Sunset at Sheba Read Online Free PDF

to ask questions. Keeps himself to himself. More used to the veld than the town. Quiet chap with a habit of sitting still and looking harmless. But don’t be taken in by that,’ he ended. ‘It’s an old hunter’s trick.’
    Romanis leaned across the billiard table to where Plummer was sullenly poking at the balls again.
    ‘I’m damned if I’d have too many scruples in dealing with a bloody Sheeny,’ he said. ‘Especially one with a criminal record.’
    ‘When you’ve a few more years on your back, Romanis,’ Plummer said with insulting calmness, ‘I’ll start listening to you. Barnato was a Jew. So were plenty of others. For the time being there’ll be no violence.’
    Kitto snorted. ‘Rhodes would have said "Clap him in irons and say he was drunk",’ he muttered over his shoulder.
    ‘This is the Twentieth Century,’ Plummer persisted.
    ‘And there’s a war on. And a lot at stake.’
    ‘Perhaps a slight show of force,’ Winter suggested quietly. ‘To encourage him on his way. What’s wrong with Kitto seeing him clear of the town, seeing he goes where he promised to go? Why not a few men between him and Plummerton so he can’t come back even if he does change his mind?’
    Plummer turned. ‘Kitto’s no longer employed by me,’ he pointed out. ‘He doesn’t lead company police these days. He leads Government troops. He’s a soldier and he volunteered. He’s in charge of a military area now with orders to look out for De Wet. I wouldn’t ask him to get himself mixed up in any of your crazy wild west schemes.’
    Romanis looked up. ‘Besides,’ he said, ‘what about the woman?’
    Winter laughed. ‘Where did you learn your gallantry, Romanis? The Trocadero? The Criterion bar? Polly would probably welcome the company. She’s a warm-hearted soul and likes a man about the house.’
    ‘Suppose he got awkward?’
    ‘With Kitto and his armed might just behind?’
    ‘This is a company matter,’ Plummer persisted. ‘And Kitto’s interests in my affairs are subordinated to the nation’s now - with my complete approval.’
    Winter looked up at Plummer from the corner of his eye, then glanced at Kitto who had taken no part in the discussion.
    ‘Don’t rush it, Offy,’ he said. ‘I think I see a Homeric craving for martial valour brewing up.’
    Kitto was flicking at his boots with his crop, the everlasting soldier, enduring and honest to the point of embarrassment. He was watching them with a faint hard scorn in his eyes and as Winter spoke, he clasped his hands behind his back and stalked down the room before turning to face them. ‘None of you’ve noticed that the country’s interests are marching side by side with Offy’s for the moment,’ he said brusquely, with a suggestion of contempt for the narrowness of their vision.
    ‘What do you mean?’ Plummer laid down the cue and looked up.
    Kitto’s face was twisted disdainfully. ‘What could bring down Offy could bring down the Government,’ he pointed out. ‘If Fabricius picks this boy up, all this about Willie’ll be worth a thousand men to De Wet - a thousand of those damn’ Dutch - Huguenot farmers who were born with a rifle in their hands and a horse between their legs. Any hint of British sympathy with them could mean the end of Botha, and the Union - the end of South Africa, the end of England. I only came here today for old time’s sake, but looked at that way this affair comes within my sphere. What’s to stop me taking an armed patrol into Dhanziland, ostensibly to search for De Wet, and sitting on this merchant’s tail? I’d not be transgressing from my orders, and at the same time I might do a lot of good.’
    ‘That’s the answer, Offy,’ Romanis said enthusiastically, the everlasting schoolboy with a head full of easy solutions. ‘That’s just the thing you want.’
    ‘I’m not doing it for Offy,’ Kitto snapped immediately, incensed by the suggestion that he was caught up in their intrigue. ‘I’m