It was the issue would be settled by single combat. Garrick seldom won

bets from Sean. It's too late. We'd better be getting home. Pa will

clobber us if we're late for dinner. Sean hesitated and Garrick turned,

ran back to pick up his kerrie then set off in the direction of home.

Sean trotted after him, caught up with him and passed him. Sean always

led. Having proved conClusively his superior prowess with the throwing

sticks Sean was prepared to be forgiving. Over his shoulder he asked,

what colour do you Reckon Gypsy's foal will be?

Garrick accepted the peace-offering with relief and they fell into a

friendly discussion of this and a dozen other equally important

subjects. They kept running: except for an hour, when they had stopped

In a shady place by the river to roast and eat a couple of their

pheasants, they had run all day.

Up here on the plateau it was grassland that rose and fell beneath them

as they climbed the low round hills and dropped into the valleys. The

grass around them moved with the wind: waist-high grass, soft dry grass

the colour of ripe wheat. Behind them and on each side the grassland

rolled away to the full range of the eye, but suddenly in front of them

was the escarpment. The land cascaded down into it, steeply at first

then gradually levelling out to become the Tugela flats. The Tugela

river was twenty miles away across the flats, but today there was a haze

in the air so they could not see that far. Beyond the river, stretched

far to the north and a hundred miles east to the sea, was Zululand. The

river was the border. The steep side of the escarpment was cut by

vertical gulleys and in the gulleys grew dense, olive-green bush.

Below them, two miles out on the flats, was the homestead of Theunis

Kraal. The house was a big one, Dutchgabled and smoothly thatched with

combed grass. There were horses in the small paddock: many horses, for

the twins, father was a wealthy man. Smoke from the cooking fires blued

the air over the servants quarters and the sound of someone chopping

wood carried faintly up to them.

Sean stopped on the rim of the escarpment and sat down in the grass. He

took hold of one of his grimy bare feet and twisted it up into his lap.

There was a hole in the ball of his heel from which he had pulled a

thorn earlier in the day and now it was plugged with dirt. Garrick sat

down next to him. Man, is that going to hurt when Ma puts iodine on itV

gloated Garrick. She'll have to use a needle to get the dirt out. I

bet you yell, I bet you yell your head off!

Sean ignored him. He picked a stalk of grass and started probing it

Into the wound. Garrick watched with interest.

Twins could scarcely have been less alike. Sean was already taking on

the shape of a man: his shoulders were thickening, and there was hard

muscle forming in his puppy fat. His colouring was vivid: black hair,

skin brown from the sun, lips and cheeks that glowed with the fresh

young blood beneath their surface, and blue eyes, the dark indigo-blue

of cloud shadow on mountain lake.

Garrick was slim, with the wrists and ankles of a girl.

His hair was an undecided brown that grew wispy down the back of his

neck, his skin was freckled, his nose and the rims of his pale blue eyes

were pink with persistent hay fever. He was fast losing interest in

Sean's surgery. He reached across and fiddled with one of Tinker's

pendulous ears, and this broke the rhythm of the dog's panting; he

gulped twice and the saliva dripped from the end of his tongue. Garrick

lifted his head and looked down the slope.

A little below where they were sitting was the head of one of the bushy

gullies. Garrick caught his breath.

Sean, look there, next to the bush! His whisper trembled with

excitement.

What's it! Sean looked up startled. Then he saw it. Hold Tinker.

Garrick grabbed the dog's collar and pulled his head around to prevent

him seeing and giving chase. He's the biggest old inkonka in the world,

breathed Garrick. Sean was too absorbed to answer.

The bushbuck was picking its way warily out of the thick cover. A big

ram, black with age; the spots on his haunches were faded like old chalk

marks. his ears pricked up and his spiral horns held high, big as a

pony, but stepping daintily, he came out into the open. He stopped and

swung his head from side to side, searching for danger, thEn he trotted

diagonally down the hill and disappeared into another of the gullies.

For a moment after he had gone the twins were still, then they burst out

together. Did you see him, hey, did you see them horns? So close to

the house and we never knew he was there -They scrambled to their feet

jabbering at each other, and Tinker was infected with their excitement.

He barked around them in a circle. After the first few moments of

confusion Sean took control simply by raising his voice above the

opposition. I bet he hides up in the gulley every day. I bet he stays

there all dAy and comes out only at night. Let's go and have a look.

Sean led the way down the slope.

On the fringe of the bush, in a small cave of vegetation that was dark

and cool and carpeted with dead leaves, they found the ram's

hiding-P'lace. The ground was trampled by his hooves and scattered with

his droppings and there was the mark of his body where he had lain. A

few loose hairs, tipped with grey, were left on the bed of leaves. Sean

knelt down and picked one up. How are we going to get him? We could

dig a hole and put sharpened sticks in it, suggested Garrick eagerly.

Who's going to dig it, you? Sean asked.

, You could help. it would have to be a pretty big hole, said Sean

doubtfully. There was silence while both of them considered the amount

of labour involved in digging a trap. Neither of them mentioned the