Chapter 4

Olandar’s joy at seeing her mistress with a new love was because the death of Laura’s husband Laurence Denton a few years ago, had been shocking not only for her but all those on the Ranch.

Laurence Denton, aged 56 and the founder of the Rancho Mining Company, had been murdered in a very ugly manner! He had been found in the mine with an axe stuck in his back!

The reason why was a mystery? The murderer unknown? It became an unresolved murder, which had cast an air of fear and suspicion.

Since then Miss Laura had been sad and alone, with only Olandar and her son Obitty to really trust in; they had bonded and become family.

So now, seeing Laura with a strong man by her side once more, was very reassuring, and would be comforting for all those on Ranchos.

Some though would say, he’d taken on a tough task in following on from Laurence Denton, who had set up the company from scratch!

Laurence Denton had been the son of an English coalminer back in Devon, who knew his work would cause his death. So he’d forbade his son Laurence, ever to go down the mines; and to seek work elsewhere.

Young Laurence chose to join the crew of a tramp steamer as a cabin boy.

So at sixteen he bade his home farewell and then had to endure the initiation of being bugger’d by the ships first mate!

He overcame various hardships that befall a newcomer to a life at sea, but grew in stature and self-confidence, seeing many ports of call. One port of call became special to him; he had fallen in love with the sight of Table Mountain.

Whenever docking in Capetown, Laurence Denton felt the mountain beckoned him into a magical land of promise that lay beyond.

Eventually he responded to that call and jumped ship!

If caught he would face harsh treatment as a deserter ... but he wasn’t caught because instead of being drunk in a bar, he was on his way off along the south African coast.

He’d traded his tramp-steamer, for a magical land, and he was captivated!

He passed first through Port Elizabeth and then through East London; before nearly reaching Durban. And it was while camped on the outskirts and seeking water in a dried-up gully, that he first found diamonds!

His path from finding diamond bearing land to establishing Rancho Mining was long difficult, dirty and complex, and by the time it was a going concern Laurence Denton was aged twenty-eight and still unmarried.

But he hadn’t needed a wife to have a full sex life. In the process of building the mining company he was much sought after. There were wealthy people wanting to do business deals, offering pleasing enticements down to poor men prepared to offer their woman for entertainment in their bid for employment at the mine. Sexual favours were a currency as they so often are in business anywhere. Even when a lad wants to go to sea on a tramp-steamer.