The Snows of Kilimanjaro Page #7

" No one has explained

what the leopard was seeking...

at that altitude."

Is that all?

It's an unsatisfactory story.

It ends badly.

But what was the leopard

doing up there in the first place?

That's the riddle.

And if I can find the answer,

I'm supposed to win a prize.

Come on. Let's put

our fine minds together,Jake.

Perhaps he took the wrong turn

and followed the wrong scent...

and so he got lost and died.

Yeah.

That's a very sensible solution, Emile...

for him...

and for me.

[ Woman ]

Please?

Are you--

May I?

Cyn?

Thank you.

Am I mistaken?

Aren't you Mr. Harry Street, the author,

whom I met in the Place Vendome?

Yes, I'm Mr. Harry Street...

and I'm lost.

And you--

Why, how--

how very beautiful you are.

[ Laughs ]

Excuse me, my dear Cynthia...

[ Chuckles ]

but tonight

I'm a little the worse...

for many years of wear and tear.

- You need rest, Mr. Street.

- Yes, I need rest, Mr. Street.

I need a lot of things, Mr. Street.

I--

I need...

you.

[ Harry Chuckling ]

Would you like a drink?

- What did you say?

- Well, I'm going to have one.

Why don't we have one together?

Ask Molo.

You know I don't speak the lingo.

- Molo?

- [ African Language ]

- Whiskey-soda.

- [ African Language ]

[ Animal Roars ]

About which one have you

been thinking, Harry?

- What do you mean, about which one?

- About Cynthia or about Liz?

What makes you think

you know so much?

Maybe I was thinking

about you and me.

No. Never about you and me.

At least, not with any honesty.

Well, that just shows you

how wrong you can be.

I was thinking

about the way we met--

on the bridge near Notre-Dame.

When you mistook me

for your Cynthia?

You've never been able to forgive me

for not being her, have you?

Do you really want

to go into that one?

What else did you think

about you and me, Harry?

Mmm--

[ Chuckles ]

That we had a lulu of a beginning.

[ Chuckles ]

It was really a lulu.

Yes, we had that, all right.

Well, neither of us were children.

We both knew what we were getting.

Why did you suddenly

want to come here?

You owe me the courtesy

of being honest.

All right.

I'll be honest.

Because why I wanted to come here...

is the point

of the whole bloody joke.

Because I'd found the answer to a riddle.

That's why.

About a leopard...

who'd lost his way.

And I thought that if I had

followed the wrong scent...

and was going to perish...

then I'd better get back

to the jungle from where I'd started.

It had been good here.

I had been right here.

And I thought I could get back

to it that way--

back into training--

work the fat off my soul...

the way a fighter

goes into the mountains...

to work the fat offhis body.

I might have made it, too...

if two weeks ago

that thorn hadn't needled me.

[ Hyena Chattering ]

[ Hyena Continues ]

That foul smell

crosses here every night--

every night for two weeks.

He's the one who makes

all the noise at night.

I don't mind him too much.

You know what that bad breath

just said to me?

- The hyena?

- That it's getting very late for me.

- Aren't you funny?

- That lousy timepiece.

Really, darling, aren't you be--

Harry.

- What is it?

- Huh?

It's nothing.

How do you feel?

All right.

A little wobbly.

- Can you eat something now?

- No.

A little broth

will keep your strength up.

I don't need my strength up.

Don't tell me you don't know.

[ Hyena Chattering ]

Well, I've known everything...

except just when it would happen.

Try, darling.

Helen.

I want to write.

I know.

Do you really?

I know almost all of it now--

except one very important thing

which you must tell me.

Harry, was it entirely

because of her...

that it was the best time

for you here?

- Who?

- Cynthia, whom twice you mistook me for.

Was it only because

you were happiest here with her?

If you thought all that,

why did you come along?

Why do you think?

You were always a considerate woman.

You'd have bought me anything.

You'd like anything new and exciting.

I don't know.

I more than came along,

if you'll remember.

I arranged with the publisher

for your advance.

- I lied to you. I contrived it.

- Why?

Because it was

the only chance for you.

And because it might be

a chance for me.

I thought that

if I was here with you...

and your work came well

and you were happy here again...

with me here--

Don't make me lose all my pride.

This is the first time

I've ever really seen you.

You're not a failure, darling.

Just because

you've disappointed yourself...

with some of the things you've written,

that's not failure as a man.

You've brought something

to everyone...

just as you brought something to me.

You're quite a woman.

It's a pity

I'm finding it out only now.

I love you, Harry.

I love you with all my heart.

We've got a whole lifetime

ahead of us.

You had every card in the deck

stacked against you.

- If we had the time--

- There'll be plenty of time.

You're going to live.

You've got to live.

Plenty of time--

That's what you think.

That's what they all think.

That's why they sit on their tails.

Let's not kid ourselves.

A door can open

suddenly into nothing...

and death has been standing there

all the while.

If a man hasn't done

what he intended to do--

[ Speaking African Language ]

Who is he?

One of the boys of the local clinic

of the Mayo brothers, I do believe.

A witch doctor?

That's right.

[ African Language ]

He's the uncle of the boy

I tried to save from the hippo.

Send him away.

We don't want him.

[ African Language ]

He's heard that I'm sick

with the bad spirits.

He wants to be in on the kill.

- Get rid of him, Harry. He gives me the creeps.

- Ask Dr. Pasteur to sit down.

[ African Language ]

- Please send him away.

- [ African Language ]

He's eating a root of some special sort

to sharpen his wits.

Now he's gonna roll the bones.

[ Rattling ]

No fooling.

In that stinking cat-skin bag...

he's got a couple of dozen bits

of bones...

from the hind legs of anteaters...

and tortoises, baboons and whatnot.

From the pattern

that they will make...

when he throws them on the ground...

he will be able

to diagnose what ails me.

Go ahead.

You're faded, doc.

[ Harry ]

Boxcars.!

[ Laughs ]

[ Coughs, Laughs ]

Mmm.

[ Groans ]

- A man finally gets tired.

- [ African Language ]

- In the tent.

- What are you gonna do?

- I don't wanna go in the tent.

- In the tent.

It's a clear night.

It's not going to rain.

You'll do just as I say.

What a life.

A man can't live as he pleases.

Can't even die as he pleases.

- [ Drum Beating ]

- [ Men Chanting ]

[ Harry ]

Through the fields of poppies.

Like opium.

Opium.

Makes you feel funny.

Where'd we go?

Went off to that war.

[ Murmuring ]

Water.

[ Murmuring ]

Lousy war.

- Molo?

- [ African Language ]

Dead soldiers...

wearing ballet skirts.

[ Speaking African Language ]

I'm sorry.

I don't understand.

[ Murmuring ]

Meant to write about it.

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