War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 561 The helper who came

In the early morning two days later, a camel caravan with more than [-] people and more than [-] camels appeared at the end of sight.

The dresses of these forty people can be described as varied. Some wore white or gray robes, and some wore dark blue or almost black robes that were not too hot, and covered their entire faces so that only their eyes were exposed. Wearing cooler-looking baggy shorts and sunscreen desert boots, with sunglasses and the same turban of the Kumbu Molecule on his face.

But without exception, each of them hung a new or old telescope and a walkie-talkie around their necks, and even a few of them blatantly carried AK rifles or rocket launchers on their shoulders.

On the camels without people, they carried all kinds of materials on their backs, from water bags made of sheepskin to tents, to some pots and pans for cooking, and even a few foxes with big ears who looked like they were only acting cute. !

When the mighty camel caravan stopped, a child wearing a light blue robe and about eight or nine years old in height rushed to the Berber guide who went up to him, screaming from the latter's arms. Li took the two little foxes.

Obviously, it was this kid who put the two little foxes in the cargo bed of Wei Ran's armored pickup truck.

Behind the kid, a Berber man who looked about 40 years old also walked towards Wei Ran, who was eating watermelon and watching the excitement, carrying a snakeskin bag.

"He said thank you for giving back those two little foxes to his son"

Soliman, who was standing next to Wei Ran, translated in time, and took the snakeskin bag from the other party's hand and handed it to Wei Ran, "This is a gift from him."

"What is this?"

Wei Ran curiously took the snakeskin bag and opened it, and then there was a dumbfounding expression on his face. This bag also contained two little foxes who looked only a little bigger than a palm.

"He said these were the prettiest and healthiest two fox cubs he had picked out of two litters."

Soliman gloated and joked, "Victor, when you raise the two of them, remember to hold a wedding for them, and then they can legally give birth to litter after litter of fox cubs."

"Why do I raise so many foxes when I have nothing to do?" Wei Ran grinned, and finally asked Soliman to express his gratitude.

Although the exchange of foxes for foxes can only be regarded as an insignificant episode, and although these two foxes are not necessary to him, this trivial incident made him see the good side of these nomadic tribes.

At least, the apologetic Berber man in front of him is a good father who is willing to ask customers to return his pets for his children.

Secondly, he was also thinking about sending Wei Ran two foxes in exchange, obviously also considering Wei Ran's feelings.

Think about it again, the kid who hugged two little foxes and yelled seems to be the grandson of the tribal patriarch, so this man is the crown prince of the Berber tribe?
Wei Ran patted his forehead, and handed the snakeskin bag in his hand to Soliman, "Let this Soliman, what's his name?"

"His name is longer than you can imagine, so you can call him Mutalib."

"Then Mutalib"

Wei Ran pointed to the armored pickup behind him, "Soliman, tell Mutalib to wait for me, I also have some gifts for him."

"no problem"

Seeing that Soliman agreed, Wei Ran immediately trotted into the armored pickup truck. After rummaging through the box, he found a large can of Huaxia tea from his luggage that had not yet been unpacked and gave it to Mutali as a gift cloth.

This small kindness obviously made the Berber crown prince feel Wei Ran's kindness, and also made the only unfamiliarity between the two parties disappear.

While the two of them established a friendship here through Soliman's translator, Edward, with the help of Saleh, negotiated employment matters with the tribal chief who came with him.

"Victor, how do we find it next?" Edward and Saleh asked Wei Ran who was still chatting with the Berber crown prince.

“It was very simple”

Wei Ran pointed to the sand beam in the distance, "Let everyone choose a sand beam, with a sand beam between each other, and then follow the red line on the map to find it all the way. The whole journey is about [-] kilometers."

"Are you sure you can find it this way?"

Edward asked suspiciously, "What if the plane is buried? Moreover, we have tried this kind of search method decades ago, and we even tried to fly a small plane to find it at low altitude. What clues."

"Mr. Edward, please give me and these friends who live nomadic lives in the desert some trust."

Wei Ran said solemnly, "After all, what we are looking for is an airplane, not a bicycle. I believe there will always be some discoveries."

"When are we going to leave?" Edward asked bluntly. In any case, the helpers had already arrived, so it was too late to say anything at this time.

"Uncle Saleh, when can we leave?" Wei Ran looked at Saleh next to him.

"Let those camels rest for an hour, and then we can go."

After communicating with the old patriarch beside him for a few words, Saleh continued, "Victor, these camels can walk about 10 kilometers per hour, and they can walk for four or five hours without any problem.

According to Mr. Edward's request, they can look for planes according to your planned route during the day.But at night, they must listen to the arrangement of the patriarch, and he will designate the resting place. "

"no problem"

Without thinking, Wei Ran nodded and agreed to Saleh's request to help translate. Obviously, in this desert, it is much safer to follow these nomadic tribes, and they know where to go to rest at night to be safe.

After discussing various issues before departure, Wei Ran and the others also began to pack up their tents, and those helpers who came also took advantage of the rest time to prop up a piece of bamboo poles and canvas for the camel's back. A pergola over one meter square.

Everything was ready, Soliman issued an order through the walkie-talkie according to Wei Ran's request, and in an instant, forty helpers in various robes yelled at the camels under their buttocks to stand up, screaming and rushing to their respective departments. In Shaliang, it took more than two hours to open a loose search line with a width of more than 15 kilometers in this vast desert.

Until the farthest tribal helper was in position and sent a feedback by radio, the time came to [-]:[-] in the morning. At this time, the heat from the sun overhead had distorted the line of sight on the surface.

"Let's get started." Wei Ran greeted through the radio, and the latter immediately switched channels and issued an order.

Immediately afterwards, the three cars that had been prepared for a long time also started one after another, and under the leadership of Wei Ran, they drove slowly towards the southeast.

However, Wei Ran's car was extremely lively at this time, because besides the four little foxes jumping up and down, the "grandson" of the Berber tribe, the kid in a light blue robe was also in his car , but the crown prince of their tribe went to the truck driven by Soliman.

As for the respected patriarch, he went to the off-road vehicle driven by Saleh.At the rear of the car, six or seven young people wearing shorts and sun protection clothing, wearing sunglasses and turbans on their heads, and carrying weapons on their shoulders, also drove the forty or so camels responsible for consigning supplies to walk slowly. at last.

Naturally, the speed of such a mighty team can't be much faster, but it gave Wei Ran time to calmly appreciate the magnificent scenery in this boundless desert.

Even in the end, he even lost the job of driving a pickup truck to the kid who was having fun jumping up and down in the car all the time.

Although this behavior is a bit dangerous, there are no traffic police, no traffic lights in this vast desert, and there are no road killers with malicious intent to drive away.In addition, the speed of the car is only about 10 kilometers per hour, and he will help stare at the gear lever and steering wheel from the co-pilot position, so naturally there will be no real danger.

As for whether the little guy who is in charge of driving at this moment will pester his patriarch grandfather to get him a car for fun in the future, that is not something Wei Ran should consider.He believed that the child would have a complete childhood.

Slowly from morning to noon, the reading on the odometer showed that nearly 50 kilometers had been traveled, and Wei Ran also turned off the car with Soliman's signal through the radio channel.

The Berber kid who helped him drive the car all morning was finally tired at this time, and honestly let Wei Ran help him take off the sunglasses that were too big on his face, and then carried him to the back row, He fell asleep with the litter of little foxes who were also exhausted.

“Time to find a place to rest”

Soliman parked the truck next to the armored pickup, "Wait until [-]:[-] in the afternoon to continue. At the current speed, we can almost cover the [-] kilometers you drew on the map tomorrow night."

"Did you find anything?" Wei Ran opened the car door and asked boredly.

"Nothing found." Soliman leaned his upper body out of the car window and asked, "Victor, do you really think you can find that plane this way?"

"Who knows"

Wei Ran spread his hands irresponsibly, "I don't need to spend money to hire those helpers anyway, so why not give it a try?"

"It makes sense." Soliman smiled and extinguished the truck's engine.

Taking advantage of the rest time, the Berbers who had been following the last were not idle. These seven or eight people quickly raised the bonfire and made enough meals, and then divided them into aluminum alloy lunch boxes. inside.

And Soliman also borrowed the off-road vehicle driven by his father Saleh, packed lunch boxes, several boxes of mineral water and a large basket of apples from the truck bed, and climbed over the sand beams, enjoying himself Assumed the job of delivering meals.

Compared with the hardworking Soliman, Wei Ran moved out of the deck chair in the cargo box again after eating and drinking, found a quiet place in the shadow of Shaliang, and dozed off leisurely.

(End of this chapter)