The Burning Shore

In the morning Twentiman Jones was ready to leave, All his gear was packed into the back of the lorry and his black labourers were sitting on top of it.

Centaine handed him back the report.

Would you be so good as to give your report to my lawyer in Windhoek, sir, together with this letter? Of course, madam.

He will want to go over the report with you, and then, as I have instructed Mr Abrahams to solicit a loan from my bank, the bank-manager will probably want to speak to you as well, to have your views on the value of the property. I expected that, he nodded. You can rest assured that I will inform him of the enormous value of your discovery."Thank you. In this letter I have instructed Mr Abrahams to pay you from the loan an amount equal again to your original fee. That is u

Please do not repeat anything of my personal circumstances that you may have observed here. His eyes dropped for just a fleeting instant to the front of her dress.

Discretion, madam, is not the least prerequisite of my profession. Besides which I would never do anything to injure a friend.

A good friend, Dr Twenty-man-Jones, she assured him, as she held out her right hand.

A very good friend, Mrs Courtney, he agreed, as he took her hand, and for one incredible moment she thought he was going to smile. But he controlled himself and turned from her to the waiting lorry.

Once again the journey and the return from Lion Tree Camp to Windhoek took her truck-driver eight days, and Centaine wondered more than once during that time if she had not left it too late. The child in her was big and urgent. Impatiently it demanded release, so that when she at last heard the distant beat of the motors of the returning vehicles, her relief was intense.

From the canvas flap she watched the arrival. In the lead truck rode Lothar De La Rey, and though she tried to ignore it, she felt her pulse quicken when she watched him climb down from the cab, tall and elegant and graceful, despite the dust and heat of the long journey.

The next traveller whom Lothar handed down from the truck took Centaine by surprise. A nun in habit and hood of the Benedictine order.

I told him a nurse, I didn't expect a sister, she muttered angrily. In the back of the truck were two young Nama girls. Golden-brown skins and pretty little cheerful pug faces, each of them with an infant on her hip, their breasts heavy with milk beneath the cotton print trade dresses they wore, so much alike that they must be sisters.

The wet nurses, she realized, and now that they were here, these brown strangers of another race that would give suck to her child, Centaine felt the first truly bitter pang of regret of what she must do.

Lothar came to her tent, his bearing still aloof and reserved, and handed her a packet of letters before introducing the nun to her.

This is Sister Amehana of the hospital of St A

She wishes to examine you, Lothar translated. I will return later to discuss the work you have for my company. She does not like me. Centaine returned Sister Ameliana's flat hostile stare, and Lothar hesitated before he explained.

She does not approve of our bargain. Her whole life is devoted to the birth and care of babies. She does not understand how you can give up your own infant, as is apparent, neither do U Tell her that I do not like her either, but she is to perform the task- she came for and not place herself in judgment over me. Centaine- he protested.

Tell her, Centaine insisted, and they spoke rapidly in German before he turned back to Centaine.

She says that you understand each other. That is good.

She has come only for the child. As to judgment, she leaves that to our Heavenly Father. Tell her to get on with the examination then. After Sister Arneliana had finished and left, Centaine read her letters. There was one from Garry Courtney, full of all of Theuniskraalls news, and at the end he had affixed Shasa's inky thumbprint below his own signature with the notation: Michel Courtney, his mark. A

Then she broke the seal of Abraham Abrahams's letter, the last in the package.

My dear Mrs Courtney, Your letter and Dr Twenty-man-Jones's intelligence have thrown me into a fever of incredulous amazement. I ca

Dr Twenty-man-Jones and I have conducted extensive negotiations with the directors and managers of the Standard Bank, who have studied and evaluated the samples and report. The bank has agreed to make available to you a loan at 5% percent interest per a

Dr Twenty-man-jones has also met with Mr Lothar De La Rey, and set out for him in detail the requirements of phase one of the development of the property.

Mr De La Rey has tendered a contract price of 5,000 pounds for the commission of this work. By Virtue of your authority, I have accepted this tender and delivered to him the initial payment of 11,000 f or which I hold his receipt Centaine skimmed through the rest of the letter, smiling at Abrahams's comment: I have sent you the stores you required. However, I am much intrigued by the two dozen mosquito nets you have asked for. Perhaps one day you will explain what you intend to do with these, and thereby allay my burning curiosity.

Then she set the letter aside for later rereading and sent for Lothar.

He came immediately. Sister Ameliana assures me that all is well, that the pregnancy proceeds naturally without any complication, and that it is very nearly over. Centaine nodded and indicated the camp chair facing her.

I have not yet congratulated you on your discovery, he said as he sat down. Doctor Twenty-man-jones puts a conservative value on your mining property Of S,3,000,000 sterling. It almost surpasses belief, Centaine. She inclined her head slightly and told him in a straight and level voice, As you are working for me and because of the circumstances of our personal relationship, I believe the correct address in future will be Mrs Courtney. The use of my given name suggests a familiarity that no longer exists between us. His smile shrivelled and died. He remained silent.

You wish me to begin at once, not after the birth? At once, sir, she said sharply, and I will personally oversee the clearing of the tu

By dusk they were ready. The pathway leading up the valley to the entrance of the cavern of the bees had been cleared and widened, and Lothar's labour gangs had carried up the cords of mopani wood and stacked -them at hand.