Authors: Wilbur Smith
Rage (39 page)
He had made her angry. Her eyes slanted and narrowed into bright arrowheads and the freckles on her nose and cheeks glowed like specks of gold leaf. It roused him to see her come out from behind the screen, as hard and formidable as any adversary he had ever faced. He wanted to goad her further, to make her give way completely.
âYou have made yourself the guru of Southern Africa on US television for one reason only. Not for concern over the fate of the black masses, but quite simply because you smell blood and violence in the air. You have sensed that this is where the action will be next and you want to be the one who captures it on filmâ'
âYou bastard,' she hissed at him. âI want peace and justice.'
âPeace and justice don't make good footage, Kitty my love. You are here to record the killing and the screaming â and if it doesn't happen soon enough, well that is easily fixed â you'll give it a little shove.'
She was out of her chair now, facing him, and her lips were frosty with rage.
âFor the last hour you have been spouting the most vicious racial poison, and now you accuse me of injustice. You call me an
agent provocateur
for the violence that is coming.'
agent provocateur
for the violence that is coming.'
He raised an eyebrow, giving her the taunting supercilious smile which had enraged his opponents across the floor of the House, and it was too much for her to bear. She sprang at him, white-lipped and shaking with fury, and she clawed for his single mocking eye with both hands.
Shasa caught her wrists, and lifted her feet clear of the floor. She was shocked by his strength, but she lifted her knee sharply, driving for his groin. He turned slightly and caught the knee on the hard muscle of his thigh.
âWhere did a nice girl learn a trick like that?' he asked, and twisted her arms behind her, took both her wrists in his left hand and then bowed over her. She pressed her lips together, and tried to turn her face away, but he found her mouth and while he kissed her, he opened her blouse and with his free hand took out her small breasts. Her nipples were standing out like ripe mulberries, she was as aroused as he was, but kicking and spitting with fury.
He swung her round and threw her face down over the thick padded arm of the buttoned leather chair, pinning her with a hand between her shoulder blades, and her bottom in the air. That's how they had administered the cane at Shasa's school, and now while she screamed and kicked he jerked the leather belt out of the loops of her jeans, and pulled her trousers and panties down as far as her ankles and stepped in close behind her. Her buttocks were white and round and they maddened him.
Though she fought and struggled without let-up, at the same time she lifted her hips slightly and arched her back to make it easier for him, and only when it happened did she stop fighting and push back hard against him, sobbing with the effort of keeping pace with him.
It was over very quickly for both of them, and she rolled over and pulled him down onto the chair and whispered raggedly into his mouth, âWell, that's one hell of a way to settle an argument, I'll give you that much.'
Shasa ordered dinner served in the suite, grilled crayfish with a sauce Mornay, followed by a Chateaubriand, baked baby potatoes and fresh young asparagus. He sent the waiter away and served it himself for Kitty was clad only in one of the hotel's long towelling dressing gowns.
As he drew the cork on the bottle of Chambertin, he told her, âI've put four days aside for us. In the last few weeks I have been fortunate enough to get my hands on fifty thousand acres of land across the Sabi River from the Kruger National Park. I've been after it for fifteen years. It
belonged to the widow of one of the old Randlords and I had to wait for the old biddy to cross the great divide before it came on the market. It's marvellous unspoilt bush country, teeming with wild game, perfect place for a lost weekend, we'll fly down after breakfast tomorrow â nobody will know where we are.'
belonged to the widow of one of the old Randlords and I had to wait for the old biddy to cross the great divide before it came on the market. It's marvellous unspoilt bush country, teeming with wild game, perfect place for a lost weekend, we'll fly down after breakfast tomorrow â nobody will know where we are.'
She laughed at him. âYou are out of your little mind, lover. I'm a working girl. At eleven o'clock tomorrow I've got an interview with the Leader of the Opposition, De Villiers Graaff, and I'm certainly not breezing off into the boondocks with you to stare at lions and tigers.'
âNo tigers in Africa â you are the African expert, you should know that.' He was angry again. âIt's a case of false pretences. You got me all the way up here for nothing,' he accused.
âNothing?' she chuckled again. âYou call that
nothing?'
nothing?'
âI expected four days of it.'
âYou overestimate the going price for an interview. All you get is the rest of the night, and then tomorrow it's back to work â for both of us.'
She was getting under his guard too often, Shasa realized. Last time he had proposed marriage to her, and the idea still had its appeal. She had moved him the way no woman had since he had first met Tara. It was partly her unattainability that made her so desirable. Shasa was accustomed to getting what he wanted, even if it was a hard and heartless little vixen with a childlike face and body.
He watched her eat the rare steak with the same sensual gusto as she made love. She was sitting cross-legged on the front edge of her chair and the hem of her dressing-gown had ridden up high on her thighs. She saw the direction of his gaze but made no effort to cover herself.
âEat up,' she grinned at him. âOne thing at a time, lover.'
S
hasa was chary of Tara's offer to assist his election campaign, and for the first two meetings left her at Weltevreden and drove out alone over Sir Lowry's Pass and the mountains.
hasa was chary of Tara's offer to assist his election campaign, and for the first two meetings left her at Weltevreden and drove out alone over Sir Lowry's Pass and the mountains.
South Boland, his new constituency, was an area of rich land, between the mountains and the sea, on the Cape's eastern littoral. The voters were almost entirely of Afrikaner extraction, and their families had held the land for three hundred years. They were wealthy farmers of wheat and sheep, Calvinist and conservative, but not as rabidly republican and anti-English as their cousins of the interior, the Free Staters and the Transvalers.
They received Shasa's first speeches with caution, and applauded him politely at the end. His opponent, the United Party candidate, was a blood Smuts man, like Blaine, who had been the incumbent until 1948 when he lost it to the Nationalists. Yet he still had a base of support in the district amongst the men who had known Smuts and had gone âup north' to fight the Axis.
After Shasa's second meeting, the local Nationalist organizers were looking worried and scared.
âWe are losing ground,' one of them told Shasa. âThe wives are suspicious of a man who campaigns without his own wife. They want to have a look at her.'
âYou see,
Meneer
Courtney, you are a bit too good-looking. It's OK for the younger women who think you look like Errol Flynn, but the older women don't like it, and the men don't like the way the young women look at you. We have to show them you are a family man.'
Meneer
Courtney, you are a bit too good-looking. It's OK for the younger women who think you look like Errol Flynn, but the older women don't like it, and the men don't like the way the young women look at you. We have to show them you are a family man.'
âI'll bring my wife,' Shasa promised, but his spirits sank. What kind of impression would Tara create in this dour God-fearing community where many of the women still wore the
voortrekker
bonnets and the men believed a woman's place was either in the bed or in the kitchen?
voortrekker
bonnets and the men believed a woman's place was either in the bed or in the kitchen?
âAnother thing,' the chief party organizer went on tactfully. âWe need one of the top men, one of the cabinet
ministers, to stand up on the platform with you. You see,
Meneer
Courtney, the people are having difficulty believing that you are a
ware
Nationalist. What with the English name and your family history.'
ministers, to stand up on the platform with you. You see,
Meneer
Courtney, the people are having difficulty believing that you are a
ware
Nationalist. What with the English name and your family history.'
âWe need somebody to make me look respectable, you mean?' Shasa hid his smile, and they all looked relieved.
âJa,
man! That's it!'
man! That's it!'
âWhat if I could get Minister De La Rey to come out for the meeting on Friday â and my wife, of course?'
âHell, man!' they enthused. âMinister De La Rey is perfect. The people like the way he handled the trouble. He is a good strong man. If you get him to come to talk to them, we'll have no more problems.'
Tara accepted the invitation without comment, and by an exercise in self-restraint Shasa refrained from giving her advice on how to dress or to conduct herself, and was delighted and grateful when she came on to the platform in the town hall of the little town of Caledon, dressed in a sober dark blue dress with her thick auburn hair neatly gathered into a bun behind her head.
Though pretty and smiling she was the picture of the good wife. Isabella sat up beside her with knee-length white socks and ribbons in her hair. A born actress, Isabella responded to the occasion by behaving like a candidate for holy orders. Shasa saw the organizers exchanging approving nods and relieved smiles.
Minister De La Rey, supported by his own blonde wife and large family, introduced Shasa with a fiery speech in which he made it very clear that the Nationalist government was not going to allow itself to be dictated to by foreign governments or Communist agitators, especially not if these agitators were black as well as Communist.
Manfred had a finely tuned style of oratory, and he thrust out his jaw and flashed those topaz-coloured eyes, he wagged his finger at them, and stood with arms defiantly akimbo when they stood up to applaud him at the end.
Shasa's style was different, relaxed and friendly, and when he tried his first joke they responded with genuine amusement. He followed it with assurances that the government would increase the already generous subsidy for farm products, especially wool and wheat, and that they would at the same time foster local industry and explore new overseas markets for the country's raw materials, particularly wool and wheat. He ended by telling them that many English-speakers were coming to realize that the salvation of the country lay in strong uncompromising government and predicted a substantial increase in the Nationalist majority.
This time there was no reservation in the tumultuous applause that followed his speech, and the votes of confidence in the government, the National Party and the Nationalist candidate for South Boland were all carried unanimously. The entire district, including the United Party supporters, turned up for the free barbecue on the local rugby grounds, to which Shasa invited them. Two whole oxen were roasted on the spit and were washed down with lakes of Castle beer and rivers of
mampoer
, the local peach brandy.
mampoer
, the local peach brandy.
Tara sat with the women, looking meek and demure and speaking little, allowing the older women to develop pleasantly maternal feelings towards her, while Shasa circulated amongst their husbands, talking knowledgeably about such momentous subjects as scale on wheat and scab on sheep. The whole atmosphere was cosy and reassuring, and for the first time Shasa was able to appreciate the depth of planning by the party organizers, their dedication and commitment to the Nationalist cause, which resulted in this degree of mobilization of all its resources. The United Party could never match it, for the English-speakers were complacent and lethargic when it came to politics. It was the old English fault of wanting never to appear to try too
hard. Politics was a kind of sport and every gentleman knew that sport should be played only by amateurs.
hard. Politics was a kind of sport and every gentleman knew that sport should be played only by amateurs.
âNo wonder we lost control,' Shasa thought. âThese chaps are professionals, and we just couldn't match them' â and then he checked himself. These were his organizers now, no longer the enemy. He had become a part of this slick, highly tuned political machine, and the knowledge was a little daunting.
At last, with Tara at his side, Shasa made a round of goodnights with a party organizer steering him tactfully to each of the most important local dignitaries, making sure that none of these was slighted, and everybody agreed that the family made a charming group.
They stayed overnight with the most prosperous of the local farmers, and the following morning, which was Sunday, attended the Dutch Reformed Church in the village. Shasa had not been in a church since Isabella was christened. He was not looking forward to it. This was another grand show, for Manfred De La Rey had prevailed upon his uncle, the Most Reverend Tromp Bierman, Moderator of the Church, to deliver the sermon. Uncle Tromp's sermons were famous throughout the Cape, and families thought nothing of travelling a hundred miles to listen to them.
âI never thought I would ever speak for a cursed
rooinek,'
he told Manfred. âIt is either advancing senility, or a sign of my great love for you, that I do so now.' Then he climbed into the pulpit, and with his great silver beard flashing like the surf of a stormy sea, he lashed the congregation with such force and fury that they quivered and squirmed with delicious terror for their souls.
rooinek,'
he told Manfred. âIt is either advancing senility, or a sign of my great love for you, that I do so now.' Then he climbed into the pulpit, and with his great silver beard flashing like the surf of a stormy sea, he lashed the congregation with such force and fury that they quivered and squirmed with delicious terror for their souls.
At the end of the sermon, Uncle Tromp reduced the volume to remind them that there was an election coming up, and that a vote for the United Party was a vote for Satan himself. No matter how some of them felt about
Englishmen, they weren't voting for a man here, they were voting for the party upon which the Almighty had bestowed his blessing and into whose hands he had delivered the destiny of the
Volk
. He stopped just short of closing the gates of Heaven in the face of any of them who did not put their cross opposite the name of Courtney, but when he glared at them threateningly, there were very few who felt inclined to take a chance on his continued forbearance.
Englishmen, they weren't voting for a man here, they were voting for the party upon which the Almighty had bestowed his blessing and into whose hands he had delivered the destiny of the
Volk
. He stopped just short of closing the gates of Heaven in the face of any of them who did not put their cross opposite the name of Courtney, but when he glared at them threateningly, there were very few who felt inclined to take a chance on his continued forbearance.
âWell, my dear, I can't thank you enough for your help,' Shasa told Tara, as they drove home over the high mountain passes of the Hottentots Holland. âFrom here on it looks like a cakewalk.'
âIt was interesting to watch our political system in action,' Tara murmured. âAll the other jockeys got down off their mounts and shooed you in.'
Polling day in South Boland was merely an endorsement of certain victory, and when the votes were counted it appeared that Shasa had wooed across at least five hundred erstwhile United Party voters, and, much to the delight of the Nationalist hierarchy, increased the majority most handsomely. As the results came in from around the rest of the country, it became apparent that the trend was universal. For the first time ever, substantial numbers of English-speakers were deserting Smuts' party. The Nationalists took 103 seats to the United Party's 53. The promise of strong, uncompromising government was bearing good fruits.
At Rhodes Hill Centaine gave an elaborate dinner dance for 150 important guests to celebrate Shasa's appointment to the new cabinet.
As they swirled together around the dance floor to the strains of âThe Blue Danube', Centaine told Shasa, âOnce again we have done the right thing at the right time,
chéri.
It can still come true â all of it.' And she sang softly the praise song that the old Bushman had composed at Shasa's birth:
chéri.
It can still come true â all of it.' And she sang softly the praise song that the old Bushman had composed at Shasa's birth:
His arrows will fly to the stars
And when men speak his name
It will be heard as far
And wherever he goes, he will find good water.
And when men speak his name
It will be heard as far
And wherever he goes, he will find good water.
The clicking sounds of the Bushman language, like snapping twigs and footsteps in mud, raised nostalgic memories from the distant time when they had been together in the Kalahari.
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