chosen spot, placed a blanket on the ground, lay on it and shuffled around to smooth the surface as much as possible before draping his poncho over him. David and Bernard prepared their sleeping places in much the same way but with less fuss.
Stratton looked for the Indians, wondering what their sleeping arrangements might be, but they had disappeared. He pulled a bundle from his pack and unravelled a thin Gore-Tex sleeping bag designed for the jungle, cleared a selected spot and rolled it out. Without removing his boots he pushed his way inside and rested his head on his pack, his assault rifle beside him.
Footsteps signalled Louisa’s return and Stratton watched her prepare her bed a few metres away. Holding her blanket, she took a moment to work out the best way to go about setting up the bed. A glance at Stratton’s revealed no lesson to be learned there and she looked at Victor’s. She spread the blanket on the ground and searched inside her pack for a poncho, which, it quickly became evident, she had forgotten to bring. Unperturbed, she lay down and pulled the blanket on top of her, resting her head on her pack and closing her eyes as if blissfully comfortable.
The Indians returned, carrying several large banana leaves as well as some of the tree’s fruit and quickly set about erecting a small shelter against a tree. Stratton suspected they had some inkling about the weather and studied the small patches of sky that he could see through the forest roof. He couldn’t see any stars. He sat up and unravelled a green lightweight nylon canopy from a pocket of his pack. It was a large rectangle with string attached to the corner and mid-length eyelets.
He climbed out of his sleeping bag and as he tied the first corner to a tree a tapping sound from above signalled rain hitting the jungle foliage. He secured the other three corners and a couple of the sides, pulling the canopy as tight as a drum. The final touch was to secure the line attached to the centre of the canopy which he tossed over a branch directly above, pulling it tight to give the canopy a pointed roof. The rain started to drip from the highest branches onto the forest floor, making a drumming sound that gradu - ally became louder and faster when it hit Stratton’s cover.
Stratton ducked beneath his new shelter, lay on his sleeping bag and watched Louisa to see how long it would take for her to react. He did not have to wait long. She had fallen into a deep sleep but the large raindrops striking her face soon dragged her back out of it. She sat up and looked around as her mind came back into focus.
She looked over at Stratton to see him watching her. He shifted to one side and indicated the space beside him. Louisa did not waste any time dragging up her blanket and saddlebags and scurrying beneath his canopy. Within seconds she was lying back down with her blanket draped over her. She wriggled a little to get comfortable.
‘Thank you,’ she said.
Stratton climbed back into his sleeping bag. ‘First time camping?’ he asked.
‘Yes, actually. I missed out on the Girl Scouts.’
He looked at the water dripping off the edges of the nylon sheet. ‘I always find this nostalgic, lying beneath a piece of canvas in the rain.’
Drips hit the side of Louisa’s blanket and she moved her bedding closer to him, her back against his side.
‘You take to camping naturally,’ Stratton observed.
‘I prefer this to a caravan, pulling into some commercial campsite and plugging into an electricity and water supply.’
‘Good for you.’
‘I suppose this is the best way to start. Get stuck straight in.’
‘Your first camping experience or your first ambush?’
Stratton’s words were food for thought to Louisa. ‘That hasn’t even hit me yet. I can’t even begin to imagine what that will be like.’
Stratton could foresee clearly most of the action that he had planned. He did not need to imagine the outcome, either. He had countless previous examples to draw on and could hear in his head the explosions and see the terrible destruction the claymores would wreak. ‘You’d better prepare yourself. You’re going to see and hear people die and in a bloody awful way.’
‘I thought we were going to be well away from it when it happened.’
‘Haven’t you learned that Steel is little more than a salesman? If we want to