A Vendetta of the Desert

Descended from a Dutch settler family that built a wine farm in the Cape, the van der Walts carry a centuries‑old curse. An ancient legend tells how an ancestor betrayed a fleeing Lutheran preacher, prompting a mysterious dog to howl as an omen of doom for any van der Walt about to die. The tale has been handed down through generations, a chilling warning that haunts the family whenever the mournful cry sounds beneath a dying relative’s window.

In the story’s opening, Tyardt van der Walt is summoned to his ailing father’s bedside, where the dreaded howl pierces the night. Faced with a threat to lose his inheritance unless he silences the specter, Tyardt fashions a makeshift bullet from a broken Bible clasp and climbs into the darkness to confront the unseen menace. Tension mounts as he waits, gun in hand, for the phantom to reveal itself.