He sat alone on the slope of the hills. Again he was reminded of Ruth.
This place was so much like their secret glade. Except, of course,
there were no wattle trees here.
'Wattle!' exclaimed Ronny Pye and glared at his sister and his
brother-in-law. 'He's planting wattle.'
'What for? ' Dennis Petersen asked.
'For the bark, man. The bark! There's a fortune in it. Twenty pounds
a ton!'
'What do they use it for?'
'The extract, is used in tanning leather.'
'If it's so good why haven't other people-' Dennis began, but Ronny
brushed him aside impatiently.
'I've gone into it thoroughly. Lion Kop is ideal wattle ground, high
and misty. The only other really good ground in the district is
Mahobo's Kloof Ranch and Theuniskraal. Thank God you own Mahobo's
Kloofl Because that's where we're going to plant our own wattle. He
looked at Dennis but without seeing him as he went on. 'I've spoken to
Jackson at Natal Wattle Company. He'll sell us the saplings on the
same terms as he's supplying that bastard Courtney, and he'll buy our
bark-every scrap of it at a guaranteed twenty pounds a ton. I've hired
two men to supervise the planting. Labour will be our big problem,
Sean has grabbed every native within twenty miles. He's got an army of
them up there.' Suddenly Ronny stopped. He had seen the expression on
Dennis's face. 'What's wrong with you?'
'Mahobo's lGoof!' Dennis moaned. 'Oh God! Oh my God.
'What do you mean?'
'He came to see me last week. Sean ... He wanted an option to
purchase. A five years' option. ' 'You didn't give it to him!' Ronny
screamed.
'He offered three shillings an acre-that's six times as much as I paid
for it. How could I refuse. ' 'You fool! You blathering bloody
idiot! In five years that land will be worth . Ronny gulped,
'It will be worth at least ten pounds! ' 'But nobody told me! '
Dennis wailed the age-old cry of the might-have-been, the lament of
those that never quite succeed,
'Nobody told Sean either.' Audrey spoke softly for the first time and
there was that in her voice that made Ronny turn &avagely on his
handsome sister.
'All right-we all know about you and Sean. But he didn't stay around
long enough for you to get your hooks into him, did he?' Ronny stopped
himself and glanced guiltily at Dennis. It was years before Audrey had
abandoned all hope of Sean's return to Ladyburg and succumbed to
Dennis's gentle but persistent courtship. Now Dennis coughed awkwardly
and looked at his hands on the desk in front of him.
'Well, anyway,' he murmured,
'Sean's got it and there's nothing we can do about it. 'To hell! '
Ronny pulled a notebook towards him and opened it. 'This is how I see
it. He's borrowed that ten thousand from his mother-you know the money
we tried to get her to invest in the Burley deal. ' They all
