The covenant - James A. Michener [189]
'What kind of book is this?' Adriaan asked, for it was the first one other than his father's Bible that he had ever held in his hands. 'It deals with plants and flowers.'
And there on the beach by the wrecked ship Adriaan said the words that would determine the remainder of his life: 'I like plants and flowers.'
'Have you seen many here?' the young scientist asked, concerned always with his basic subject even though his ship had sunk.
'I have walked many miles,' Adriaan said with immediate recognition of the young man's intense interest, 'and wherever I went, there was something new.'
'That's what my uncle said. My job is to collect the new plants. The ones we haven't heard of yet in Europe.'
'What do you mean, collect?' Adriaan asked, but before the young doctor could explain, Hendrik shouted, 'Come on! There's lots more to take before she sinks.' And the two young Van Doorns continued with the plunder, but when there was nothing left and the ship started to break apart, Adriaan was drawn back to the scientist, and while the other trekboers helped the shipwrecked passengers build temporary huts to protect themselves till rescue ships arrived, he and Seena stowed the precious books upon their two horses and started walking back to the farm, accompanied by the young Swede.
I had intended [he wrote in his report published by the London Association] doing my collecting in India, but Providence sent my ship upon the rocks at the southern tip of Africa, where I was rescued by a remarkable couple with whom I spent the four happiest months of my life, living in a wattled hut. The husband, who could not read a word of any language, had made himself a well-trained scientist, while his wife with flaming red hair could do positively anything. She could ride a horse, handle a gun, drink copious quantities of gin, swear like a Norwegian, prune fruit trees, sew, cook, laugh and tell fabulous lies about her father, who, she claimed, had four wives. I remember the morning that I cried in my bad Dutch, 'God did not intend me to go to India. He brought me here to work with you.' They opened a new world for me, showing me wonders I had not anticipated. The husband knew every tree, the wife every device required for a good life, and when the four months ended in their hut, I was better prepared to start my collecting than if I had matriculated in a university. To my great joy and profit, this wonderful pair wanted to join me, even though I warned them that I might be gone for seven months. 'What's that to us?' Mevrouw van Doorn asked, and they rode off with me as unconcerned as if headed for a fete champetre in some French park.
They traveled farther east than Adriaan had gone on his first exploration, then due north into a type of land which not even he had ever seen. It lay well north of the mountain range and was desert, yet not desert, for whenever rain fell, a multitude of flowers burst across the entire landscape, submerging it in a carpet of such beauty that Dr. Linnart was amazed: 'I could spend a lifetime here and identify a new flower every day, I do believe.' When Adriaan inquired further as to why the Swede was collecting so avidly, Linnart spent several nights endeavoring to explain what the expedition signified, and in his report he referred to this experience:
Van Doorn wishing to know what I was about, I decided to unravel for him the full extent of my interest, holding back nothing. I laid forth Karl von Linne's organizing principle of genus and species, and within the first hour this natural-born scientist understood what I was saying better than most of my students at the university. He then asked me why Linne bothered with such a system, and I informed him that my uncle intended to catalogue every plant growing in the world, which was why I had come to South Africa, and he asked me, 'Even these flowers on the veld?' and I said, 'Especially