Down the track towards them pelted three small figures, jostling one another for advantage, their faint squeaks of excitement gaining rapidly in volume, long hair flying wildly, fluttering skirts of faded and patched cloth lifted high above the knees so that bare legs flashed, faces freckled and flushed, contorted with exertion and excitement and recrimination.
"Salina! You promised to wait!"
They bore down on where Ralph stood with the lovely blond girl on his arm.
"Good God!" Ralph whispered again, and Salina squeezed his elbow.
"That's the second time that you have used the Lord's name, Cousin Ralph. Please don't." So that was the reason for her faint displeasure.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry." And he remembered too late that Salina's parents were pious missionaries. "I didn't mean -" Again he was thick-tongued, for suddenly this girl's opinion was the most important thing in all the world. "I won't do it again. I promise."
"Thank you," she said softly, and before either of them could speak again they were surrounded by what appeared to be an ocean of small females, every one of which was bobbing up and down with remarkable rapidity, competing vocally for Ralph's attention and at the same time shrieking accusations at their eldest sister.
"You cheated, Salina. You told us "Ralph, Cousin Ralph, I'm Victoria, the eldest twin."
"Cousin Ralph, we prayed God to speed you to us."
Salina clapped her hands, and there was a barely noticeable reduction in the volume of sound.
"In order of age!" she said calmly.
"You always say that because you are the eldest!"
Salina ignored the protest and picked out a dark-haired child with a hand on her shoulder.
"This is Catherine." She drew her forward to face Ralph. "Cathy is fourteen."
"And a half, almost fifteen," said Cathy, and her manner changed with this declaration, becoming ladylike and controlled.
She was thin, and as flat-chested as a boy, but the young body gave the immediate impression of strength and suppleness. Her nose and cheeks were peppered with freckles, but the mouth was full and frank, her eyes the same Ballantyne green as Ralph's own, and her thick dark brows were a frame for their bright intelligent gleam. Her chin was a little too large, as was her nose, but they had a determined set and thrust. Her thick dark hair was plaited and piled on top of her head, leaving her ears expose small and pointed and lying flat against her head.
"Welcome to Khami, Ralph," she said evenly, and bobbed a small curtsey, holding her skirts up as she had obviously been coached; and Ralph realized that the skirt was made of old flour bags that had been stitched together and dyed a muddy green. The lettering still showed through: "Cape Flour Mills".
Then Cathy reached up and kissed him quickly, and it left a little wet spot on Ralph's lips. Kissing was obviously the accepted family salutation, and Ralph glanced with trepidation at the eager but grubby faces of the twins.
"I'm Victoria, the eldest., "And I'm Elizabeth, but if you call me "baby", I shall hate you, Cousin Ralph."
"You won't hate anybody," Salina said, and Elizabeth hurled herself at Ralph's neck, got a fair grip and hung on as she plastered her mouth to Ralph's.
"I was teasing, Ralph. I shall love you," she whispered fiercely.
"Always! Always!"
"Me!" howled Victoria indignantly. "I'm older than Lizzie. Me first."
Salina led them with that gliding walk which did not move her shoulders and barely ruffled the white-gold curtain of her hair, and every once in a while she turned to smile at Ralph, and he thought he had never seen anything so lovely.
The twins each had hold of one of Ralph's hands, and they gabbled out all the things they had saved up for weeks to tell him, and skipped to keep pace with his stride. Cathy came up behind them all, leading Tom. She and the pony had formed an immediate accord.
oh, he's beautiful, Ralph," she had said and kissed Tom's velvety muzzle.
"We don't have a horse," Victoria explained. "Daddy is a man of God, and men of God are too poor to have horses."
The small party straggled over the first low rise beyond the river, and Salina stopped and pointed down into the shallow basin ahead of them.
"Khami!" she said simply, and all of them looked to Ralph for approbation.
There was a notch in the next line of granite hills, a natural divide and shed for underground water, which accounted for the spread of lush grass that carpeted the valley.
Like chickens under the hen, the small huddle of buildings crouched beneath the hills. They were neatly laid out, thatched with yellow grass and painted dazzlingly white with burnt limewash. The largest building had a wooden cross set proudly on the ridge of the roof.
"Daddy and Mummy built the church with their own hands. King Silly Cat would not allow any of his people to help them," Victoria explained.
"Silly Cat?" Ralph asked, puzzled.
"King Mzilikazi," Salina translated. "You know Mama does not like you using fun names for the kings, Vicky," she rebuked the child mildly; but Victoria was shaking Ralph's hand excitedly and pointing to a distant figure in the valley below them.
"Daddy!" shrieked the twins in unison. There's Daddy!"
He was working in the precise geometrically laid out gardens below the church, a lanky figure whose shoulders remained stooped even when he stood upright and looked towards them, stabbed his spade into the earth and came striding up the hill.
"Ralph!" He swept off the sweatstained hat, and he was bald, like a monk, with just a fringe of silky hair forming a halo around his pate at the level of his ears. It was immediately apparent from whom Salina had inherited her glorious white-gold tresses.
"Ralph," the man repeated, and he wiped his right hand on the seat of his pants and then held it out. Despite the stoop, he was as tall as Ralph, his face deeply tanned, his bald dome as shiny as if it had been waxed and polished, his eyes pale blue as a summer sky, washed out by heat haze; but his smile was like Salina's, calm and tranquil, so that as he took the hand Ralph realized that this was the most contented and deeply happy man he had ever met in his life.
"I'm Clinton Codrington," he said. "And I suppose I must count as your uncle, though goodness knows I do not feel that old."
"I would have known you anywhere, sir," said Ralph.
"Would you indeed?"
"I have read Aunt Robyn's books, and I have always admired your exploits as a Royal Naval officer."
"Oh dear." Clinton shook his head in mock dismay. "I thought to have left that all far behind me., "You were one of the most illustrious and courageous officers in the African anti-slavery squadron, sir." Ralph's eyes shone with a still boyish hero worship.
"Your Aunt Robyn's account suffered a dreadful list to port, I'm afraid."
"Daddy is the bravest man in the world," Victoria declared stoutly, and she released Ralph's hand and ran to her father.
Clinton Codrington gathered her up and held her on his hip.
"And yours, young lady, is probably the most unbiased opinion in Matabeleland," he chuckled, and Ralph was suddenly sharply jealous of this palpable aura of deep affection and love which welded the little group, from which he felt himself excluded. It was something beyond his experience, something he had never missed until that moment. Somehow Salina seemed to sense his pang of melancholy, and she took the hand that Victoria had relinquished.
,"come," she said. "Mama will be waiting. And there is one thing you will soon learn, Ralph. in this family, nobody keeps Mama waiting."
They went down towards the church, passing between the beds of growing vegetables.
"You didn't bring any seed?" Clinton asked, and when Ralph shook his head, "Well, how were you to know?"
and he went on to point out with pride his flourishing crops. "Maize, potatoes, beans, tomatoes do particularly well here."
"We divide it this way," Cathy told Ralph, teasing her father. "One for the bugs, two for the baboons, three for the bushbuck, and one for Daddy."