Disclaimer: The Rat Patrol is not my property. They come out to play sometimes, then I send them home.

Jamila

By Suzie2b

Hitch pulled to a stop and Troy asked, "What's wrong?"

As the second jeep stopped next to them, Hitch pointed to the large birds circling overhead a few miles to the east. "Vultures."

Troy, Moffitt, and Tully looked up and saw the scavengers. Tully said, "That generally isn't a good thing to see."

"Should we go check it out?"

Troy said, "We're probably too late to do anything."

Moffitt said, "Vultures are known to circle for days waiting for a victim to take its last breath."

Troy sighed as he thought for a moment, then said, "Okay, let's go take a look."

What they found was a dead camel. Scavengers had already started to pick at the body.

They stared at the scene for a few seconds, before Troy started to say, "Let's get back…"

Tully saw something that appeared to be poking up out of the sand about a hundred yards away. "Hey, what's that?" He slid out of the jeep and grabbed a machine gun from its holster as he started out to see what it was.

Troy, Moffitt, and Hitch followed their friend. It was another camel, but this one was alive. It didn't move as Tully approached where it was lying on the sand. He knelt down next to it and said, "It's a just a baby."

Moffitt nodded. "Looks to be perhaps two or three months old."

Tully tentatively reached out and the camel nuzzled his hand. "The dead one must've been its momma."

Troy said, "Let's get going."

"We can't…"

"Here we go again. Tully, what do you suggest we do?"

"I haven't had time to think of anything yet, but we can't just leave it here to die."

Troy was not without sympathy, but said, "Look, Tully, we can't take in every stray you find."

They heard the cackling howl of hyenas and Moffitt said, "If lack of food and water doesn't kill it, the hyenas will."

"What are you saying?"

"There's a farm twenty to twenty-five miles from here…"

Troy frowned, "And how in the heck are we gonna get the camel there?"

Moffitt said, "In the jeep."

Troy opened his mouth to protest, but Hitch cut in with, "If we clear out the back, there'd be enough room for it to lie down."

They heard the hyenas again and the nervous little camel stood up on wobbly legs. Tully said, "She's weak. Probably hasn't fed in a while. There's no way she'd be able get away from hyenas or any other predator."

Troy said, "What if we run into the enemy?"

"We run the other way."

Troy looked at each of them, knowing he was going to lose the argument. He sighed, then said, "All right, let's load her up."

Hitch and Tully quickly moved everything they could from Olive to Bertha. With a length of rope and a gentle hand, Tully managed to lead the little camel to the back of the jeep.

Hitch asked, "How are we going to get her in?"

Tully said, "If we get her front legs in first, the back end should follow."

Realizing the camel wasn't strong enough to fight them, Hitch and Tully managed to carefully lift the camel's front legs into the jeep. Then, with a bit of coaxing, lifting, and scrambling, she was in. She lay down and sort of curled around the 50 caliber's gun mount and Tully secured her so she couldn't stand up.

Tully wiped sweat off his forehead as he said, "There, that wasn't too bad."

Troy, with hands on his hips, shook his head and said, "Okay, let's shake it."

As the jeeps accelerated away, a clan of hyenas appeared to claim their share of the prize.

##################

When the Rat Patrol plus one arrived at the farm, they could see that it had been attacked. Even before they stopped the damage to the house could be seen—a wall had been blown out and a good portion of the roof was gone. Chickens and goats were roaming free.

As he got out of the jeep, Moffitt said, "This looks recent."

Tully said, "I thought this was Allied held land around here."

Troy nodded. "Yeah, it is … but that's never stopped the Germans before. You and Moffitt take a look in the barn. Hitch and I will check the house."

Five minutes later, Troy and Hitch joined Moffitt and Tully. Troy said, "There are five bodies in the house. Two adults in the kitchen and three kids in a back room. What did you find?"

Moffitt shook his head and said, "Just what you see."

Troy sighed. "This couldn't have happened more than twenty-four hours ago. Tully, you and Hitch bring the jeeps in and offload our new friend. Then bury that family out behind the house."

After taking care of their sad detail, Hitch and Tully returned to the barn to see Moffitt milking a goat with the little camel literally looking over his shoulder.

Tully gently scratched the camel's head and neck. "Think she'll drink it?"

Moffitt smiled. "I think so. She did drink a little water on her own and was eating hay when I came back with the goat. She's a bit skinny and the milk will give her the calories she needs."

When there was enough milk in the bucket, Tully set the goat loose and Moffitt let the camel have a try at the milk. She sniffed the still warm liquid for a moment before she dug in.

Tully smiled. "That should help put some weight on her."

Moffitt nodded. "Have you named her yet?"

"Nope. Haven't thought of one that fits."

"Would you mind if I do it?"

Tully's smile widened. "Don't mind at all, sarge. What're you thinkin'?"

Moffitt said, "Jamila. It means beautiful in Arabic."

The camel looked up at the two men and blinked her long eyelashes, then went back to the milk. Tully said, "Yeah, that fits."

Troy looked at Tully and said, "Now that she has something to eat, why don't you and Hitch see if you can catch two or three chickens for our dinner. Some fresh meat will do us some good."

##################

The next morning, Troy woke and looked around the barn where they'd spent the night. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of Tully sleeping on a pile of straw with Jamila's head on his chest.

Moffitt walked in, pockets and hands full of eggs, and said, "Breakfast is going to be good today."

Troy said, "I don't remember the last time I had a fresh egg." He went to Tully and nudged him with the toe of his boot. When the private opened his eyes, Troy said, "You'd better go get a goat so your friend can have breakfast."

Hitch walked in leading a nanny goat. "Got part of it taken care of, sarge."

Jamila got to her feet when Tully started to move. She shook herself while he stood and stretched as he said, "Tie nanny to that post. I'll get the bucket."

Jamila watched as Tully retrieved the bucket, then followed him to where Hitch had tied the rope lead to a post next to a stall. Tully got down on his knees and milked the goat with Jamila watching expectedly over his shoulder as she chewed a bit of hay she'd picked up along the way.

Over their own breakfast of fresh scrambled eggs and chicken leftover from dinner, Troy asked, "Okay, Tully, what are your plans for the camel?"

The private swallowed, then said, "I've been thinkin'…" He looked over at Moffitt. "You were telling me a while back about camel caravans that travel through the desert." The sergeant nodded and Tully continued, "Are there any of those routes you were talkin' about close by?"

Moffitt sipped his tea, then said, "I'd have to check the maps, but it's a possibility."

Hitch said, "You thinking of giving Jamila to one of those caravans?"

Tully nodded. "The Bedouins treat their animals real good. If they would take her, she'd be able to grow up with a purpose."

Troy smiled slightly and said, "You want her to grow up to be a camel."

With another nod Tully said, "If we take Jamila back to base, there's no tellin' who would get their hands on her. There's just too many people that would mistreat her and work her to death before she had a chance at life."

Moffitt agreed. "He's right. Bedouin traders treat their animals well because they wouldn't be able to get there goods to market without them."

Hitch asked, "Would they trade or sell Jamila?"

"Not likely. Perhaps out of desperation, but no respectable Bedouin would sell or trade a camel that's still worth keeping."

Troy stood up and said, "I know it wouldn't do me any good to argue … I'd only end up losing anyway. So, Moffitt, go look at the map. Hitch, Tully, you're on cleanup. I'll keep watch."

Troy wandered the property as he watched the desert. He hadn't expected to see any signs of the enemy this far into Allied territory and wondered why the family that had been living there had been killed. When Troy turned he saw a column of dust. He ran back to the barn and grabbed the binoculars.

Moffitt followed his counterpart back outside. "What's wrong?"

Troy stared through the glasses as he said, "Looks like someone's coming this way." After a minute, he was convinced about what he saw and handed the binoculars to Moffitt. "They aren't German."

Moffitt took a good hard look, then said, "They don't look like any Allies I've seen before either. Think they're gun runners?"

"Could be."

"Do you think they're the ones who killed that family?"

Troy said, "No way to know for sure and I'm not going to wait around here to ask. Did you find that trade route?"

Moffitt replied, "I found a couple of good possibilities."

"We'd better get outta here then."

By the time Jamila was loaded into the jeep and secured to the gun mount, the small convoy of trucks was pulling up to the back of the house where Hitch and Tully had buried the family. As the jeeps sped out of the barn, men from the convoy came running from the house only to watch the Rat Patrol disappear into the desert.

##################

With Moffitt and Tully leading the way, the two jeeps skimmed over the desert floor. When they reached the coordinates Moffitt had figured out, they stopped and looked around at the empty desert. There was no sign of Bedouins or camels. They searched the area, but saw nothing that told them anyone had been through there.

Troy said, "You said you had more than one idea."

Moffitt said, "Yes, thirty miles east."

They were off again and this time they were rewarded with a recently used trade route. Though there was no sign of a caravan, it was obvious by the lack of tire tracks that one had been by earlier.

Troy looked at the camel and human tracks. "Looks like they're headed south."

Moffitt smiled. "Shall we go catch up with them?"

"That's the idea. Let's go."

They drove for nearly two hours before they crested a dune to see a Bedouin camp below with a caravan of fifteen camels bedded down for the night.

The Bedouin men, women, and children watched curiously as the jeeps slowlyt approached. One of the men met the Allies and asked if they needed help. Moffitt climbed out of the jeep while Hitch and Tully unloaded Jamila. Once the small camel was out and on her feet, the children took tentative steps forward.

Hitch and Tully beckoned the youngsters forward. As they got closer, Jamila nervously backed away. Tully held the rope and scratched the top of her head and he said softly, "It's okay girl. They just want to be friendly."

With a little coaxing Jamila finally allowed the small hands to pet her.

Troy, Moffitt, and the Bedouin man stepped over and Moffitt said, "He's agreed to take Jamila off our hands. He has several females that have calves about the same age."

The man instructed one of the older children to take Jamila to see if one of the females would accept her. The boy took the rope from Tully and easily led the baby camel to where one female was nursing.

As they all watched, the mother camel sniffed the new baby over. Then the boy took the rope from Jamila's neck, letting the camel follow her nose to food. Momma camel looked back at her adopted daughter, then turned back to her feed.

Tully took the rope the boy handed him and said, "Well, I guess that's it then. Jamila has a new mom."

While Moffitt thanked the Bedouins, Troy said, "Let's get the supplies back where they belong before we take off."

A few minutes passed as Hitch and Tully rearranged supplies. Tully was securing a jerry can when he was nudged in the back. He turned to find Jamila standing there. Tully reached over and scratched her head as he said, "You're going to be fine, Jamila. They'll take good care of you."

Jamila nuzzled Tully's shoulder, then looked at him with big brown eyes and blinked her long lashes. She then turned and went back to her new family.

Troy and Moffitt stood by and watched the interaction. Troy said, "Dogs, cats, horses, donkeys, and now a camel. What's he going to rescue next?"

Moffitt smiled. "Let's hope it's something small next time."