Keep Off This Grass

Chapter One

It was towards the end of August. At this time of the year many of the rivers in Southern Rhodesia were either low in flow or had dried up altogether, awaiting their refilling when the rains came again in November.

Day becomes night with little delay here, quite unlike the drawn out twilight in Europe. On this particular evening most of the local fauna were finishing off their usual ‘tasks’ before darkness set in, except for the nocturnal grazers and a small school of hippos still gambolling on the far side of the river. It was typical of the approach of a southern African night.

Suddenly the peace was broken by the sound of a gun being fired in the surrounds of a nearby kopje (a high outcrop of large boulders in the form of a steep but small hill), followed by the whistling of pellets ricocheting through the adjacent trees and rocks. The hippos looked around them, amazed at the unusual noise, then with the advent of the second shot, followed by human voices, the whole herd made for deeper waters.

‘Steady on there, whoever you may be. There are three of us here,’ a voice called out from a cleft in the boulders at the top and then two Europeans and an African appeared. Half-way down the kopje there was another European standing there, reloading his shotgun.

‘I have just shot those unpleasant reptiles,’ the owner of the gun stated, pointing to two long black cobras just ahead of him, still writhing in their death throes.

‘Who are you anyway and what are you doing here?’

‘We’re on our way to call on you, if you are Mr Craig, we left our car in the drift and were walking the rest of the way to your house to stretch our legs, taking our time as we did not expect to find you at home until the evening, so climbed up this kopje to get a view of the surrounding country.’

‘I’m Tony Craig. What do you want with me?’

‘My name is Tompkins and this is Mr Hedges. Our agent in Bulawayo wrote to you some time ago about buying your ranch, and although we learnt then that you were not interested in selling the place, we thought that if we came out to see you, we might be able to interest you in a good proposition.’

‘You’ve had a wasted journey. I have no intention of selling my ranch or any part of it, but come with me now to the house before it is quite dark and have some refreshment before you go back.’

Tony Craig had walked down earlier to the Sebakwe River, less than half a mile from his house, to check the remaining flow on the now narrowing main stream and found it quite moderate. He had never heard of this river drying up completely, but he liked to make sure. He had taken his shotgun with him in hope of bagging a wild duck or perhaps a brace of guinea fowl. Seeing nothing to supplement his larder on his way back to the river, he had made his way back by a roundabout route in the hope of spotting something else edible, such as a small buck.

Entering the kopje area from the rear, he had proceeded very quietly with his gun at the ready and half way up he had seen a large cobra slithering across one of the rocks ahead. He had wasted no time in despatching it and, going forward again, he spotted to his surprise another cobra hurrying away. This must be his ‘missus’ he thought and shot it with the other barrel of his gun, then on reloading he had seen the strangers ahead of him.

Reaching the house he settled his two visitors on the veranda, telling Dick, his personal factotum and friend of long standing, to look after their African boy.

‘Sundowners’ then appeared and Tony asked his guests what particular interest they had in his ranch as there were two or three other ranches in southern Matabeleland up for sale.

‘My brother,’ said Hedges, ‘was in the Rhodesian Police Force for some years and took a fancy to this place when on patrol in this area. Tom, my brother, only heard recently of the sudden death of your father and asked me to find out if the ranch was up for sale, and if so, to try to buy it for him. He is quite well off now, due to an inheritance. I discovered that the ranch now belonged to you, so I asked a land agent in Bulawayo to find out if you would be interested in disposing of it at an attractive figure.’

‘Well, now you have my answer again and at first hand. Kudu-Kop is not for sale. You will be wanting to get back and it is quite dark now, I will run you down to your car in mine; it is just outside and I wouldn’t like you to go astray. Dick,’ he shouted, ‘send their boy round to the front.’

Tony drove then quite a way before their car was reached. He was surprised to find it was parked well off the road behind some trees. He watched their car by its headlights for a while as it appeared now and then in the distance on the road to Umvuma.

Although their story could be considered plausible, Tony felt that there was something ‘fishy’ somewhere. Both his visitors had appeared uneasy and when he got back he asked Dick if their visitor’s boy had made any comments.

‘All he said, Baas, was that he worked for a contractor in Umvuma and he had been asked by his employer to guide the two Europeans to Kudu-Kop as he knew where it was.’

‘He was only a Mashona anyway,’ finalised Dick.

Tony knew only too well what the Matabeles thought of Mashonas.

The next morning, Tony went back to the kopje where he had met his two visitors, taking Dick and a young native boy by the name of Tickey with him. On the way there he told his two assistants that he had shot ‘Izinyoka azimbili’ (two snakes) and to look out for their remains. Tickey was the first to spot one of the carcases.

‘There is one of them, Baas,’

‘Good boy,’ replied Tony and on looking around he pointed out to Dick from where he had seen the visitors emerge.

‘There should be a cavity or cave there. Let us have a look.’

They soon found a likely spot, and on entering a cave-like aperture, Tony noticed a small opening at its rear and began to realise how lucky his visitors had been. If there had been no other way out, the two cobras would have had a go at them. After searching around Dick, found a bundle of small sacks and a spiked hammer tucked under a flat stone.

‘So that was what they were doing,’ mused Tony, ‘prospecting, but why here?’

As far as Tony knew, there were no mineral formations of any value within miles, except chrome and that was unlikely to be of interest to them. The ownership of land in Rhodesia includes usually the mineral rights as well, but in some areas, mining in particular, the farmer owned and worked the land on top and the mining company was concerned only with the minerals below. Tony knew that his title deeds included all mineral rights.

Chapter Two

To give him his full name and qualifications, Anthony Russel Craig, B.V.Sc., M.R.C.V.S., was now aged 32. He had been at school in England, followed by a university veterinary course and then a post graduate session in South Africa on the veterinary practice peculiar to that part of the world.

His father, an agriculturist, had settled in Southern Rhodesia when a young man and purchased and built up a large cattle ranch, ‘Kudu-Kop’, situated in the south central part of the country, some three hundred miles from both Bulawayo to the north-west and Salisbury to the north-east. The ranch covered some one hundred and twenty thousand acres on which there were now upwards of ten thousand head of cattle.

Russel Craig, Tony’s father, had started the ranch with cheap native stock and had gradually improved their progeny by using good grade Hereford bulls so that Kudu-Kop was now a thriving concern. Russel Craig, being an agriculturist, used some of his efforts on improving his grazing lands. With the limited rainfall, so many acres were calculated per beast, whereas in England there were so many beasts per acre. English stock with their prime grazing produced first class beef cattle more rapidly and subsequently more tender, of course, but with improved grazing Rhodesian cattle were not far behind.

Kudu-Kop was situated in wild but beautiful country with plenty of woodlands and was comparatively well watered. The ranch abounded with game and numerous wild animals. The areas used were far too vast to be fenced and the herds of cattle were controlled by batches of African herd-boys so that they could be moved about rapidly to secure adequate grazing and water.

In addition to the main homestead in the south, where Tony Craig lived, there were two other bases; one in the northern part named Elephant Hill, and the other on the eastern side, Leopards Vlei. Both these bases were managed by Europeans. The cattle were rounded up periodically in each of the three sections, when everybody who could be spared assisted. Calves were separated from their ‘mums’, no easy matter, branded and according to their sex reallocated. Fat stock were marshalled, and then driven to the nearest railhead and sent to Bulawayo for slaughter and sale, a goodly proportion of them hopefully making top grade for export.

It was a pleasant life but not an easy one. The margin of profit was not large and consequently losses had to be kept to a minimum. Grazing, the only feasible means of feeding, had to be carefully watched and controlled at all times, the main danger being veldt fires. One uncontrolled fire could mean ruin, while at the same time precautions against animal diseases could never be relaxed.

Tony had a particular flair with animals and his object in becoming a vet had been twofold. Firstly to establish a practice in the midlands of Rhodesia and secondly to be near to Kudu-Kop to be able to assist his father. Sadly, however, both Tony’s father and mother had been killed in an air accident some three years before, leaving the ranch to Tony, so he had unexpectedly to choose between pure veterinary work or to become a rancher. He did not have any difficulty in deciding in favour of the latter.

The Craig family now consisted of Tony and his younger twin sisters, Patricia and Pamela, aged twenty six. They had been living in England with an aunt to finish their education and subsequently to train as nurses, but after their parents’ death, the twins had suggested to Tony that they would like to return to Rhodesia and make their home with him.

Tony had tended to put them off until recently, as he felt that after living in England so long, with all the amenities there, they might soon tire of ‘wild and woolly’ Rhodesia. Tony’s nearest neighbours were some thirty miles distant from Kudu-Kop and there were but few others within easy distance. Umvuma was the nearest town, if you could call it that, forty odd miles away; it’s main function being a small gold mine in the nearby hills. There was a railway branch line passing through it from Gwelo in the centre of the country running due south to Fort Victoria.

Pam had had, unfortunately, a rather disturbing love affair several months beforehand. Two months ago it had been discovered, luckily in time, that her ‘fiancé’ was married already. Tony did not hesitate then and made arrangements for them to come out to Rhodesia right away. They were both due to arrive in Bulawayo in ten days’ time and Tony was going to meet them there and bring them back to the ranch by car.

Tony’s services as a vet were quite often in demand but his own animals kept him busy. There were periodical visits by government veterinary surgeons but with constant outbreaks of contagious animal diseases, they did not get around to all their areas as often as they would have liked, and quite often had to rely on Tony to help them out, and he never failed to co-operate with them.

Tony’s father had built his house on rising ground overlooking part of the Sebakwe River valley. There was a small range of hills behind the house and tall timber, mainly blue gums (Eucalyptus), which helped to improve the background as well. It was delightful position for a house of any standards.

The dwelling itself was a good-sized bungalow with a wide veranda around the front and on each side and with walls built of solid burnt brick with a high roof of corrugated iron. Although the house had started off as a square one, it had developed over the years into a ‘U’, the legs of the ‘U’ being at the rear to create an internal courtyard in the centre. In front the main entrance led to a wide hall with a fairly large lounge on each side of it. The front faced a lawn and flower gardens, while the veranda was covered in a fine wire mesh and where the veranda terminated, the windows were similarly covered to keep out the numerous flying insects attracted by the lights at night. On one corner of the house a study was situated, with a side window looking out onto the stables and other outbuildings. On the other front corner there was a ‘Den-come-Library’, leading off the lounge fitted with French windows leading to another garden and the orchard. Next to the ‘Den’ was a dining room facing the separate kitchen, joined to the house by a short covered way.

Down both sides of the ‘U’ from the hall were bedrooms and bathrooms with a box room at the end. In the garden on the orchard side were two brick and thatch rondavels, joined in between by a bathroom. These two additional outside rooms often came in handy when there was a spate of visitors.

The separate kitchen buildings consisted of three rooms; kitchen, scullery and store-room, the latter with a cellar underneath it for those items requiring a cool atmosphere. The whole place was lighted with pressure paraffin lamps.

The outbuildings on the other side of the house and at the rear consisted of a dairy, farm stores, implement sheds and further away were stables and, since Tony’s arrival, a veterinary surgery.

The African staff quarters with their own gardens were a little closer to the river and ideal for their families.

There was an immense vegetable garden at the far rear of the house. This was under the charge of an elderly African now named ‘Beckett’, helped by a young lad , ‘Tickey’, and it flourished with their combined efforts, Tony’s guidance, and a bore-hole surmounted by a windmill and with a high storage tank permitting modest irrigation. This tank also supplied ample water for the house. Tony’s father had planted a variety of trees when he first came to Kudu-Kop and all of these were of a good size now. The fruit trees consisting of oranges, lemons, peaches, apricots and pawpaws while the orange trees there had flowers, green fruit and ripe fruit almost throughout the year. Beckett, incidentally, had started off life at Kudu-Kop as Thomas, but hearing himself addressed more often than not as ‘Thomas-a-Beckett’, he decided to adopt the latter part of this address. It is doubted if the historical personage concerned would have been impressed, but Thomas was, most certainly.

Tony was delighted with the prospect of having his two sisters with him. The house by now definitely needed a woman’s touch and it would be pleasant to have it filled up a bit with people. He hoped that he twins would not find it dull, and with this thought in mind, he went in search of Marpol, his head man.

‘I think, Marpol,’ he decided, ‘that the first job will be to resurface the two tennis courts. I will try to get a new net in Bulawayo next week. We should look around too, for a good spot to dig and make a swimming pool.

‘The swimming pool will be easy ,Baas. Not far below the front gardens there is a wide dip in the ground that could easily be dug out and water could be pumped up from the river to it with that old donkey engine in one of the sheds. We used to use it, if you remember, Baas, for pumping water up to the house before your good father had a bore-hole sunk.’

‘Come on, we will go and have a look at the pit now.’

‘This spot will be ideal, Marpol,’ he remarked when they reached it. ‘It will have to be lined with burnt brick and the cement faced, and as it is on high ground we will put in a pipe so that the water can be emptied back into the river again. Make sure the engine is alright and send word to the builder boy and his gang that we have two jobs for him. But please have the tennis courts seen to first of all.’

Chapter Three

Before leaving for Bulawayo, Tony had a chat with each of his two section managers on the party telephone line. Kudu-Kop was connected by ‘phone with Umvuma and his neighbours, and the Umvuma exchange could get him through with patience. In the ‘wilds’ of Rhodesia, each telephone user was responsible for maintaining the actual line half-way to each neighbour on either side. Falling trees and occasionally stray elephants were but two items that could upset communications, although the repair of the line as not generally a difficult job. There was a code of ‘rings’ for each subscriber; one ring for Tony, two for Elephant Hill, and so on. A subscriber could, of course, listen-in to anyone else’s conversation, thereby providing a distinct source of ‘intelligence’ for most of them, especially the wives.

Tony learnt from Jack Drummond, his senior section manager at Elephant Hill, that all was well there.

‘I am leaving Marpol here Jack, and he will stay by the ‘phone each day from 8 to 9 am, 12 to 1 pm, and again between 6 and 7 pm. He knows how to use the ‘phone if he wants to get in touch with you at any other time.’

‘I will make myself readily available,’ said Jack, ‘but before you go Sarah would like to have a word with you.’ He passed the phone to his wife.

‘I am delighted to hear that the twins will be with you soon Tony,’ said Sarah, ‘just what Kudu-Kop wants. It’s high time you thought about marriage yourself.