Huberta's Journey. Cicely van Straten

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      Seven

      Nosibanzi led the remnant of the herd down the river. At night they moved with the flow of the water. When hunger gnawed, they stumbled ashore to graze but never ventured far from the river.

      Driven by their terror of men, they huddled by day in backwaters, lurking under the dark shade of fig and thorn trees.

      At last the river brought them to a tidal estuary, half brackish, that was of no use to the sugar industry. Nosibanzi carved out a place for them on a sandy spit. Here the cows and calves wallowed and basked, protected by him and the young bull. At night they wandered ashore to graze.

      Two new calves were born to the herd, and Novikela’s calf was growing into a strong young female. The curiosity of her calf days was tempered now by new knowledge. She had learnt that to survive she must remain hidden from humankind, that when threatened by them she must move on to where they were not.

      She was just past her twentieth month when the flood came.

      Since midday indigo thunderclouds had been building inland. The storm broke at night and rain drummed over the hills. The water rushed in torrents down dongas until streams became rivers and the big river swelled into a flood.