The Ghost at Doringkloof

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Their camping trip wasn't easy to organise because both Pepper's mother and Pete's parents forbade them to go. It was far too dangerous, they argued. In fact, if it was not for help from Rajit and Lwazi's fathers, the whole thing might never have happened.

Mr Chetty's love for outdoor adventure was well known and he took great pains to explain how he thought it would be perfect for the boys to experience it for themselves. "Doringkloof Farm is safe place," he said with conviction. "It good they camp."

Mr Radebe, on the other hand, had another reason for his wanting Lwazi to go. "We Xhosa have a custom," he explained, "that boys must spend time by themselves before circumcision. In just a couple of years Lwazi must go back to his ancestral home to become umkwetha. This camp will help him prepare."

Mrs Pepperoni gave way but only after Pepper promised faithfully to take extra care and not do anything silly. Each had also to promise that they would climb and abseil only in places that were absolutely safe and where no-one could be injured. Pete's pa, however, still refused to let Pete go.

Saturday dawned at last, yet none of them was ready for it. Pepper overslept, Lwazi was late and Rajit phoned to say he had a puncture. They all felt sad too because Pete would not be coming and a camp without Pete would just not be quite the same thing.

They were about to set off when Pete's sweating face suddenly appeared at the kitchen door. "Thought I'd missed you," he gasped. "Had to run all the way."

"Pete!" they all cried in delight.

"What happened?" Pepper asked. "Your dad change his mind after all?"

"Poppie change his mind?" Pete exclaimed. "No ways! I just had to wait till he went to work so's I could slip off. He'll find out tonight when he gets home. By then it'll be too late."

"He'll be furious, you know," Rajit said.

"Course he will," Pete agreed, wiping his face with the back of his hand. "I'll get thrashed - probably lose the skin off my bum! But Ma said to go, so it's not as if I've run away or anything. He won't send the cops to look for me."

Pepper shrugged. "I wouldn't like to be in your shoes when you get home," he said. "But it's your lookout. Come on, let's go."

It was late in the morning by the time they pedalled out of Pepper's drive. Pete sat on Lwazi's cross-bar, his legs protruding stiffly into mid-air and causing the bike to wobble until they picked up speed. They approached their task with energy, despite some difficult hills that forced them to get down and push.

They had just reached the top of the last painful hill and were about to rest in the shade of some blue gum trees, when a strange sound reached their ears. It was like the flick of a small whip, followed immediately by a muffled thud. It happened again, and then again.

After puzzling it for some moments, curiosity got the better of them and they went to investigate. An unexpected scene greeted their eyes. They found Jumbo Rabe in the road ahead, standing alongside a deep ditch. He held a catapult in his hand and was aimlessly firing pebbles at some target on the opposite bank.

He was waiting for "The Gang" to arrive and, without looking up, he greeted the cyclists as if they were his pals. Pepper was deeply surprised at his friendliness and it was only much later that the truth dawned on him.

Jumbo, on the other hand, quickly realized his mistake but the blunder had been made and couldn't be unmade. He also had no wish to appear foolish. Instead he decided to brave it out by offering them a go with the sling.

"See if you can hit it," he invited.

The target now became apparent. A large crab was struggling to make its way to the top of a slope and the countless stones littering the area indicated Jumbo's many attempts at hitting it. As a rule Pepper would never have thought of shooting the creature but Jumbo's odd friendliness had an affect on him. He therefore stepped forward, seized the sling and let fly with a stone.

It certainly was beginner's luck. The stone thudded home directly beneath the crab, loosening the soil and causing the creature to tumble backwards into the ditch. It landed on its back and lay there, its several legs cranking frantically in an attempt to right itself.

"Wow!" exclaimed Jumbo. "You're a genius with a catty. I'm surprised, you being a Catholic and that."

The praise was sincere but it pained Pepper's conscience. He had always been taught that harmless creatures should not be hurt and now he felt guilty. He therefore mumbled something about being late, mounted his bicycle awkwardly and began freewheeling away, leaving Jumbo to resume his aimless shelling of the crab.

When they reached Doringkloof Farm, they gave the haunted house a wide berth. If there were ghosts to be found, they'd prefer to see them later . . . much later. In any case, they were all too eager to reach the campsite and begin climbing.

The kloof itself was not difficult to find, its red unscalable cliffs scarring the countryside. A swiftly flowing stream made the area look less harsh and dry. It gushed over a rocky lip, to plunge into a deep pool some thirty metres below, from where it gurgled along the floor of a narrow canyon strewn with boulders.

"We'll have to hide the bikes and go down over there," Pepper said, pointing. "There's a sort of a gully hiding a steep path. It's not easy but the only other route is much further on."

Pepper was right. The path was anything but easy. It was damp and slippery underfoot, and a wrong step could cause them to tumble a long way. There were also the masses of loose stones which seemed to collect together in awkward placed.

"It's called scree, you know," Rajit informed them. "Falling rocks get trapped and all, and if you step on them, they start rolling and who knows where they'll take you."

They skirted the patches of scree and their path brought them safely to the bottom, where they collapsed on a flat bed of smooth rock beside a deep pool of fresh but murky water. To their left the stream cascaded down a narrow chute, almost a slide, to plunge in a shallow arch at the bottom, like the spout from some gigantic kettle.

"Jacob's Slide and Ladder," Lwazi mused. "And there's the ladder!" He pointed to the rock face, rising like a wall from the surface of the pool and criss-crossed with deep cracks.

"It does look rather like a giant's ladder," Pete exclaimed. "Jacob's Ladder . . . the one Jacob saw in the Bible leading to heaven!"

"Sounds more like a game," Rajit said. "You know, snakes and ladders."

"You won't get snakes down here," Pete declared. "Snakes can't swim."

"Course they can," Lwazi objected. "Snakes are amphibious, like lizards and frogs."

"And all amphibians can swim," Rajit added.

Pete, however, mocked the idea. "Show me their feet!" he demanded. "Amphibious creatures all have webbed feet. Show me a snake's webbed feet!"

It was an argument that no-one could win. Although they had studied amphibians in science only a few days earlier, they couldn't remember whether or not snakes were part of the picture.

"Come on, let's climb," said Pepper, changing the subject. "That's what we came here for."

"Do you think we could climb Jacob's Ladder?" Rajit asked.

"Easy," Pete observed. "We won't even need ropes to go up there."

It seemed true enough but they had given their word that they wouldn't take chances. In any case, although the rock face rose vertically from the pool, its summit was a mere scramble from the top of the Slide. It would be easy therefore for someone to scurry up that way and belay the rest as they climbed.

Pepper decided that, as captain of the expedition, it was his responsibility to lead the assault on Jacob's Ladder. Because Rajit owned the ropes, he would be given the privilege of being the first to belay them. That would leave Lwazi and Pete to fight about who would be second to do either.

The Ladder was initially an easy climb and somewhat disappointing. A narrow ledge skirted the pool, leading them to the foot of the rock face. At that point the wall was found to be not quite vertical but sloped away from them, with cracks wide enough to support their hands and toes without much trouble. Pepper therefore scooted upwards as if it were a race, almost too quickly for Rajit to haul in the rope.

Just as he thought the climb was nearly over, however, Pepper struck a problem. Towards the top there was an overhang. It was not such that it was noticeable from where they had stood earlier but, now that he was under it, he discovered that there was no way up.

He made several attempts but it was impossible and he nearly fell. He then tried to the left of the overhang but found that the rock was smooth and offered no hand-holds, so he soon abandoned that route. The best prospect appeared to be to his right except for an awkward buttress of rock which jutted out over the pool.

Pepper eased his right arm around the buttress, fumbling blindly for a hold. He found one. Now it was the turn of his right leg. He stretched it round the corner, groping for a toe-hold. His foot found a crack, slid into it.

He noticed that his hands were beginning to sweat heavily as he transferred his weight to the right foot. His legs began to judder with the strain. He glanced down and saw the icy water directly beneath him.

Concentrate on your task, Pepper told himself. Don't look down. He pulled his body round the corner and suddenly heaved a sigh of relief. It was over. The worst was behind. The rest was just gentle slope, with plenty of holds to scramble upwards.

He collapsed next to Rajit, his fingers almost too weak to untie the knot at his waist. He lay back in relief, felt the mid-afternoon sunshine on his body, listened to the ceaseless sound of the stream, watched as Rajit threw the rope down for Lwazi to begin his climb.

"He'll never do it," Pepper muttered. "I almost didn't make it, so no-one else will."

Lwazi too found the first part of Jacob's Ladder easy. Because he was somewhat shorter than Pepper, the hand-holds were even better situated as he hurried upwards. Just as he thought he would be able to beat Pepper's time, however, Lwazi reached the overhang and his forward movement ended abruptly.

He had watched nervously when Pepper had rounded the buttress, yet there was nothing for it but to go that way. By now his palms too were becoming moist, making the handholds slippery. He found it difficult to maintain his grip.

Three times Lwazi attempted to round the buttress but his legs were short and he couldn't find the toe-hold. Three times he was forced to retreat to the refuge beneath the overhang to rest. By the fourth attempt he realised his hands were sweating badly. He was about to slip. He looked upwards for help but Rajit was still hidden by the overhang.

"Tsala, Rajit!" Lwazi shouted. "Pull tight! I'm falling."

Rajit in the meantime was puzzled. Three times he had reeled in the rope as Lwazi attempted to round the buttress, only to feel it tighten as the climber retreated. He could see now that his friend was in exactly the same position as before.

He heard Lwazi's voice, distant and muffled against the babbling of the stream. The words were unintelligible but he presumed the climber was retreating once again. He allowed the rope to rest slackly in his hands.

Suddenly Lwazi fell. One minute he was gripping the rock for all he was worth, the next he was in free flight, waiting for the rope to tighten and stop his downward plunge.

It didn't happen. Instead he hit the icy water of the pool with a mighty splash, submerged fully, felt his feet touch the bottom briefly and surfaced moments later, spluttering from shock and surprise. He tried to swim for the flat rock on the opposite shore. Rajit, however, had already taken in the slack and was reeling him back like some enormous fish.

Pete watched the proceedings from the side, his mind quite made up. It was safer by far to slide down the chute and enjoy the afternoon swimming. He headed immediately in that direction, shedding his clothes as he moved.

"I'll join you," a soaked Lwazi shouted.

Already Pepper was scrambling down the rocky slope, discarding his clothes as well. Rajit, his hands and legs lacerated by Lwazi's fall, was left to haul in his rope before joining the fun.