88. Eight crucifixes

The sun burns down on them when Boeta stops and looks back at the black girl. She looks weak and he wonders whether she can go much further. It was a tiring day. It is a wonder they have reached this place. The pool he has experienced as a placid pool of water, today was a dangerous, churning stream. He worried that they wouldn’t be able to cross the pool alive. They had no choice for they were entrapped by a large group of maniacs who followed them. They had simply no choice as to jump into the water and helplessly deliver themselves to the raging stream. He was surprised that such a young, black girl could swim so well and was delighted when they could, with the help of entangled branches, pull themselves from the stream. They then walked all along the stream deeper into the gorges with difficulty. Sometimes they had to follow narrow banks higher up. They advanced at a snail’s pace because the wide, raging stream left little space and seemed to wait for them to lose their balance an