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observed their preparations for departure.
'Be back before dusk, Beit! Tomorrow is a working day for us. When,' he
added, with heavy emphasis, 'is your holiday up?'
'Tuesday, unfortunately,' Hendrik grimaced, 'but I'm due some more time
next month, so I'll be back.'
Georgie thought Niklaas looked less than enchanted by the prospect.
'He's changed somehow,' Hendrik reiterated, as they drove away from the
bungalow, Georgie uncomfortably aware of Niklaas on the veranda, the
green glitter of his gaze seeming to pierce the flesh between her
shoulder-blades, even through the tarpaulin cover of the Land Rover.
The sun baked down from an almost colourless sky, sucking every scrap of
moisture it could out of the ground and the vegetation.
'The rainy season's late this year,' commented Hendrik, as their passage
threw up clouds of fine, powdery soil, coating their vehicle's bonnet and
even permeating the interior through gaps in windows and canvas top. 'It
usually starts in late November, but here we are, well into December, and
not a sign of a break in the weather. When it does break, it'll be with a
vengeance.'
Hendrik was an interesting companion, an intellectual, but above all very
much the scientist. He was particularly anxious to catch a sight of some
white rhinoceros which Niklaas had persuaded Dirk to have imported into
Manila, an important exercise in conservation, since they were an
endangered species.
When I say white,' Hendrik laughed a little, "don't go expecting some pure,
beautiful, mystical creature like a unicorn. To the uninitiated they look
much like any other rhino. For white, read a rather dirt-grey. The main
difference is in their physical appearance and their placid temperament.'
They didn't see the white rhino.
'I wish now I'd asked Niklaas where to find them, but he wasn't very
approachable, was he?'
They moved on, and Hendrik began to point out familiar landmarks which
he recalled from his term of employment at Marula.
'In some ways I'm sorry I left. There's more scope for scientific experiment
at the Kruger, of course, but it is so much bigger and more impersonal. And,'
he added, 'I wouldn't mind being back here now, so I could see more of you.'
Georgie didn't know whether to turn aside his remark with a laugh or
whether to make it clear he was wasting his time so far as she was
concerned. She decided on the laugh. His words could have been purely
flirtatious.
It was late afternoon when they came to the waterhole, where a hide was
provided for tourist parties. Since it was out of season they would, Hendrik
pointed out, have the facility to themselves. Looking at her watch, however,
Georgie protested that perhaps they should be starting on their return
journey and asked him if he'd forgotten Niklaas's injunction that they should
be back before dusk.
'I haven't forgotten, and we will be. We've made a circular tour. Remember,
I know this territory, and we're two-thirds of the way back already.' He
already knew that there hadn't been time in her busy schedule to observe the
comings and goings at a well-used waterhole. 'It's an experience not to be
missed.'
Georgie allowed herself to be persuaded.
'But only for half an hour,' she warned.
It was as rewarding as Hendrik had promised. A waterbuck was their first
sighting, stepping daintily on fragile legs down a hippo path that led to the
water's edge. Then came wildebeest and their inevitable zebra companions,
timorous and hesitant, their Arab-like heads lifted in caution before they
drank. A snake swam swiftly across the pool, and ostriches made a parade
of their arrival, strutting through the reedy edges of the waterhole.
Entranced, Georgie forgot the passage of time, until a glance towards
Hendrik made her realise she could no longer make out the individual
features of his absorbed profile.
'It's late we must go. Niklaas will be furious!'
'He's only your boss in working hours,' Hendrik pointed out.
'Yes, but in those hours he expects me to be efficient and wide awake, and if
we're too late getting back I won't be.'
Because of speed restrictions imposed for the safety of the wild life, they
couldn't drive as fast as Georgie would have liked. Then the rain began,
quite suddenly, with no prior warning other than a fitful wind. It was a
drenching rain that quickly churned the dust into a quagmire, and Georgie
remembered with a sudden stab of alarm that they had not yet recrossed the
river that ran through Manila.
A flash of lightning illuminated the horizon. Thunder rolled and muttered.
The wind gusted more strongly. As the elements became more violent they
reached the river, and to Georgie's relief forded the now faster moving
water without incident. But conditions for driving were worsening. The rain
was pelting down in solid, blinding sheets, and the windscreen wipers were
unable to cope with their task.
'We'll have to stop and wait out the storm," Hendrik decided.
'Oh, but .. .'
'It would be foolhardy to go on, Georgie. Even van der Walt would have to
agree. We can't see a hand's breadth in front of us. We could drive straight
into a tree, or this damned storm might bring one down in front of us.'
And, indeed, already giant hands were wrenching at branches, the air alive
with whirling debris of every conceivable kind. Hendrick ran the vehicle
into the shelter of a clump of low-growing trees, whose drooping, heavy
branches formed a protective canopy over them.
'Now what?' asked Georgie. She wasn't frightened of the storm, even
though it outdid by fifty per cent the intensity of any she had ever
experienced.
'We stay put. There's no telling how long this'll go on. In fact, I suggest we
stretch out in the back and get some shut-eye. Then, when it clears up, we'll
be able to go on and you'll still be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for Sir.'
This reminder of Niklaas made Georgie shiver. He was not going to be
pleased.
Hours later, the storm still showed no signs of abating; and Georgie fell at [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]