‘Behind those rocks,’ Twa said. ‘I’ll get it.’
Limp Kao coughed politely.
‘What if we promised to stay off your land, if you agreed not to interfere if we brought the other farmer’s sheep past it?’
The others stared open-mouthed at Limp Kao.
Roeloff laughed and got back on his horse.
‘You have courage, old man, but I cannot agree. I don’t see eye to eye with that farmer, but it’s not in me to betray him. And I don’t need promises. If you come near our sheep now, it’s over between us.’
There was a sudden commotion and heads turned as Zokho came running out from behind a bush.
‘Zokho!’ Toma said angrily. She’d been warned to stay hidden.
Roeloff forgot everything when he saw her. Zokho’s skin had taken on a russet tone, and she wore only the tiny leather flap covering her private parts. She had grown tall, with long legs as strong as an eland’s, the tips of her breasts glistening in the dying sun.
‘Zokho …’
‘Take me with you, Roff.’
‘You will not go anywhere!’ Toma came forward angrily.
Roeloff couldn’t stop looking at her. The pouty lips, the slant of her eyes, the short hair decorated with chips of white ostrich eggshell. She was dusty as the veld, but even more beautiful than before, and everything he’d felt for her came rushing back. He’d missed the sound of her voice, and hearing it again, soft and childlike, made him realise how far he’d pushed her from his mind.
‘I’ve missed you, Zokho.’
‘I want to come back to Kloot’s Nek.’
The others looked on in shock. They had never seen one of their own behave like this.
Toma glared up at him on the horse.
‘She’s mine.’
‘So she is, Toma.’ His first impulse was to snatch her up and ride off. But then what? Bring her back as a servant to Kloot’s Nek and get himself embroiled in something that would only turn things upside down and invite the wrath of his father? The Karoo would be unbending if he broke the rules.
‘It won’t work, Kudu,’ Twa’s voice sounded behind him.
Roeloff leaned down from the horse and touched his hand to her face.
‘Mijn Zokho.’
A murmur of voices rose up. They didn’t know the word, but understood the gesture.
‘Take me with you,’ she begged him in the language he’d taught her.
‘What will I do with you, Zokho? You know what will happen if you come with me.’
Zokho’s eyes filled with tears. She stood still, not daring to look at the others.
The tribe watched in disbelief. Everything they’d heard about him was true. They watched him round up the sheep with the old hunter then, with a last glance back at the group, follow behind on the horse.
‘He has wild blood in him,’ Limp Kao marvelled.
‘Yes,’ Koerikei nodded. ‘There was something between them. Things seem clearer now. Why Zokho behaves the way she does.’
A short distance off they saw one of the sheep separate from the group.
‘What’s he doing?’
‘It looks like he’s leaving one.’
Limp Kao shook his head in amazement.
‘You were right about him, his heart’s soft.’
‘I feel sorry for Toma.’
‘Toma beats his wife, Koerikei.’
‘He’s frustrated because Zokho won’t lie with him. She’s taken away his pride. And now, after this, I don’t know what he’ll do.’
‘He’ll learn, that’s what he’ll do. He’ll learn not to be too anxious for life.’
By nightfall the women had erected shelters and were busy at their fires.
At Zokho’s hearth there was no preparation of food. Toma was staring morosely into the flames, Zokho was lying on her side inside the skerm.
