Irritation, he wanted to know. He had to know. You haven't answered

me, how is he?

Dennis made a significant gesture with his right hand. Looking into the

bottle quite a bit these days, not that I blame him with that woman he

married. You were well out of it there if I may say so, Sean. You may,

Sean acquiesced, but is he well? How are things at Theunis Kraal? We

all took a bit of a beating with the rindepest, but Garry, well, he lost

over half of his herds. Poor old Garry, everything happens to him. My

God, fifty percent! Yes, but, of course, Ronnie helped him out. Gave

him a mortgage on the farm to tide him over. Theunis Kraal bonded

again, groaned Sean. Oh Garry, Garry. Yes, well, Dennis coughed

uneasily. Well, I think I'd better be going. Totsiens, Sean. He held

out his hand. Shall I tell them I saw you? No, said Sean quickly.

Just leave it stand. Very well then. Dennis hesitated. Are you all

right, Sean? I mean', he coughed again, are you all right for money?

Sean felt his unhappiness dissolve a little; this pompous little man was

going to offer him a loan. That's very good of you, Dennis. But I've

got a couple of pounds saved up enough to eat on for a few days, he

spoke seriously. All right then. Dennis looked mightily relieved. All

right then, totsiens, Sean, and he turned and walked quickly out of the

bar. As he left the room so he went out of Sean's mind, and Sean was

thinking of his brother again.

Then suddenly Sean decided. I will go back to Lady-burg when this next

trip is over. The dream farm outside Paarl would not lose anything in

being transplanted to Natal and he suddenly longed to sit in the

panelled study at Theunis Kraal again, and to feel the mist come cold

down the escarpment in the mornings, and see the spray blowing off the

white falls in the wind. He wanted to hear Ada's voice again and to

explain to her, knowing she would understand and forgive.

But more, much more it was Garry, poor old Garry. I must go back to

him, ten years is a long time and he will have lost the bitterness. I

must go, back to him, for his sake and for Theunis Kraal. With the

decision made, Sean finished his drink and went up the stairs to his

suite.

Katrina was breathing softly in her sleep, the dark mass of her hair

spread out on the pillow. While he undressed he watched her and slowly

the melancholy dissolved.

Gently he pulled back the blankets on his side of the bed and just then

Dirk whimpered from the next room. Sean went through to him. All

right, what's the trouble? Dirk blinked owlishly and searched for an

excuse, then the relief flooded into his face and he produced the one

that creaked with age. I want a drink a water. The delay while Sean

went through to the bathroom gave Dirk an opportunity to rally his

forces and when Sean came back he opened the offensive in earnest.

Tell me a story, Daddy. He was sitting up now, brighteyed.

I'll tell you a story about Jack and a Nary - said Sean. Not that one-

protested Dirk. The saga of Jack and his brother lasted five seconds

and Dirk knew it. Sean sat down on the edge of the bed and held the

glass for him. How about this one? There once was a king who had

everything in the world. . . but when he lost it he found out that he

had never had anything and that he now had more than he ever had before

Dirk looked stunned.

That's not a very good one, he gave his opinion at last. No, said Sean.

It isn't. . . is it? But I think we should be charitable and admit

that it's not too bad for this time of night Sean woke feeling happy.

Katrina was sitting up in bed filling cups from a pewter coffee pot and

Dirk was hammering at the door to be let in. Katrina smiled at him.

Good morning, meneer. Sean sat up and kissed her. How did you sleep,

fancy? Well, thank you, but there were dark rings under her eyes. Sean

went across to the bedroom door.

Prepare to receive cavalry, he said and swung it open.

Dirk's charge carried him onto the bed and Sean dived after him. When

two men are evenly matched, weight will usually decide and within

seconds Dirk had straddled Sean's chest, pinning him helplessly and Sean

was pleading for quarter.

After breakfast Mbejane brought the carriage round to the front of the

hotel. When the three of them were settled in it, Sean opened the small

window behind the driver's seat and told Mbejane, To the office first.

Then we have to be at the Exchange by ten o'clock Mbejane grinned at

him. Yes, Nkosi, then lunch at the Big House. Mbejane had never been

able to master the word Xanadu.

They went to all the old places. Sean and Mbejane laughing and

reminiscing at each other through the window.

There was a panic at the Exchange, crowds on the pavement outside. The

offices on Eloff Street had been refaced and a brass plate beside the

front door carried the roll of the subsidiaries of Central Rand

Consolidated. Mbejane stopped the carriage outside and Sean boasted to

Katrina.

She sat silently and listened to him, suddenly feeling inadequate for a

man who had done so much. She misinterpreted Sean's enthusiasm and

thought he regretted the past and wished he were back. Mbejane, take us

up to the Candy Deep, Sean called at last. Let's see what's happening

there. The last five hundred yards of the road was overgrown and pitted

with disuse. The administration block had been demolished and grass

grew thick over the foundations. There were new buildings and headgears

half a mile farther along the ridge, but here the reef had been worked

out and abandoned. Mbejane pulled up the horses in the circular drive

in front of where the offices had stood. He jumped down and held their

heads while Sean helped Katrina out of the carriage. Sean lifted Dirk

and sat him on his shoulder and they picked their way through the

waist-high grass and piles of bricks and rubbish towards the Candy Deep

Number Three Shaft.

The bare white concrete blocks that had held the machinery formed a neat

geometrical pattern in the grass.

Beyond them reared the white mine dump; some mineral in the powdered

rock had leaked out in long yellow stains down its sides. Duff had once

had the mineral identified.

It was of little commercial value, used occasionally in the ceramics

industry. Sean had forgotten the name of it;

it sounded like the name of a star, Uranus perhaps.

They came to the shaft. The edges of it had crumbled and the grass hung

into it, the way an unkempt mustache hangs into an old man's mouth. The

headgear was gone and only a rusty barbed-wire fence ringed the shaft.

Sean bent his knees: keeping his back straight for Dirk still sat on his

shoulder, he picked up a lump of rock the size of a man's fist and

tossed it over the fence. They stood quietly and listened to it clatter

against the sides as it fell. It fell for a long time and when at last

it hit the bottom the echo rang faintly up from a thousand feet below.

Throw more! commanded Dirk, but Katrina stopped him. No, Sean, let's

go. It's an evil place She shuddered slightly. It looks like a grave.

It very nearly was, said Sean softly, remembering the darkness and the

rock pressing down upon him. Let's go, she said again, and they went

back to where Mbejane waited with the carriage.

Sean was gay at lunch, he drank a small bottle of wine, but Katrina was

tired and more miserable than she had been since they left Louis

Trichardt. She had begun to realize the type of life he had led before

she met him and she was frightened that now he wanted to return to it.

She had only known the bush and the life of the Trek.

Boer, she knew she could never learn to live like this. She watched as

he laughed and joked during the meal, she watched the easy assurance

with which he commanded the white head waiter, the way he picked his way

through the maze of cutlery that was spread out on the table before them

and at last she could hold it in no longer. Let's go away, let's go

back into the bush Sean stopped with a loaded fork halfway to his mouth.

What? Please, Sean, the sooner we go the sooner we'll be able to buy

the farm Sean chuckled. A day or two more won't make any difference.

We're starting to have fun. Tonight I'll take you dancing, we were

going to be sinful, remember? Who will look after Dirk? she asked

weakly.

Mbejane will! - Sean looked at her closely. You have a good sleep this

afternoon and tonight we'll go out and tie the dog loose. He grinned at

the memories that expression invoked.

When Katrina woke from her rest that evening she found the other part of

the reason for her depression. For the first time since the baby, her

periodic bleeding had started again, the tides of her body and mind were

at their lowest ebb. She said nothing to Sean, but bathed and put on

the yellow gown. She brushed her hair furiously, dragging the brush

through it until her scalp tingled, but still it hung dull and lifeless,

as dull as the eyes that looked back at her out of the yellow face in

the mirror.

Sean came up behind her and leaned over her to kiss her cheek. You

look, said he, like a stack of gold bars five-and-a-half feet high. But

he realized that the yellow gown had been a mistake: it matched too

closely the fever colour of her skin. Mbejane was waiting in the

sittingroom when they went through.

We may be late before we return, Sean told him. That is of no account,

Nkosi, Mbenjane's face was as impassive as ever, but Sean caught a

sparkle of anticipation in his eyes and realized that Mbejane could

hardly wait to get Dirk to himself.

You are not to go into his room, Sean warned. What if he cries, Nkosi?

He won't. . . but if he does? see what he wants, give it to him then

leave him to sleep.

Mbejane's face registered his protest. I'm warning you, Mbejane, if I

come home at midnight and find him riding you round the room I'll have

both your hides for a kaross.

, His sleep shall be unspoiled, Nkosi, lied Mbejane.