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Authors: Isobel Chace
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back, nurse,’ he said more gently. ‘You’ll get to know it almost as well as you’ll know Kwaheri, so there’s no need to look like that!’
She gave him a mutinous glance. It was one thing to be snatched back to Kwaheri, but it was quite another to be treated like a spoilt child.
‘I’ll be ready to go in half an hour,’ he told her. ‘I’ll meet you at the aeroplane.’
She nodded her head, not trusting herself to speak. If it hadn’t been for the fact that he could have sacked her on the spot, she comforted herself, she would have had plenty to say.
It wasn’t until she had gone back into the guest-house that she wondered just why it was that she should be so angry. He had not said anything so very much. Why then should she have been so prickly? She went over his words in her mind and came to the conclusion that it had been a certain something in his face. Whatever it was, she knew that she wouldn’t dare keep him waiting at the aeroplane.
But from then on everything began to go wrong. Master Halifax had been allowed to over-eat and was feeling extremely sorry for himself. Marjorie was convinced that her baby was dying, and the neighbour, who professed to have once been a nurse, was quite helpless in the face of such a crisis. It took Sara all of three-quarters of an hour to get them straightened out and to make sure that such a thing would not happen again and she arrived at the airstrip breathless and dishevelled — and very definitely late.
Matt was already seated in the pilot’s seat, and he didn’t even glance at her as she scrambled in beside him.
‘I’m terribly sorry, Matt,’ she stammered. ‘It wasn’t my fault, really it wasn’t!’
His glance swept over her then, cool and a little disdainful.
‘Nurse Wayne, it was not just personal spite that made me decide that I had to return to Kwaheri today, whatever you may be thinking. When I give an order I expect it to be carried out promptly and efficient l y, not when it suits your convenience and accompanied by feminine pouts and tears. Is that quite clear?’
Sara nodded, quite unable to speak in the face of such injustice. It really had not been her fault that she had been late and she felt that he could at least have asked her why she had kept him waiting before being so unpleasant.
She pulled at the webbing straps and fastened herself into the seat, blinking hard to keep the tears out of her eyes.
They were airborne within a few seconds, the drone from the engine sweeping over their senses and numbing their brains until they became more accustomed to the steady noise .
‘Now, suppose you tell me what happened?’ Matt said kindly, relaxing in his seat now that they were high above the acres of soya beans beneath them.
But Sara only smiled and shook her head. If he wanted efficiency, that was exactly what he would get from her, but she had no intention of allowing herself to be seduced from her anger by such a careless sop! Instead she looked determinedly out of the window, pressing her nose against the plastic glass and wondering why his displeasure should have taken all the delight out of the trip.
Matt shrugged his broad shoulders indifferently and concentrated on the business of flying the Auster. He was a bit worried about the little aeroplane, a nameless fear caused only by the fact that James had been using the plane in his absence, and he knew that his brother had none of his devoted care for his possessions, often neglecting them until they were quite useless. In this instance he had no reason for thinking that the Auster had not been properly maintained, but nevertheless he kept his ears tuned for the slightest misfiring in the engine.
To Sara it seemed as though the silence between them was going on for ever. One conversational opening after another passed through her mind, only to be rejected, and her eyes searched the landscape below them for something to distract her from her own thoughts.
The great Masai
She gave him a mutinous glance. It was one thing to be snatched back to Kwaheri, but it was quite another to be treated like a spoilt child.
‘I’ll be ready to go in half an hour,’ he told her. ‘I’ll meet you at the aeroplane.’
She nodded her head, not trusting herself to speak. If it hadn’t been for the fact that he could have sacked her on the spot, she comforted herself, she would have had plenty to say.
It wasn’t until she had gone back into the guest-house that she wondered just why it was that she should be so angry. He had not said anything so very much. Why then should she have been so prickly? She went over his words in her mind and came to the conclusion that it had been a certain something in his face. Whatever it was, she knew that she wouldn’t dare keep him waiting at the aeroplane.
But from then on everything began to go wrong. Master Halifax had been allowed to over-eat and was feeling extremely sorry for himself. Marjorie was convinced that her baby was dying, and the neighbour, who professed to have once been a nurse, was quite helpless in the face of such a crisis. It took Sara all of three-quarters of an hour to get them straightened out and to make sure that such a thing would not happen again and she arrived at the airstrip breathless and dishevelled — and very definitely late.
Matt was already seated in the pilot’s seat, and he didn’t even glance at her as she scrambled in beside him.
‘I’m terribly sorry, Matt,’ she stammered. ‘It wasn’t my fault, really it wasn’t!’
His glance swept over her then, cool and a little disdainful.
‘Nurse Wayne, it was not just personal spite that made me decide that I had to return to Kwaheri today, whatever you may be thinking. When I give an order I expect it to be carried out promptly and efficient l y, not when it suits your convenience and accompanied by feminine pouts and tears. Is that quite clear?’
Sara nodded, quite unable to speak in the face of such injustice. It really had not been her fault that she had been late and she felt that he could at least have asked her why she had kept him waiting before being so unpleasant.
She pulled at the webbing straps and fastened herself into the seat, blinking hard to keep the tears out of her eyes.
They were airborne within a few seconds, the drone from the engine sweeping over their senses and numbing their brains until they became more accustomed to the steady noise .
‘Now, suppose you tell me what happened?’ Matt said kindly, relaxing in his seat now that they were high above the acres of soya beans beneath them.
But Sara only smiled and shook her head. If he wanted efficiency, that was exactly what he would get from her, but she had no intention of allowing herself to be seduced from her anger by such a careless sop! Instead she looked determinedly out of the window, pressing her nose against the plastic glass and wondering why his displeasure should have taken all the delight out of the trip.
Matt shrugged his broad shoulders indifferently and concentrated on the business of flying the Auster. He was a bit worried about the little aeroplane, a nameless fear caused only by the fact that James had been using the plane in his absence, and he knew that his brother had none of his devoted care for his possessions, often neglecting them until they were quite useless. In this instance he had no reason for thinking that the Auster had not been properly maintained, but nevertheless he kept his ears tuned for the slightest misfiring in the engine.
To Sara it seemed as though the silence between them was going on for ever. One conversational opening after another passed through her mind, only to be rejected, and her eyes searched the landscape below them for something to distract her from her own thoughts.
The great Masai
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