Brawajo

Bulawayo is the setting for Anthony Cade’s reunion with Jimmy McGrath and the first decisive exchange about the work that will draw Cade into the novel’s central intrigue. Introduced as a hot, uncomfortable stop on a tour, the city gives way to a new direction when Jimmy asks his friend to take on the task connected with a valuable manuscript.

Setting and Introduction

Bulawayo initially appears through the perspective of Castle’s Select Tour, whose seven women and three men have found the city oppressively hot and dull. The travelers are waiting for the planned motor trip to the Matoppos, and Cade has kept them occupied by suggesting picture postcards. Their boredom makes the arrival of his old friend into a small spectacle: the tourists watch as the tall, lean Cade, admired for settling disputes and cheering them up, steps aside with the thick-set Jimmy.

The city is thus both a literal pause in the tour and a contrast between routine travel and unexpected encounter. The group’s interest in the meeting reflects its appetite for the unusual, while the conversation that follows quickly moves beyond the tourists’ view and changes the direction of the story.

Cade and McGrath’s Meeting

Cade and Jimmy speak apart from the touring party. Jimmy teases Cade about his company, asking whether he is starting a harem; Cade answers in the same light-hearted spirit, rejecting the idea of taking up with that particular group. Their banter establishes an easy familiarity before the practical matter between them comes into focus.

That night, at about ten o’clock, Cade enters the small room where Jimmy is busy mixing drinks and asks him to make one strong. Cade says he needs it, and Jimmy replies that he can understand why, adding that he would not take on Cade’s job. The exchange links the day’s reunion to a serious commission and shows that Jimmy already knows the undertaking is demanding.

The Commission and the City’s Narrative Role

The conversation in Bulawayo concerns the manuscript that has been following Jimmy around. Jimmy has booked passage toward Cape Town and is reluctant to abandon a planned journey into the interior, but the manuscript’s deadline leaves him little time. He also worries that the whole business may be a hoax and invokes the warning not to trust princes or politicians.

Cade recognizes what Jimmy is proposing: Jimmy can continue his gold-hunting plans while Cade collects the thousand pounds offered for the work. Cade asks what share he will receive, and Jimmy proposes a quarter. The exchange turns the reunion into a bargain between friends, joining practical travel plans and financial risk to the political mystery that will unfold elsewhere.

Bulawayo’s importance is therefore concentrated in a change of course rather than in a later sequence of action there. It is where Cade’s traveling life intersects with Jimmy’s obligation, and where the manuscript’s uncertain value, the thousand-pound payment, and Cade’s willingness to accept a share become the premise for the next stage of the plot.