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'What have the Americans done now?'

'No fear. This is Afrikanerdom at its best,' and he dragged Saltwood into the main room, where the first thing Philip saw was a colored photograph of Sannie in her wedding dress. Quickly he turned away, but as he did so he caught Marius looking at him, so he asked casually, 'How's she doing?'

'Fine. Frikkie has a job with government. Everyone has a job with government.'

'What's the hilarity?'

'The drought.'

'I fail to see the humor. Things look rather barren out there.'

'Not here. Up north at Blinkfontein.'

'Let me see,' Philip said in total confusion as he reached for the newspaper.

'No, you must read the background story first. I have it here somewhere,' and Marius held on to the paper which had caused his mirth while rummaging through a pile by the window. 'Here it is.'

When Philip took the old paper he had no doubt as to which story had caused the merriment, for the first page was dominated by a carefully posed half-page photograph of a man completely nude, accompanied by the headline: nudist identified as cause of drought. The straight-faced story explained that Mrs. Leopold van Valck, chairlady of the Blinkfontein Moral Action Committee, speaking on behalf of her forty-three members, had determined that the prolonged drought which had so harmfully affected her area was caused by God's anger at a man named Victor Victoria, who invited couples, not always married, to his farm near Blinkfontein to engage in nude sunbathing. Mrs. van Valck believed that if Mr. Victoria was allowed to continue his nude bathing, God would continue to afflict Blinkfontein, so her committee was handing down an ultimatum: 'Get some clothes on or face the consequences.' She did not indicate what these consequences were, but implied that they would not be pleasant. On the other hand, if Mr. Victoria would consent to get dressed, she assured him and the other citizens of Blinkfontein that rain would fall fairly soon, in accordance with II Chronicles, Chapter 7, verse 14:

If my people . . . shall humble themselves, and pray . . . and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

She concluded, 'So it's up to you, Mr. Victoria. Put on your clothes and bring us rain.'

Philip passed the paper back with a sigh. 'We have crazies in our country, too. And you ought to see what happens in Texas.'

'That's not the point!' Marius cried, slapping the later paper into Salt-wood's hand, and there on the front page was another photograph of Mr. Victor Victoria, fully dressed, accompanied by the headline: nudists dress, heavens bless. On the afternoon of the morning on which Mr. Victor Victoria's guests put their clothes back on, a torrential rain arrived, not only ending the drought but also washing away two small bridges. Mrs. van Valck, chairlady of the Blinkfontein Moral Action Committee, was quoted as having said, in the midst of the storm, 'Mr. Victoria is a good neighbor. He pays his bills. And he listened to reason.' There was a second photograph of Mr. Victoria, fully clothed, at one of the washed-out bridges, with the caption: 1 must have worn too much.

'Perfect ending for my visit.'

'Are you really leaving?'

'Reluctantly.'

'Amalgamated would certainly find you a job, the price of gold being what it is and diamonds doing so well.'

'Yes, but . . .' He indicated the photograph of Van Doorn's daughter.

'I know at least two dozen girls in Pretoria as pretty as Sannie.'

'But not Sannie. If things had worked out differently . . .'

He was standing at the big window, looking off toward the lake and the striations left around its sides by the drought. 'If it rained up in Blinkfontein, it'll be moving down this way within the next couple of days. Your lake should fill again.'

'Always has. Looks to me as if it's been there a thousand years, maybe a million.'

'Things here are very old,' Saltwood said perfunctorily. Then he stopped, turned, and faced his friend. 'What did you say?'

'I said