'I have a message for you from General Acheson, sir.
'Yes? ' 'This fellow Leroux got away from us at the Padda.
Zietsmann, the other Boer leader, was killed, but Leroux got away.
'This is General Leroux,' Sean told him.
'Good God! ' He stared at Leroux. 'You caught him. I say well done,
sir. Jolly well done. ' In the past two years Jan Paulus had become a
legend to the British, so that the lieutenant examined him now with
frank curiosity.
'What is your message?' Sean snapped.
'Sorry, sir. ' The youngster dragged his eyes away from Jan Paulus.
'All the Boer leaders are meeting at Vereeniging. We are to give them
safe conduct into the garrison. General Acheson wanted you to try to
contact Leroux with the offer, but, that won't be difficult now. Jolly
good show, sir.
'Thank you, Lieutenant. Please tell General Acheson that we'll be in
Vereeniging tomorrow.'
They watched the Patrol ride away and disappear over a fold in the
land.
'So!' growled Leroux. 'It's surrender then.'
No,' Sean contradicted him. 'It's peace!'
The primary school at Vereeniging had been converted into an officers'
hospital. Sean lay on his field cot and regarded the picture of
President Kruger on the wall opposite him. In this way he was putting
off the moment when he must continue with the letter he was writing. So
far he had written the address, the date and the salutation: 'My dear
Ruth. ' It was ten days since the column had returned from the veld.
It was also ten days since the surgeons had cut him open and tied
together those parts of his alimentary canal that the bullet had
disrupted. He wrote: I am at this moment well on the way to recovering
from a small wound received two weeks ago near the Vaal River, so
please take no notice of my current address. 'He started a new
paragraph. ' God knows I wish the circumstances in which I write were
less painful to both of us. You will by now have received an official
notification of Saul's death, so there is nothing I can add but to say
that he died in circumstances of great personal gallantry. While about
to lead a bayonet charge he was shot and killed instantly.
I know you will want to be alone in your grief. It will be some weeks
before the doctors allow me to travel. By the time I reach
Pietermaritzburg I hope you will be sufficiently recovered to allow me
to call on you in the hope that I may be able to give you some
comfort.
I trust that small Storm continues to increase in weight and beauty. I
look forward to seeing her again.
A long while he pondered the ending, and finally decided on
'Your true friend.' He signed it, folded it into its envelope and laid
it on the locker beside his bed for posting.
Then he lay back on his pillows and surrendered himself to the ache of
loss and the dull pain in his belly.
After a while his physical pain dominated, and he glanced
surreptitiously around the ward to ensure there were no nurses about.
