‘Is this what you want?’ He stroked the nipple, feeling it harden under his touch. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he couldn’t help it. Through the thin dress, he could feel her heart racing. He ripped off two of the buttons and put his face between her breasts. It was warm there, with a fragrance of soap, and another much stronger smell. Then, as suddenly as he had touched her, he pushed her away.

‘Go now. It’s better for you.’

Soela looked at him in shock.

Roeloff turned back to his work. ‘Go, I said.’

Soela wanted to say something, but she couldn’t get the words out.

A noise at the door made them turn.

‘Soela! What the …’

Soela rushed past him into the dark.

‘What’s Soela doing in here? What did you do to her, Roff?’

‘Only what she wanted me to.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘It means what it means. And next time she follows me, I’ll show her.’

David’s fist caught him under the eye, and he fell.

‘You touch her, you’re finished!’ He kicked Roeloff in the ribs and went after Soela.

Roeloff lay sprawled next to Neizaap, holding his head. He was on the receiving end of too many fists, landing too often on his rear end. A chuckle at the door made him look up.

‘Ttt, ttt, ttt,’ Twa tittered, standing over him laughing. ‘When are you going to learn? I can’t turn my back, and you’re putting your hands where they don’t belong.’

Chapter Seven

Roeloff and Twa stood in the shade of a kareeboom, watching a swell of orange dust roll towards them over the flats. They had followed the tracks to dense undergrowth at the foot of a pass, stopping at the remains of a recently abandoned fire. They had left Kloot’s Nek two days before, and were tired and irritable from the heat and burning wind. There was only one calabash of water left, and the horses were thirsty, too, the recent rain having barely moistened the earth, if indeed it had reached this far north. It didn’t appear so.

‘They look ready to kill, the way they’re driving those horses.’

‘Your brother will see that path.’

‘I hope not.’

The riders galloped up, and dismounted in a flurry of guns and flapping coat tails.

‘We thought we’d better come out and see where you were. Any sign of the sheep?’ Willem Kloot asked.

‘It’s not the first time I’ve come looking for sheep, Pa, you didn’t have to come all this way. There are some bones over there.’

Willem kneeled down next to David who was already inspecting the tracks around a hearth with a few embers of coal still in it.

‘A whole lot of them.’

Willem turned to Twa.

‘How many?’

‘Five, maybe six.’

‘How long ago did they leave?’

‘Yesterday.’

‘Yesterday?’

‘I don’t think so,’ David said. ‘These tracks are fresh, and there are more than five or six. It looks like a whole family. Look at all these footprints. The thing is, which way are they headed? I don’t think we should waste any time.’

‘They’ve done a good job camouflaging,’ Roeloff said. ‘They’re clearer here, around the hearth, because the area’s protected by these rocks. It’ll be harder from here on. Besides, it’s not necessary for all of us to go. Twa and I can handle them, they’re a small party.’ Twa’s deciphering of the spoor had indicated a group of at least fifteen. The remains of the fire had also told them that the hunters had just that morning departed.

‘I disagree,’ David said. ‘These tracks seem to be going up this pass. Don’t listen to him, Pa. I think we should get going. They’ve eaten one of the sheep already. They’ve gone north.’

‘What do you think, Twa?’ Willem Kloot asked. ‘North?’

‘They came north all this way, but going east from here on,’ Twa said, starting to sweat from all the lying.

‘Why would they come north, then, suddenly, at this point, go east?’ David questioned him.

‘And they knew you were coming, they tried to cover their tracks,’ Twa continued as if David hadn’t spoken. ‘They went up here, then walked backwards on the same tracks. If you look where the stones are, you’ll see the crossover. This is where they start going east. You can see the scrapings of the branches they used if you look closely where they wiped out the tracks behind them. Sonqua clever, Baas. You’re supposed to think they went north.’

‘They’ve gone north, and Roeloff knows it. That’s where they’re from, bosjesman country! Not even a buffalo can survive in that heat. They live there because they know no one will follow them into that wasteland. They come down to the Hantam to steal. It’s easier than hunting game.’

Roeloff knew David was telling the truth. Twa was from the parched land below the yellow river. His family had travelled south because of the prolonged drought, and taken shelter behind the Hantamberge when their camp had been ruthlessly decimated. Where the men on the horses had come from, what they were doing there, Twa couldn’t say. He had survived because he’d played dead, lying with his face in the cold ashes. David was right. The Sonqua would retreat to the north until they were hungry again.

‘David’s right. They’ve gone north. The truth is, I don’t want you with us.’

Willem Kloot was weary from the long ride, his eyes tired. ‘So you lied. And you told this bosjesman to lie. Why?’

‘I know these parts. I speak !Khomani. You would be in the way. I want to avoid trouble.’

‘That’s not enough reason. A lot of them together might be dangerous. David can go with you, an extra gun is good.’

‘If he comes, he goes by himself. He won’t keep his head.’

David bristled under the insult.

‘He’s too soft for this, Pa. Already he’s thinking of a way to bargain with them. These thieves don’t know reason. They should be shot on sight.’

Twa walked off and left them talking. Roeloff wasn’t unaware of the old hunter’s dislike of his brother.

‘You want your sheep, or you want revenge? I can promise the sheep. If I find them.’