I looked and saw: and even as we stood there, another wild burst of cheering came echoing across the open. Then I knew.
Gathering up with shaking hands the draperies of my cloak and gown I prepared to speed my way home and to my share of the terror and beauty of life waiting there. But before I went I said to the husband of Nonie Valetta:
“Is it true that she is so near death?”
“The doctor holds out no hope. It is not so much the actual fever, as the complications that have set in. And her heart is all to pieces.”
“Well—let her depart in peace. Do not allow any news to reach her that will disturb her at the last. I want you to promise me that.”
“I promise, Mrs Stair, solemnly. Shall I come with you?”
“No, no. Go to her,” I said, and sped away on swift feet.
Long before I reached the camp the cheering and all sounds of exultation had ceased, and a strange stillness supervened. At the foot of the kopje, trampling on the tennis-court and among the zinias, were many men, their faces all turned towards the huts, talking among themselves in low voices. As I passed by a muffled silent figure, I caught a word or two.
“By God! That dirty brute of an Umlimo... Keeping a man like Kinsella—all these months! Nearly two years!”
“The trouble with the natives won’t be long coming now... Stair ought to get the V.C. Who would have thought he had it in him!”