Sunset at Sheba Read Online Free PDF Page B

doing it because it’s obviously my duty.’
    Plummer was thinking deeply, studying the cigar he was smoking, his pale blue eyes expressionless.
    ‘It’d have to be a large patrol,’ Kitto went on slowly. ‘I couldn’t risk being caught out there by De Wet with just a few men - but if I took the cars I’d be good and mobile and I could get back easily if I’m needed. I can pick up a detachment from the Sidings and wait for him there. But he’ll shift all right when he sees us coming. He might even lead us to De Wet. That’d be a feather in my cap after all these years.’
    ‘You might even save Britain the year of grace and the series of defeats she seems to need to set about fighting a war,’ Winter grinned.
    Hoole moved forward, uneasily. ‘I don’t like it,’ he said. ‘It sounds risky and I feel we oughtn’t to go too far, Offy. The whole thing’s too trivial. Fabricius could never make his accusations stick.’
    ‘Mud will always stick,’ Plummer growled. ‘Willie holds several of my directorships, and in politics that makes us the same person.’
    Kitto had been standing by the door, his honest none-too-clever face calm and self-assured, his stance Napoleonic, waiting for Plummer’s approval.
    Now he half-turned, eager to get on with the job. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I’ll see this damn’ Yid off the premises for you.’
    Plummer nodded. ‘Thanks, Kitto. I’ll see a word’s put in the right ear for you. You’ve been neglected too long.’
    Kitto’s expression didn’t change. ‘I don’t need bribing,’ he said. ‘I’ll do the job properly without that.’
    ‘Perhaps a little chivvying now and again might even encourage them,’ Romanis suggested enthusiastically.
    ‘Don’t be so confounded bloodthirsty!’ Plummer snapped. ‘There’ll be no violence.’
    ‘Sammy Schuter’s not the sort to ask for kid-glove treatment,’ Winter pointed out. ‘He’d understand perfectly well what you meant if you rode his camp down in the darkness. He’s done it himself when he’s found people poaching on his hunting grounds.’
    ‘There’ll be no violence,’ Plummer insisted. ‘Understand, Kitto? No violence. Just see he leaves, that’s all.’
    ‘If he’s only got a horse, I’ll run rings round him,’ Kitto said confidently. ‘I’ll go and organise it now.’
    ‘I’ll come with you,’ Romanis said. ‘I’d like to be in on the fun.’
    Plummer winced as the door slammed behind them, and Winter sighed.
    ‘I thought people like Kitto went out of date when the last Spartan fell dead at Thermopylae,’ he said.
    Plummer looked weary, unmoved by humour. ‘He’s too damned honest,’ he said. ‘That’s the trouble with Kitto.’ He turned to the newspaperman. ‘That’ll be all, Hazell,’ he concluded flatly. ‘Thanks for your help.’
    Hazell nodded, accepting his dismissal, and the door clashed behind him.
    ‘Better have Fabricius in now, Hoole,’ Plummer said, and Hoole stopped polishing his spectacles and went to the door. ‘And don’t go away. Stay with me. I’ll need you.’
    Hoole nodded and as he disappeared, Plummer turned to Winter.
    ‘Frank,’ he said. ‘Go with Kitto.’
    Winter sat up abruptly. ‘Go with him?’
    ‘Keep an eye on things for me.’
    ‘Offy, I’m no soldier!’
    ‘I can have you accepted as an accredited correspondent any time. Only requires a telephone call. Kitto’d be glad to have his name in the paper. Many a soldier’s reputation’s been made by having a newspaperman handy.’
    Winter considered for a moment. ‘I thought my job was digging up other people’s dead dogs for you, Offy. Digging ‘em up and nailing ‘em to the wall where everybody could see ‘em. Or keeping your own well buried and stamped down.’
    Plummer frowned. ‘Kitto’s hotheaded,’ he said. ‘I need someone with him to keep an eye on things. And Romanis is no damn’ good. I’ve never been lucky with my subordinates.’ He looked up, smiling