Read Online Rage by Wilbur Smith - Free Book Online Page A

and probable virginity made them even more attractive to Shasa, who enjoyed the chase as much as the kill.
    However, there was too much at stake here to risk giving the slightest offence. He avoided the shy but calculating glances that some of them cast in his direction, and avoided just as scrupulously the savage peach brandy and filled his glass with ginger ale. He knew he would need all his wits before the night was ended.
    When their appetites, sharpened on the hunting veld, had been blunted by the steaming platters piled with grilled venison, and the leftovers had been carried away delightedly to the servants’ quarters, Shasa found himself sitting at the end of the long stoep furthest from the band. Manfred De La Rey was sitting opposite him, and the two other ministers of the government sprawled contentedly in their deep lounging chairs flanking him. Despite their relaxed
attitudes, they watched him warily from the corners of their eyes.
    â€˜The main business is about to begin,’ Shasa decided, and almost immediately Manfred stirred.
    â€˜I was telling Meneer Courtney that in many ways we are very close,’ Manfred started quietly, and his colleagues nodded sagely. ‘We all want to protect this land and preserve all that is fine and worthwhile in it.
    â€˜God has chosen us as guardians – it is our duty to protect all its peoples, and make certain that the identity of each group and each separate culture is kept intact, and apart from the others.’
    It was the party line, this notion of divine selection, and Shasa had heard it all a hundred times before; so although he nodded and made small noncommittal sounds, he was becoming restless.
    â€˜There is still much to be done,’ Manfred told him. ‘After the next election we will have great labours ahead of us, we are the masons building a social edifice that will stand for a thousand years. A model society in which each group will have its place, and will not intrude upon the space of others, a broad and stable pyramid forming a unique society.’ They were all silent then for a while, contemplating the beauty of the vision, and though Shasa kept his expression neutral, still he smiled inwardly at the apt metaphor of a pyramid. There was no doubt in any of their minds as to which group was divinely ordained to occupy the pinnacle.
    â€˜And yet there are enemies?’ The Minister of Agriculture cued Manfred.
    â€˜There are enemies, within and without. They will become more vociferous and dangerous as the work goes ahead. The closer we come to success, the more avid they become to prevent us achieving it.’
    â€˜Already they are gathering.’

    â€˜Yes,’ Manfred agreed. ‘And even old and traditional friends are warning and threatening us. America, who should know better, racked by her own racial problems, the unnatural aspirations of the negroes they brought as slaves from Africa. Even Britain with her Mau Mau troubles in Kenya and the disintegration of her Indian Empire wishes to dictate to us and divert us from the course we know is right.’
    â€˜They believe us to be weak and vulnerable.’
    â€˜They already hint at an arms embargo, denying us the weapons to defend ourselves against the dark enemy that is gathering in the shadows.’
    â€˜They are right,’ Manfred cut in brusquely. ‘We are weak and militarily disorganized. We are at the mercy of their threats—’
    â€˜We have to change this.’ The Finance Minister spoke harshly. ‘We must make ourselves strong.’
    â€˜At the next budget the defence allocation will be fifty million pounds, while by the end of the decade it will be a billion.’
    â€˜We must put ourselves above their threats of sanction and boycott and embargo.’
    â€˜Strength through Unity, Ex Unitate Vires ,’ said Manfred De La Rey. ‘And yet by tradition and preference, the Afrikaner people have been farmers and