It was thick and the cover was of black leather, dull with use. Come

here, Oupa said to Sean. Put your hand on the book . . . don't look

at me. Look up, man, look up. Now say after me, "I do most solemnly

swear to look after this woman", don't gobble, speak slower, "until I

can find a priest to say the proper words. Should I fail in this then I

ask you, God, to blast me with lightning, sting me with serpents, burn

me in eternal fire -j" Oupa completed the list of atrocities, then he

grunted with satisfaction and tucked the Bible under his arm. He won't

have a chance to do all that to you . . . I'll get you first. Sean

shared Jan Paulus's wagon that night; he wasn't in a mood for sleep and

anyway Jan Paulus snored. It was raining again in the morning,

depressing weather for farewells. Jan Paulus laughed, Henrietta cried

and Ouma did both. Oupa kissed his daughter.

Be a woman like your mother, he said, then he scowled at Sean.

Remember, just you rememberV Sean and Katrina stood together and watched

the trees and the curtain of ram hide the wagon train. Sean held

Katrina's hand. He could feel the sadness on her; he put his arm round

her and her dress was damp and cold. The last wagon disappeared and

they were alone in a land as vast as solitude. Katrina shivered and

looked up at the man beside her. He was so big and overpoweringly male;

he was a stranger. Suddenly she was frightened. She wanted to hear her

mother's laugh and see her brother and father riding ahead of her wagon,

the way it had always been.

oh, please, I want. . she pulled out from his arm.

She never finished that sentence, for she looked at his mouth and his

lips were full and burnt dark by the sun they were smiling. Then she

looked at his eyes and her panic smoothed away. With those eyes

watching over her she was never to feel frightened again, not until the

Very end and that was a long time away. Going into his love was like

going into a castle, a thick-walled place. A safe place where no one

else could enter. The first feeling of it was so strong that she could

only stand quietly and let the warmth wrap her.

That evening they outspanned Katrina's wagons back at the south bank of

the river. It was still raining. Sean's servants waved and signalled

to them, but the brown water bellowed down between them cutting off all

sound and hope Of passage. Katrina oo ed at the water. Did you really

swim that, meneer? lSo fast that I hardly got wet. Thank you, she

said.

Despite the rain and smoky fire Katrina served up a meal as good as one

of Ouma's. They ate it in the shelter of the tarpaulin beside her

wagon. The wind guttered the hurricane lamp, flogged the canvas and

blew a fine haze of rain in on them. It was so uncomfortable that when

Sean suggested that they go into the wagon Katrina barely hesitated

before agreeing. She sat on the edge of her cot and Sean sat on the

chest opposite her. From an awkward start their conversation was soon

running as fast as the river outside the wagon. My hair is still wet,

Katrina exclaimed at last. Do you mind if I dry it while we talk? Of

course not. Then let me get my towel out of the chest. They stood up

at the same time. There was very little space in the wagon. They

touched. They were on the cot.

The movement of his mouth on hers, the warm taste of it, the strong

pleading of his fingers at the nape of her neck and along her spine, all

these things were strangely confusing. She responded slowly at first,

then faster with bewildered movements of her own body and little

graspings at his arms and shoulders. She did not understand and she did

not care. The confusion spread through her whole body and she could not

stop it, she did not want to. She reached up and her fingers went into

his hair. She pulled his face down on hers. His teeth crushed her lips

sweet, exciting pain. His hand came round from her back and enclosed a

fat round breast. Through the thin cotton he found the erectness of her

nipple and rolled it gently between his fingers. She reacted like a

filly feeling the whip for the first time. One instant she lay under

the shock of his touch and then her convulsive heave caught him by

surprise. He went backwards off the cot and his head cracked against

the wooden chest. He sat on the floor and stared up at her, too

surprised even to rub the lump on his head. Her face was flushed and

she pushed the hair back from her forehead with both hands. She was

shaking her head wildly in her effort to speak through her gasping You

must go now, meneer, the servants have made a bed for you in one of the

other wagons. Sean scrambled to his feet. Tut, I thought. . . surely

we are . . . well, I mean. Keep away from me, she warned anxiously.

If you touch me again tonight, I'll . . . I'll bite you. But,

Katrina, please, I can't sleep in the other wagon.

The thought appalled him.

I'll cook your food, mend your clothes . . . everything!

But until you find a priest. . . She didn't go on, but Sean got the

idea. He started to argue. It was his introduction to Boer

immovability and at last he went to find his own bed. One of Katrina's

dogs was there before him, a threequarters-grown brindle hound. Sean's

attempts to persuade it to leave were as ill-fated as had been his

previous arguments with its mistress. They shared the bed. During the

night a difference of opinion arose between them as to what constituted

a half-share of the blankets. From it the dog earned its name, Thief.

Sean determined to show Katrina just how strongly he resented her

attitude. He would be polite but distant. Five minutes after they had

sat down to breakfast the next morning this demonstration of disapproval

had deteriorated to the stage where he was unable to take his eyes off

her face and he was talking so much that breakfast lasted an hour.

The rain held steady for three more days and then it stopped. The sun

came back, as welcome as an old friend, but it was another ten days

before the river regained its sanity. Time, rain or river meant very

little to the two of them. They wandered out into the bush together to

pick mushrooms; they sat in camp and when Katrina was working Sean

followed her around. Then, of course, they talked. She listened to

him. She laughed at the right places and gasped with wonder when she

was meant to.

She was a good listener. As for Sean, if she had repeated the same word

over and over the sound of her voice alone would have held him

entranced. The evenings were difficult. Sean would start getting

restless and make excuses to touch her. She wanted him to, but she was

frightened of the confusion that had so nearly trapped her the first

night. So she drew up a set of rules and put them to him. Do you

promise not to do anything more than kiss me?

Not unless you say I can, Sean agreed readily.

No. She saw the catch in that. You mean, I must never do anything but

kiss you even if you say I can!

She started to blush. If I say so in the daytime, that's different . .

. but anything I say at night doesn't count, and if you break your

promise I'll never let you touch me again.

Katrina's rules stood unchanged by the time the river had dropped enough

for the wagons to be taken across to the north bank. The rains were

resting, gathering their strength, but soon they would set in once more.

The river was full but no longer murderous. Now was the time to cross.

Sean took the oxen across first, swimming them in a herd. Holding on to

one of their tails he had a Nantucket sleigh-ride across the river and

when he reached the north bank there was a joyous welcome awaiting him.

They took six thick coils of unused rope from the stores wagon and

joined them together. With the end of the rope round his waist Sean

made one of his horses tow him back across the river, Mbejane paying out

the line to him as he went. Then Sean supervised Katrina's servants as

they emptied all the water barrels and lashed them to the sides of the

first wagon to serve as floats. They ran the wagon into the water, tied

on the rope and adjusted the barrels so that the wagon floated level.

Sean signalled to Mbejane and waited until he had made the other end of

the rope fast to a tree on the north bank. Then they pushed the wagon