The covenant - James A. Michener [233]
The first white man Hilary met was a Boer living at a remote spot twenty-eight miles to the northeast, across hills that separated the Sundays River from the Fish. He rode into Golan one afternoon, a tall, rough-clad, white-haired old man who looked like someone from the early books of the Bible, his beard trembling in the wind. 'Name is Lodevicus,' he said in halting English. 'Lodevicus van Doorn.' He had come to warn Hilary not to allow any Hottentots from the north to take refuge at Golan.
'Why not?' Hilary asked.
They ... my laborers . . . they signed papers,' he growled, obviously disliking the necessity of speaking in a foreign tongue. 'They to work . . . not pray.'
'But if they come seeking Jesus Christ . . .'
Lodevicus showed his irritation that Saltwood made no effort to address him in Dutch: 'If you here . . . missionary . . . damnit . . . leam Dutch.'
'I should! I should!' Hilary agreed enthusiastically, but to continue the conversation it was necessary to find someone who had both languages, which put Lodevicus in the awkward position of lodging a complaint against Hottentots through the agency of a Hottentot. It was fortunate that Lodevicus did not recognize the melon thief, and insensitive to the impropriety, went on talking, with Pieter listening respectfully and saying 'Ja, Baas' at least once a minute.
'Baas say, "His Hottentots not come seek Jesus. They run away from work his place." '
'Tell him that even so, if any of his workmen were to come seeking refuge with me . . .'
No sooner had the interpreter started this sentence than Lodevicus interrupted.
'Baas, he say, "My goddamn workers come here, no trouble for you. I come gettim."'
'Tell him that if any Hottentot or Xhosa seeks Jesus Christ . . .'
Once more Lodevicus issued a string of threats, only some of which the Hottentot bothered to repeat. So this first meeting between the Boer and the Englishman ended in disarray, with Lodevicus shouting as he remounted his horse that Saltwood was no better than that damned idiot Simon Keer. He spattered what sounded like curses, and Hilary was told: 'Baas say damn-fool Master Keer come back, he meet him with sjambok.'
'Assure him that Reverend Keer is safely in London and will not be seen again in these parts.' When this was delivered, Lodevicus directed the Hottentot to say, 'Damn good thing.'
As a Christian, Hilary could not allow his first acquaintance with a neighbor to end so poorly, and with a complete change of attitude he said to the Hottentot, 'Ask Mijnheer van Doorn if he will join us in evening prayer?'
This sudden switch to the Dutch mijnheer softened the old man somewhat, but only for a moment, for he soon realized that the prayers would be conducted in English, whereupon he spat: 'I pray Dutch church.' And with that he galloped off, even though night was almost upon him.
And that was the way things stood between the mission station of Golan and the nearest white man to the north until the end of the first yearwhen the Reverend Simon Keer burst upon the South African scene with a reverberation that would last for two centuries, making his name accursed. He did not appear in person, which was prudent, since he would have been whipped, but a booklet that he published in England did arrive by ship. It bore the pejorative title The Truth About South Africa, and was a compilation of accusations against the Dutch so horrendous that the civilized world, meaning London and Paris, simply had to take notice.
It charged the Boers with having already killed off the Bushmen, annihilating the Hottentots, and beginning to abuse the Xhosaexpropriating their land, stealing their cattle, and killing their women and children. It was especially harsh in allegations