on the Sahara Reforestation scheme.”

Johnny McCord winced. He said, “There is nothing going on around here, Miss Desage, that is secret. You won’t be ordered away.” He turned to Mohammed Mohmoud. “What did you wish to discuss, Captain?”

“First, what about the camels, asses and horses?”

“Shoot them. Practically the only graze between here and Tissalit are our trees.”

“And how will they get themselves and their property out of this country?” the reporter snapped.

Johnny said wearily, “We’ll truck them out, Miss Desage. They and all their property. And while we’re doing it, we’ll feed them. I imagine, before it’s all over it will cost the Commission several thousand dollars.” He turned back to the desert patrol captain. “What else?”

From a tunic pocket Mohammed Mohmoud brought a handgun and handed it to Johnny McCord. “I thought you might like to see this. They were quite well armed. At first I thought there might be resistance.”

Johnny turned the automatic over in his hands, scowling at it. “What’s there to see that’s special? I don’t know much about guns.”

Mohammed Mohmoud said, “It was made in Pilsen.”

Johnny looked up at him. “Czechoslovakia, eh?”

The other said, “So were most of their rifles.”

Hélène Desage snorted in deprecation. “So, we’ll drag in that old wheeze. The red menace. Blame it on la Russie.”

Johnny McCord said mildly, “We haven’t blamed anything on the Russkies, Miss Desage. The Tuareg have a right to bear arms, there are still dangerous animals in the Mali Federation. And they are free to purchase Czech weapons if they find them better or cheaper than western ones. Don’t find an