Sahara Adventure Series

Meiring Fouche Other

9. SAHARA ADVENTURE SERIES - THE TRACKS ARE CALLING



Sergeant Catroux’s patrol has been enduring the sweltering heat of the Sahara Desert for the past two weeks without any significant developments to report back to their base. However, as they make their way back to Dini Salam, Sergeant Catroux catches sight of a black bundle through his binoculars on one of the high dunes. A large flock of vultures circled above it. They decide to investigate and discover twelve mutilated bodies of Arabs lying on the sand, which confounds them as Arabs typically do not harm their own. The mystery deepens when Teuns Stegmann, a South African patrol member, discovers an item of pure gold in the sand for which there is no explanation. As they track the murderers, they find more clues that keep them on their trail.


Not long after, they stumble upon an oasis where they discover a white man tied up in one of the empty huts, nearly devoured by rats. Just before he dies, he mutters something about an automatic rifle. The situation worsens for the patrol when they discover that one of their men has gone missing. They eventually manage to track down the mysterious attackers again, and after a few hours, they come across a lost horse in the desert, which seems out of place. They capture the horse, and Teuns Stegmann is sent on horseback to do reconnaissance in front of them. Shortly after, they find another beautiful black horse that appears to belong to a sheik, but they are unable to capture it.


Teuns is hot on the trail of the attackers, but his horse gets shot and killed, and he is forced to fight for his life. He survives the attack but is forced to dress like a Dulac to blend in and wander into the camp of the attackers. By this time, he knows to whom the items belong and tries to solve the mystery of the automatic rifle while also attempting to discover what happened to his missing comrade. Teuns tries to bluff his way in, but his attempt fails, and he gets captured and put before an impossible choice. From there, events rapidly unfold, and an airplane arrives at a critical stage, causing one of the people in the camp to die mysteriously. This allows Teuns to live another day, try to solve the riddles, and free himself from his incarceration. He would never have imagined finding the things he did there, and at the most critical moment, one of those things changed his life forever.

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