the two candidates for the Ladyburg constituency. ' Only the Liberal
papers reported the generous pension which the Ladyburg Wattle
Co-operative Co. voted to Norman Van Eek's widow and orphan.
But everyone knew that Sean Courtney was still a long way ahead.
He could be certain of the vote of the two hundred men employed at the
factory and on his estates, the other wattle producers of the valley
and their employees, as well as a good half of the townsfolk and
ranchers-that was until the Pietermaritzburg Farmer & Trader devoted a
full front page to the exclusive story of one Archibald Frederick
Longworthy.
Mr. Longworthy related how, by the threat of physical violence and
loss of employment, he had been forced to pedure himself in court.
How, after the case, he had been summarily dismissed from his work.
The exact nature of his peury was not revealed.
Sean cabled his lawyers in Pietermaritzburg to begin immediate
proceedings against the &rmer & Trader for defamation of character,
libel, contempt, treason, and anything else they could think of. Then,
reckless of his own safety, he climbed into the Rolls and raced at
thirty miles an hour in pursuit of his cable.
He arrived in Pietermaritzburg to find that Mr. Longworthy, after
signing a sworn statement and graciously accepting a payment of fifty
guineas, had departed without leaving a forwarding address. Legal
advice was against Sean visiting the editor of the Farmer & Rader and
laying himself open to a counter-suit of assault and battery. It would
be two months before the defamation trial was heard in court, and the
election was to be held in ten days' time.
All Sean could do was publish a full-page denial in each of the Liberal
papers, then return to Ladyburg at a more sedate pace. There a
telegram awaited him from Pretoria. Jan Paulus and Jan Niemand
suggested that in the circumstances it might be better if Sean withdrew
from nomination. Sean's reply went sizzling back over the wires.
Like a pair in harness, Garry and Sean Courtney swept up to the
polling-day finishing line.
The actual voting took place in the Ladyburg Village Management offices
under the beady eyes of two Government registration officers.
Thereafter, the ballot boxes would be removed to Pietermaritzburg,
where on the following day in the City Hall the votes would be counted
and the official results announced.
On opposite sides of the square the opposing candidates set up the
large marquee tents from which free refreshments would be served to the
voters. Traditionally the candidate who fed the largest number would
be the loser. Nobody wished to put their choice to additional expense,
so they patronized the other man's stall. This day, however, both
candidates served an almost equal amount of food.
It was a day that threatened the approach of the wet season, humid heat
lay trapped beneath grey overcast clouds and the occasional bursts of
sunlight stung like the blast of an open furnace door. Sean, suited
and waist coated sweated with anxiety as he greeted each visitor to his
stall with a booming, false camaraderie. Beside him Ruth looked like a
