1. SECRETS ON THE PLAINS
Chapter 1
FOUR VILLIANS AND A GIRL
Through the blue-green thorn veld, a single rider races, and the light-brown horse runs so fast that it seems as if its belly is touching the ground. The rider heads straight southeast through the thorny bushes, through the ripe grass, and through the gray open plains.
That rider sits forward in the saddle, just behind the saddle horn, and she keeps looking back. Then she lays into the brown horse with her whip, and it speeds up even more to close the distance ahead.
This girl sits comfortably in the saddle because she knows the back of a horse well. Her hair, long and shiny reddish-brown, is gathered under a bright sunbonnet at the back of her head, and with her wide riding skirt and all, she sits astride the saddle like a man. Her hands are small, fine, and tanned, but firmly on the reins, and in her right hand, she swings the whip of genuine hippo hide with striking skill.
She comes down a rocky slope, twisting and kicking up dust between the thorn bushes when she looks back again. A cold feeling grips her insides as she sees them appear on the horizon, the four riders who have been chasing her for almost an hour. She knows them by heart now. There are the two dark brown horses, the jet-black horse, and the light blue one. When she looks back, she sees them for a moment on the horizon, but then she sees how they spur their horses on again and come storming after her anew.
About an hour ago, they tried to ambush her in the rocky outcrops further north, but with a skillful twist of her horse down a sandy gully, she temporarily shook them off, reached the flat plain, and then began to outrun them. She got a good lead on them because she is light, and her horse is strong. But now they are relentlessly closing in on her. She saw this with shock. Apparently, her light-brown stallion does not have the stamina of the pursuers’ horses.
There is a fierce determination on her beautiful face as she leans forward in the saddle again and speaks softly to her horse. Even if she dies today, she must not let herself be caught. Because if she is caught, it could mean that a great ideal of her father will be lost. Not only for him, but also for her, who has nearly grown up in this tough wilderness.
A suffocating fear grips her because she knows how far Kimberley still lies. Miles and miles away across these grass plains. She will still have to race through dozens of camel thorn groves and probably hundreds of gray bush plains before she can reach the red earth and the cluster of houses of Kimberley.
But she simply must reach it, no matter what. She takes the next hill swiftly and determinedly. Her stallion’s breath comes in gasps, but he now runs with a deadly rhythm and flies like a kudu over the blood-red anthills that temporarily try to obstruct his path. She climbs out of the wide open space, and when she looks back again, she sees that her pursuers are already in the riverbed of the plain. Now they are catching up with her quickly. She also sees that they are no longer chasing in a group. They have spread out slightly, and she immediately knows what the intention is. When she suddenly wants to dart to one side or the other, one or the other of them will immediately cut her off.
The small saddlebag made of kudu leather flaps wildly as she races, and occasionally, she touches it quickly, just to make sure it’s still there. Then she pushes it behind her back, where it can be safer, and focuses intently on the chase again.
The hill takes her up to a red, rough rocky area, to the crest of a plateau through which a deep fissure runs. She heads for it now. She knows this fissure through the plateau very well because she and her father once came through here. It was long ago, but she remembers it as if it were yesterday. Actually, it’s a small river that flows here and has carved a path through the rocky area over the years.
In the riverbed, she knows, there is usually a long hippo hole that holds water for months. She remembers this well because she and her father once camped there. Then she washe
