When the Lion Feeds by Wilbur Smith, Tim Pigott-Smith Read Free Book Online Page B

wanted a set of Dickens so badly.
    In the river there were whirlpools:
    The last week of the Christmas holidays and Garrick was in bed with one of his colds. Waite Courtney had gone to Pietermaritzburg for a meeting of the Beef GrowersAssociation and there was very little work to do on the farm that day. After Sean had dosed the sick cattle in the sanatorium paddock and ridden an inspection around the South section he returned to the homestead and spent an hour talking to the stableboys, then he drifted up to the house. Garry was asleep and Ada was in the dairy making butter. He asked for and got an early lunch from Joseph and ate it standing in the kitchen. While he ate he thought over the problem of how to fill the afternoon. He weighed the alternatives carefully. Take the rifle and try for duiker along the edge of the escarpment or ride to the pools above the White Falls and fish for eels.
    He was still undecided after he had finished eating so he crossed the yard and looked into the cool dimness of the dairy.
    Ada smiled at him across the churn. Hello, Sean, I suppose you want your lunch. Joseph gave it to me already, thanks, Ma. Joseph has already given it to me, Ada corrected mildly. Sean repeated it after her and sniffed the dairy smell, he liked the cheesy warmth of new butter and the tang of the cow dung smeared on the earth floor.
    What are you going to do this afternoon?
    I came to ask you if you wanted venison or eels, I don't know if I want to go fishing or shooting. Eels would be nice, we could jelly -them and have them for dinner tomorrow when your father comes home. I'll get you a bucket full. He saddled the pony, hung his tin of worms on the saddle and with his pole over his shoulder rode towards Lady-burg. He crossed the Baboon Stroorn bridge and turned off the road to follow the stream up to the falls.
    As he skirted the wattle plantation below the Van Essensplace he realized he had made a mistake in picking this route. Anna, with her skirts held up to her knees, came pelting out from among the trees. Sean kicked the pony into a trot and looked straight ahead.
    Sean, hey, Sean. She was ahead of him, running to intercept him; there was no chance of evading her so he stopped the pony.
    Hello, Sean. She was panting and her face was flushed. Hello, he gruffed. Where are you going? There and back to see how far it is.
    You're going fishing, may I come with you? She smiled appealingly. Her teeth were small and white. No, you talk too much; you'll frighten the fish He started the pony. Please, I'll be quiet; honest I will. She was running next to him.
    No. He flicked the reins and pulled away from her. He rode for a hundred yards then looked round and she was still following with her black hair streaming out behind her. He stopped the pony and she caught up with him.
    I knew you'd stop, she told him through her gasps.
    Will you go home? I don't want you following me. honest I will I'll be quiet as anything He knew she'd follow him right up to the top of the escarpment and he gave in. all right, but if you say a word, just one single word, I'll send you home! promise, help me up, please. He dragged her onto the pony's rump and she sat sideways with her arms round his waist. They climbed the escarpment. The path ran close beside the White Falls and they could feel the spray blowing off them fine as mist.
    Anna kept her promise until she was sure they'd gone too far for Sean to send her back alone. She started talking again. When she wanted an answer from him, which wasn't very often, she squeezed his waist and sean grunted . Sean knee-haltered the pony, and left him among the trees above the pools. He hid his saddle and bridle in an ant-bear hole and they walked down through the reeds to the water. Anna ran ahead of him and when he came out on to the sandbank she was throwing pebbles into the pool. Hey, stop that! You'll frighten the fish, Sean shouted.
    Oh. I'm sorry. I forgot.
    She sat down and wriggled her bare