In the meantime we won't lose money by working the main reef. Sean

picked up a pebble and tossed it into the stream in front of him. He

was learning for the first time the alternate thrill and depression of

gold sickness when one minute you rode the lightning and the next you

dropped abruptly into the depths. The yellow tails in the pan had

looked pathetically thin and undernourished to him. Supposing you're

right and supposing we talk Candy into selling her claims, how do we go

about it? That fourstamp mill looked a devilishly complicated and

expensive bit of machinery to me, not the kind of thing you can buy over

the counter in every dealer's store Duff punched his shoulder and smiled

lopsidedly at him. You've got your Uncle Duff looking after you.

Candy will sell her claims, she trembles when I touch her, a day or two

more and she'll be eating out of my hand. As for the mill . . . When

I came out to this country I fell in with a rich Cape farmer whose

lifelong ambition had been to have his own gold mine. He selected a

ridge which in his undisputed wisdom as a grower of grapes he considered

to be an ideal place for his mine. He hired me to run it for him,

purchased a mill of the latest and most expensive vintage and prepared

himself to flood the market with gold. After six months when we had

processed vast quantities of assorted quartz, schist and earth and

recovered sufficient gold to fit into a mouse's ear without touching the

sides, my patron's enthusiasm was somewhat dampened and he dispensed

with my invaluable service s and closed the circus down. I left for the

diamond fields and as far as I know the machinery is still lying there

waiting for the first buyer with a couple of hundred pounds to come and

pick it up. Duff stood up and they walked back towards the tent.

However, first things first.

Do you agree that I should continue the negotiations with Mrs

Rautenbach? I suppose so. Sean was feeling more cheerful again. But

are you sure your interest in Mrs Rautenbach is strictly line of duty?

Duff was shocked. Don't think for a minute that my intentions are

anything but to further the interests of our partnership. You can't

believe that my animal appetite plays any part in what I intend doing?

No, of course not, Sean assured him. I hope you can force yourself to

go through with it. Duff laughed. While we are on the subject I think

this is as good a time as any for you to develop a stomach ailment and

retire to your lonely bed. From now on until we've got the agreement

signed your boyish charm will be of no great value in the proceedings.

I'll tell Candy that you've given me authority to act on your behalf.

Duff combed his curls, put on the clothes that Mbejane had washed for

him and disappeared in the direction of Candy's Hotel. Time passed

slowly for Sean; he sat and chatted with Mbejane, drank a little coffee

and when the sun went down retired to his tent. He read one of Duff's

books by the light of the hurricane lamp but could not concentrate on

it; his mind kept straying to thoughts of blonde hair. When someone

scratched on the canvas door he leapt up with a confused hope that Candy

had decided to come and deal with him direct. It was the coloured girl

from the Hotel, her crinkly black hair at odds with what he had been

thinking. Madame says she's sorry to hear about your sickness and to

tell you to have two spoons of this, she told him and offered Sean the

bottle of castor oil. Tell your mistress, thank you very much. Sean

accepted the medicine and started to close the tent flapMadame told me

to stay and make sure that you took two full spoons, I have to take the

bottle back and show her how much you've had. Sean's stomach cringed.

He looked at the coloured girl standing resolute in the doorway,

determined to carry out her instructions. He thought of poor Duff doing

his duty like a man, he could do no less. He swallowed down the thick

clinging oil with his eyes closed then went back to his book. He slept

uneasily starting up occasionally to look at the empty bed across the

tent. The medicine drove him out into the cold at half past two in the

morning.

Mbejane was curled up next to the fire and Sean scowled at him. His

regular contented snoring seemed a calculated mockery. A jackal yelped

miserably up on the ridge, expressing Sean's feelings exactly, and the

night wind fanned his bare buttocks.

Duff came home in the dawning. Sean was wide awake.

Well, what happened? he demanded.

Duff yawned. At one stage I began to doubt whether I was man enough.

However, it worked out to the satisfaction of all concerned. What a

woman! He pulled off his shirt and Sean saw the scratches across his

back.

Did she give you any castor oil? Sean asked bitterly.