Then he lifted the sheet, pulled up his nightshirt and began picking at
the bandage until he had exposed the edge of the wound with the black
horsehair stitches standing stiffly out of it like the knots in a
strand of barbed wire. An expression of comical disgust curled his
lips. Sean hated sickness, but especially he hated it in his own
flesh.
The disgust gave way slowly to helpless anger and he glared at the
wound.
'Leave it stand, old Sean. Looking won't make it better.'
Sean had been so intent on the evil gash in his stomach that he had not
heard the speaker approach. Despite the cane and the limp that dragged
his right leg, Leroux moved silently for a big man. He stood now
beside the bed and smiled shyly down at Sean.
'Paul!' Guiltily Sean covered himself.
,Ja, Sean. How goes it?' ....... 'Not too bad. And you?'
Leroux shrugged. 'They tell me I will need this for a long time to
come.' He tapped the ferrule of the cane on the floor.
, May I sit down?'
'Of course.' Sean moved to give him the edge of the bed and Leroux
lowered himself with his bad leg stretched stiffly in front of him. His
clothing was newly washed and the cuffs of his jacket darned; patches
on the elbows, and a long tear in the knee of his breeches had been
cobbled together with crude, masculine stitches.
His beard had been trimmed and squared. There were iodine stained
bandages covering the open sores on his wrists, but a red mane of hair
hung to the collar of his jacket and the bones of his forehead and
cheeks made harsh angles beneath skin that was desiccated and browned
by the sun.
'So!' said Sean.
'So!' Leroux answered him and looked down at his hands.
Both he and Sean were silent then, awkward and inarticulate, for
neither of them dealt easily in words.
'Will You smoke, Paul?' Sean reached for the cheroots on his locker.
'Thank you.' They made a show of selecting and lighting, then silence
overwhelmed them again and Leroux scowled at the tip of his cheroot.
'This is good tobacco,' he growled.
'Yes,' agreed Sean and regarded his own cheroot with equal ferocity.
Leroux coughed and rolled his cane between the fingers of his other
hand,
'Toe maar, I just thought I'd come and see you.' he said.
'I'm glad of it.'
'So, you're all right then, hey?'
'Yes. I'm all right,' Sean agreed.
'Good. ' Leroux nodded sagely. 'Well, then!' He stood up slowly. 'I
had better be going. We are meeting again in an hour.
Jannie Smuts has come up from the Cape. ' 'I heard so.' Even the
hospital was penetrated by ruMOurS of what was happening in the big
marquee tent pitched on the parade, ground near the station. Under the
chairmanship of old President Steyn the Boer leaders were talking out
