'I am not getting worked up, dear.' Sean's voice quivered with the
effort of matitit. 'But if everybody is not in the carriage by the
count of ten, then I might easily get that way.
They were all seated by the count of five and he drove out to the stock
pens
Carriages and mule, wagons carrying the entire population of the
Ladyburg district were waiting in a disorderly tangle in the field
beside the stock pen Sean trotted past in a babble of greeting and
comment. One at a time the waiting carriages wheeled into line behind
him and the long convoy wound out towards Mahobo's Kloof Farm. The big
shoot had begun.
In the middle of the line someone was playing a concertina and the
singing started. It spread to each carriage in turn and blended with
the sound of wheels and hooves and laughter.
Gradually Sean's irritation smoothed out. Ada's girls were singing
Boland Se Nooinentje in the back seat. Dirk had jumped down from the
carriage and with half a dozen of the youngsters from the village ran
ahead of the horses. Ruth's hand touched Sean's leg uncertainly and as
he turned and grinned at her he saw the relief in her answering
smile.
'What a beautiful day, Sean.'
'Sorry I nearly spoiled it, ' he answered.
'Oh, nonsense!' She moved closer to him and suddenly he was happy. all
the preparation was worth it. Beside him Ruth laughed softly.
'What's the joke?' Sean reached out and took her hand.
'No joke. I just felt like laughing,' she answered. 'Look how green
everything is , ' She said it to distract him, to make him look away so
that she could study his face. The subterfuge worked.
'The land seems so young now.' His eyes, as he looked at it, took on
that gentleness she knew so well. By now she knew many of his moods
and she was learning how to induce or redirect each of them. He was
such a simple man, yet in that simplicity lay his strength. He is like
a mountain, she thought.
You know how it will be with the sun on it in the early morning.
You know that when the wind is in the south there will be mist covering
the crest, and in the evening the shadows will fall in certain patterns
across the slopes and the gorges will look dark and blue. Yet also you
know the shape of the mountain is uDchanged, that it will never
change.
'I love you, my mountain,' she whispered, and anticipated the startled
expression before it flashed across his face.
'I love you, my man,' she amended.
'Oh! I love you too.'
And now he is vaguely embarrassed. Oh, God, I could eat him! If I
were to reach over and kiss him now in front of everybody . . . !
Secretly she savoured the idea.
'What devilment are you planning?' he demanded gruffly.
He wasn't supposed to read her so accurately. Taken off balance she
stared at him. Suddenly the mountain had shown that it understood
exactly the way she felt when she looked at it.
