He really will be very good, warrior, and you never were interested,
were you.
After that evening they did not see the couple again, and Paul Morgan
was in Europe, so David fulfilled his family obligations without much
pain or suffering and he could concentrate on the preparations for the
move to Jabulani.
Barney Venter spent a week with them in choosing a suitable aircraft to
handle the bush airstrip and yet give David the type of performance he
enjoyed. At last they decided on a twin-engined Piper Navajo, a
six-seater with two big 3oo-hid. p. Lycoming engines and a tricycle
undercart, and Barney walked around it with his hands on his hips.
Well, she's no Mirage. He kicked the landing-wheel and then checked
himself and glanced quickly at David's face.
I've had enough of Mirages, David told him. They bite!
On the last day David drove out with Debra to a farm near Paarl. The
owner's wife was a dog breeder and when they went down to the kennels
one of her labrador pups walked directly to Debra and placed a cold nose
on her leg as he inhaled her scent. Debra squatted and groped for his
head and after fondling for a few moments she in her turn leaned forward
and sniffed the pup's fur.
He smells like old leather, she said. What colour is he? Black, said
David. Black as a Zulu. That's what we'll call him, said Debra. Zulu.
You want to choose this one? David asked.
No, 'Debra laughed. He chose us. When they flew northwards the next
morning the pup was indignant at being placed in the back seat and with
a flying scrambling leap he came over Debra's shoulder and took up
position in her lap, which seemed to suit them both very well.
It looks like I have competition, David muttered ruefully.
From the brown plateau of the high veld, the land dropped away steeply
down the escarpment to the bush veld of southern Africa.
David picked up his landmark on the little village of Bush Buck Ridge
and the long slim snake of the Sabi River as it twisted through the open
forests of the plain.
He altered course slightly northwards and within ten minutes he saw the
low line of blue hills which rose abruptly out of the flat land.
There it is, ahead of us, David told Debra and his tone was infectious.
She hugged the dog closer to her and leaned towards David.
'What does it look like?
The hills were forested with big timber, and turreted with grey rock. At
their base the bush was thick and dark. The pools glinted softly
through the dark foliage.
He described them to her.
My father named them 'The String of Pearls', and that's what they look
like. They rise out of the run-off of rain water from the sloping
ground beyond the hills.
They disappear just as suddenly again into the sandy earth of the plain,
David explained as he circled the hills, slowly losing height. They are
what give Jabulani its special character, for they provide water for all
the wild life of the plain. Birds and animals are drawn from hundreds
of miles to the Pearls. He levelled out and throttled back, letting the
