Chapter 10 Summary

A cyclone-caused rain starts up and stays constant for three days. As if to tease, it diminishes for a morning, and then full tropical torrential rains come down. People carry plastic sheets to attempt to stay dry. Dirt streets turn to mud and become impassible. A torrent at a small gully turns into a sudden flood that sweeps a couple in their car away to their deaths. This closes the main road between the city and Mehring's farm. The back road is also impassable, effectively keeping Mehring in the city for two weeks. With the phone lines out, he has no way of knowing what is happening at the farm. He worries constantly.

Jacobus is frantic at not being able to contact his master, but he does handle the situation well. He keeps the farmhands in line, and they only lose one of...