‘It was more than that. You know it. It was from the first moment of our meeting.’
‘It was a madness based upon deceit. Something that I will have to cover with lies – the way we had to cover it with darkness at the time.’
‘Ruth. My God, don’t talk about it like that.’
‘Very well, I won’t. I won’t talk about it again, ever.’
‘We can’t leave it now. You know we can’t.’
And in answer she held up her left hand so that the gold upon it caught the sun.
‘We’ll say good-bye here on a mountain in the sunlight. Though we’ll ride together a little farther – it’s here we’ll say good-bye.’
‘Ruth …’ he started, but she placed the hand across his mouth and he felt the metal of the ring on his lips and it seemed to him that the ring was as cold as his dread of the loss she was about to inflict upon him.
‘No,’ she whispered. ‘Kiss me once more and then let me go.’
– 6 –
Mbejane saw it first and spoke quietly to Sean, perhaps two miles out on their flank, like a smudge of brown smoke rising beyond the fold of the nearest ridge, so faint that Sean had to search a moment before he found it. Then he swivelled away from it and hunted frantically for cover. The nearest was an outcrop of red stone half a mile away, much too far.
‘What is it, Sean?’ Ruth noticed his agitation.
‘Dust,’ he told her. ‘Horsemen. Coming this way.’
‘Boers?’
‘Probably.’
‘What are we to do?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Nothing?’
‘When they show on the ridge I’ll ride to meet them. Try to bluff our way through.’ He turned to Mbejane and spoke in Zulu. ‘I will go to them. Watch me carefully, but keep moving away. If I lift my arm let the pack-horses go and ride. I will hold them as long as I can, but when I lift my arm then it is finished.’ Quickly he unbuckled the saddle-bag which held the gold and handed it to the Zulu. ‘With a good start you should be able to hold them off until nightfall. Take the Nkosikazi where she wishes to go and then with Dirk return to my mother at Ladyburg.’
He looked again at the ridge just in time to see two horsemen appear upon it. Sean lifted the binoculars from his chest; in the round field of the glasses the two riders stood broadside, their faces turned towards him so he could make out the shape of their helmets. He saw the burnished sparkle of their accoutrements, the size of their mounts and their distinctive saddlery and he yelled with relief.
‘Soldiers!’
As if in confirmation a squadron of cavalry in two neat ranks broke over the skyline with the pennants fluttering gaily on the forest of their lances.
Dirk hooting with excitement, Ruth laughing beside him and Mbejane dragging the pack-horses after them, Sean galloped standing in the stirrups and waving his hat above his head to meet them.
Unaffected by the enthusiasm of the welcome the lancers sat stolidly and watched them come and the subaltern at their head greeted Sean suspiciously as he arrived.
‘Who are you, sir?’ But he seemed less interested in Sean’s reply than in Ruth’s breeches and what they contained. During the explanations that followed Sean conceived for the man a growing dislike. Although the smooth, sun-reddened skin and the fluffy, yellow moustache aggravated this feeling, the central cause was the pair of pale blue eyes. Perhaps they always popped out that way, but Sean doubted it. They focused steadily on Sean only during the short period when Sean reported that he had made no contact with the Boer, then they swivelled back to Ruth.
‘We’ll not detain you longer, Lieutenant,’ Sean grunted and gathered his reins to turn away.
‘You are still ten miles from the Tugela River, Mr Courtney. Theoretically this area is held by the Boers and although we are well out on the flank of their main army it would be much safer if you entered the British lines under our protection.’
‘Thank you, no. I want to avoid both armies and reach Pietermaritzburg as soon as possible.’ The subaltern shrugged. ‘The choice is yours. But if it were my wife and child …’ He did not finish, but turned in the saddle to signal the column forward.
‘Come on, Ruth.’ Sean caught her eye, but she did not move.
‘I’m not going with you.’ There was a flat quality in her voice and she looked away from him.
‘Don’t be silly.’ It shocked him and gave his reply a harshness that lit sparks of anger in her eyes.
‘May I travel with you?’ she demanded of the subaltern.
‘Well, ma’am.’ He hesitated, glancing quickly at Sean before he went on. ‘If your husband …’