came to where they stood.
Hello, Sam, David greeted him. It had taken a lot of persuasion to get
Sam to accept that this terribly disfigured face belonged to the young
nkosi David who he had taught to track, and shoot and rob a wild beehive
without destroying the bees.
Sam saluted David with a flourish. He took his uniform very seriously
and conducted himself like a guardsman now. It was difficult to tell
his age, for he had the broad smooth moonface of the Nguni, the
aristocratic warrior tribes of Africa, but there was a frosting of
purest white on the close-curled hair of his temples under the slouch
hat, and David knew he had worked at Jabulani for forty years before
leaving. The man must be approaching sixty years of age.
Quickly he made his report to Conrad, describing the animals and the
numbers which had crossed into Jabulani.
There is also a herd of buffalo, forty-three of them, Sam spoke in
simple Zulu that David could still follow. They are the ones who drank
before Ripape Dam near Hlangulene. That will bring Akkers running, the
sirloin of a young buffalo makes the finest biltong there is, Conrad
observed dryly.
How long will it be before he knows the fence is down? David asked, and
Conrad fell into a long rapidfire discussion with Sam that lost David
after the first few sentences. However, Conrad translated at the end.
Sam says he knows already, all your servants and their wives buy at his
store and he pays them for that sort of information. It turns out that
there is bad blood between Sam and Akkers. Sam suspects him of
arranging to have him beaten, on a lonely road on a dark night.
Sam was in hospital three months, he also accused Akkers of having his
hut fired to drive him off Jabulani. 'It adds up, doesn't it? David
agreed.
Old Sam is dead keen to help us grab Akkers, and he has a plan of action
all worked out. Let's hear it. Well, as long as you are in residence
at Jabulani Akkers is going to restrict his activities to night poaching
with a killing lamp. He knows every trick there is and we will never
get him. So? You must tell your servants that you are leaving for two
weeks, going to Cape Town on business. Akkers will know as soon as you
leave and he will believe he has the whole of jabulam to himself, For an
hour more they discussed the details of the plan, then they shook hands
and parted.
As they drove back to the homestead they emerged from the open forest
into one of the glades of tall grass, and David saw the brilliant white
egrets floating like snow flakes over the swaying tops of golden grass.
Something in there, he said and cut the engine. They waited quietly
until David saw the movement in the grass, the opening and closing at
the passage of heavy bodies. Then three egrets, sitting in row, moved
slowly towards him, home on the back of a concealed beast as it grazed
steadily forward.
Ah, the buffalo! David exclaimed as the first of them appeared, a great
black bovine shape. It stopped as it saw the Land-Rover on the edge of
the trees and it regarded them intently from beneath the wide spread of
