'Quite a few people round here think that way-quite a few.
And yet no one is opposing Sean Courtney-he's just going to walk into
the Assembly. ' Garry turned and began limping slowly along the
paddock fence towards the stables, and Ronny fell in beside him.
'Seems to me and the others we need a good man to put against
him-someone with a lot of prestige. Good war record, man who has
written a book and knows what's going on-knows how to use words. If we
could find someone like that, then we'd be happy to put up the expense
money. ' He struck a match and waited for the sulphur to clear before
he lit his cigar and spoke through the smoke. 'Only three months to
election time-we got to get organized right away. He's holding a
meeting at the schoolhouse next week-' Sean's political campaign, which
had been ambling along mildly without causing much interest, suddenly
took on new dramatic quality.
His first meeting in Ladyburg was attended by most of the local
population-all of them so starved for entertainment that they were
prepared to listen to Sean reel off the little speech that they had
already read reported verbatim in most of the Natal newspapers. With
hardy optimism they hoped that question time Might be more
rewarding-and some of them had prepared queties on such momentous
matters as the price of hunting licenses, the public library system,
and the control of foot and mouth disease. At the very least it was an
opportunity to meet friends from the outlying areas.
But, apart from Sean's employees, friends and neighbours, others
arrived at the schoolhouse and filled the first two rows of desks. All
of them were young men Sean had never seen before, and he eyed them
with heavy disapproval while they laughed and joked loudly during the
preliminaries.
'Where did this bunch come from?' he demanded of the Chairman.
'They came in on the afternoon train-all in one party.'
'Seems as though they're looking for trouble.' Grimly Sean sensed in
them the slightly feverish excitement of men steeling themselves to
violence. 'Most of them have been on the bottle.
'Now, Sean.' Ruth leaned across and laid her hand on his knee.
'You must promise not to get worked up. Don't antagonize them.'
Sean opened his mouth to reply, then left it like that as Garry
Courtney came in through the crowd around the doorway and moved across
to sit with Ronny Pye in the back row.
'Close your mouth, darling,' Ruth murmured and Sean obeyed, then smiled
and waved a greeting to his brother. Garry replied with a nod, and
immediately fell into deep discussion with Ronnie Pye.
Amid coughing and feet shuffling the Chairman rose to introduce Sean to
men who had been his schoolmates, who had drunk his brandy and hunted
with him. He went on to tell them how Sean had won the Anglo-Boer war
virtually single-handed, how he had brought prosperity to the district
with his factory and his wattle. Then he ended with a few remarks that
had Sean squirming in his seat and trying to get two fingers into his
collar.
'So, ladies and gentlemen of our fair district-I give you a man of
