The Ghost and the Darkness Page #4

PATTERSON:

Shhh.

STARLING:

I'm sure you mean that to be comforting,

but-

PATTERSON:

(interrupting)

-you'll have to deal with it, Nigel.

STARLING:

That is precisely my plan- but back in

my tent.

(And he begins to climb down)

CUT TO:

PATTERSON, grabbing him.

PATTERSON:

They own the night- nobody moves when

there's a man-eater out there.

Starling glumly obeys. Then-

STARLING:

John? I know this isn't the time to ask,

but-

PATTERSON:

What?

STARLING:

Since you'd only been here three hours

when we met, are you sure this is how

you hunt lions?

PATTERSON:

Not to terrify you, Nigel, but it's worse

than you think- I've never even seen one.

CUT TO:

STARLING, not pleased with this news. He massages his calf, tries

to get comfortable, which is impossible. Patterson just stares at

the night.

CUT TO:

JUST BEFORE DAWN

The donkey dozes. So does Starling. Patterson has not so much as

moved.

Now the bushes behind the donkey shake just a little.

And the donkey is suddenly awake and scared-

-and then it all goes crazy- the donkey screams and a lion appears

from the bushes and Patterson fires one shot and the sound

EXPLODES-

-and Starling topples from the tree to the ground, landing shocked

but unhurt-

-he has landed close to the dead lion- he stares at it.

STARLING:

(amazed)

...one shot...

PATTERSON:

(even more amazed)

So that's what a lion looks like.

(Now from the tree-)

CUT TO:

THE HOSPITAL TENT AREA - JUST AFTER DAWN

HOLD for a moment.

SAMUEL (over)

One shot- one-

KEEP HOLDING:

Now Samuel comes walking into the shot, really excited-

-it's the first time we've seen his wonderful smile.

SAMUEL:

Patterson has made the nights safe

again.

KEEP HOLDING FOR JUST A MOMENT MORE.

As he walks on, behind him come THREE COOLIES carrying the body of

the lion. As dozens of men come running in from all over to see

the dead man-eater-

SAMUEL:

(mimes shooting)

BOOM!

(Now as the crowd

continues to grow-)

CUT TO:

A ROUGH ENGINEER'S DRAWING OF WHAT WILL BE THE BRIDGE

It has two embankments on either side of the river.

These embankments are big- forty feet wide, fifty feet high.

CUT TO:

PATTERSON AND STARLING standing on the high ground where the

embankment will start. From here, there is a slope down to the

river itself.

Also present is UNGAN SIGNH, who we saw earlier standing

precariously atop the water tower. Singh, enormously powerful, is

another assistant. Bright, a great worker, another main character

in what is to follow.

Now Patterson starts to walk down the slope towards the river-

it's not that easy to do without falling, but that doesn't bother

him. He talks and gestures as he explains to the other two who

move down with him.

Singh, for all his massive size, moves like a cat. Starling does

not, slipping and sliding.

PATTERSON:

(gesturing)

All right, I'd like to start the

embankments today-

(to Singh)

-sufficient supplies on hand?

SINGH:

(nods)

More than.

STARLING:

With much more on the way-

(loses balance, falls)

-John- we could have had this chat on

flatter ground-

PATTERSON:

-true enough- but without the comedy

relief.

(Starling, amazingly good

natured, smiles, gets

back up)

CUT TO:

THE RIVER as they scramble down to it.

CUT TO:

THE SLOPE they've come down- it's a long way back to the top.

CUT TO:

THE THREE MEN. It's a glorious morning.

PATTERSON:

How lucky we are.

STARLING:

Aren't we full of ourselves today?

(beat)

I think it's because of the lion.

PATTERSON:

Possibly.

SINGH:

(soft)

You know, I too have killed a lion.

STARLING:

How many shots did you need?

CUT TO:

SINGH. Almost embarrassed.

SINGH:

I used my hands.

He holds his big hands up, palms out. Starling looks at Singh to

see if he means it-

-he means it all right. Now, from Starling's perpetually surprised

face-

CUT TO:

SURVEYING EQUIPMENT

PULL BACK TO REVEAL

PATTERSON sighting through it- we are on the far side of the river

now. Singh is there, Starling, too.

Behind them:
a field of tall grass.

PATTERSON:

All right- thee second embankment

will go there.

(He gestures toward

the river)

STARLING:

You do plan to mark it a bit more

precisely than just-

(imitating Patterson)

-"there."

PATTERSON:

(smiling)

In your honor, Nigel. And you and

Singh will be in charge of building

them- and you'll also build the

roadbeds and the three foundation

pillars- and you'll be finished in

eight thrilling weeks.

STARLING:

(very dubious)

John, it will not be easy.

PATTERSON:

Nigel, you'll just have to use your

hands-

(And he smiles, repeating

Singh's gesture, both

palms out)

CUT TO:

SINGH. He smiles back, starts to reply. But his words stop, his

smile dies. He just stares and we-

CUT TO:

WHAT HE'S STARING AT- the surrounding field of tall grass. Nothing

unusual about it.

CUT TO:

PATTERSON. He stares, too.

CUT TO:

THE FIELD OF TALL GRASS- suddenly it begins to bend and sway in a

fresh wind.

CUT TO:

PATTERSON. Silent. As before. Starling follows his glance.

CUT TO:

SINGH. Frozen.

CUT TO:

THE FIELD. And now the field is making odd patterns- as if

something unseen were moving through.

CUT TO:

PATTERSON. Quiet. Just the wind.

CUT TO:

THE FIELD. Nothing visible. But the odd pattern seems to be making

its way across the field.

CUT TO:

SINGH AND STARLING. Quiet. Just the wind.

CUT TO:

THE FIELD. The odd pattern seems to stop. Around it, the wind

makes different shapes of the grass.

CUT TO:

PATTERSON, as the wind continues to blow. He continues to stare at

the spot where the pattern stopped.

CUT TO:

SINGH. As before. Except for one thing: suddenly, he begins to

shiver, as if from cold.

CUT TO:

THE BUILDING SEQUENCE

And what we see are a lot of cuts of a lot of activity.

Huge wooden logs are carried in and hammered to each other and

driven deep into the ground- the framework for the embankments.

And Singh carries the heaviest loads and leads the workers- and as

the structure rises, he is the one darting along the top, high in

the air, pulling more logs up, helping here, helping there.

And alongside him is his assistant, ABDULLAH, a little man with

glasses and very bright eyes.

Meanwhile, Starling is leading construction on the embankment that

is on the far side of the river. And he does his best, tries to

help on the top part as it rises- but alas, he is a bit on the

clumsy side and balance is a problem for him. But he stays with

it, does well.

And Patterson, in tremendous spirits, helps when needed, but

mostly he is dealing with other aspects of the bridge- such as the

placements of the three stone foundation pillars-

-he wades into the water, climbs the structures, takes it all in-

and at the start he is still in the uniform he has worn since the

start of the story- but it's clumsy for labor-

-so he changes halfway through to civilian clothes-

-which is all he wears from now on.

And the workers tire in the heat- but Singh keeps them going,

working with the power of three-

-and there are accidents and explosions, injuries and falls- and

Hawthorne appears when needed to help with the wounded-

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