that way. Because I know what it feels like to have more money than I
need, and I don't like the feeling.
Because I'm happy just the way things are now-and I don't want to catch
another lion by the tail and have him cum round and claw the hell out
of mee.' He stopped panting and then shouted: 'Because a certain
amount of money belongs to you, but more than that you belong to it.
Because I don't want to be that wealthy again! ' Lean and fast as an
angry leopard, Michael came out of his chair and smashed a balled fist
on to the top of the desk. He glared across at Sean, flushed angry red
under his tan, quivering like an arrow.
'Well, I do! Your only objection to my plan is that it's sound, he
blazed. Sean blinked in surprise and then rallied.
'If you get it, you won't like it!' he bellowed, and Michael matched
his volume.
'Let me be the judge of that!'
At that moment the door of the study opened and Ruth stood on the
threshold and stared at them. They looked like a pair of game cocks
with their hackles up.
What on earth is going on?' she demanded. Both Michael and' Sean
looked up guiltily, then slowly they relaxed. Michael sat down and
Sean coughed awkwardly.
'We are just having a discussion, my dear.
'Well, you've woken Storm and just about torn the roof off.
Then she smiled and crossed to take Sean's arm. 'Why don't you leave
it until tomorrow. Then you can continue your discussion at twenty
paces with pistols.'
The pygmies of the Ituri Forests hunt elephant with tiny arrows.
Once the barb is lodged they follow quietly and doggedly, camping night
after night on the spoor until at last the poison works its way to the
animal's heart and brings it down. Michael had placed his arrow-head
deep in Sean's flesh.
At Lion Kop Ruth found a happiness she had never expected, had not
believed existed.
Up to this time her existence had been ordered and determined by an
adoring but strict father, and then in the same manner by Ben Goldberg.
The few short years with Saul Friedman had been happy, but now they
were as unreal as memories of childhood. Always she had been wrapped
in a cocoon of wealth, hemmed in by social taboos and the dignity of
the family. Fven Saul had treated her as a delicate child for whom all
decisions must be made. Life had been placid and orderly, but deadly
dull. Only twice she had rebelled, once to run away from Pretoria and
again when she had gone to Sean in the hospital.
Boredom had been her constant companion.
But now suddenly she was mistress of a complex community.
The sensation had been a little overpowering at first and from habit
she had appealed to Sean for him to make the fifty decisions that each
day brought forward.
'I'll make a bargain with you,' he answered. 'You don't tell me how to
grow wattle and I'll not tell you how to run the house-put the damn
sideboard where it looks best. ' Hesitantly at first, then with
