• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 3628 0

marauders, and in the harshness of her family's hut she had learned the principles by which a Christian lives, and to such a life she was committed. She was honest, hard-working, a good mother both to her own daughter and to Tjaart's children by his first marriage, and although she could not attend church each Sunday, for the nearest was many miles away, she did hold personal services in which she thanked God for His merciful guidance. What He wanted in the matter of relationships between white masters and black slaves was so clear that an idiot could understand, and she proposed that she, her family and her nation obey those precepts.

'We will not abide by English laws,' she said as she left the men, 'if they run counter to the word of God,' and when she was gone, Tjaart called after her, 'What have you in mind?' and from the kitchen she replied, 'Leave here. Go over the mountains and form a nation of our own.'

Late one morning as Tjaart returned from inspecting his flocks he was alarmed to find five horses tethered at his house, and he assumed that new troubles had erupted on the frontier: 'Damn! Another commando!'

But when he entered the kitchen he found no sense of urgency. Five neighbors were drinking gin and joking with Jakoba and Minna as the two brought large platters of food. 'Veldkornet!' the men cried noisily as Tjaart entered, and there was ribald joking as to why he had been absent when they arrived.

Leader of the group was Balthazar Bronk, a man Tjaart instinctively distrusted. Bronk endeavored to be two quite different persons at the same time: with superiors he was obsequious; with others he tried to dominate in various pompous ways; and sometimes he was downright objectionable. He could never be simply Balthazar Bronk, farmer.

'Veldkornet,' he said humbly as Tjaart reached for a glass of gin. 'We've come to enlist your services.'

'No commando. I'm tired of fighting those damned Xhosa.'

The men laughed, for they knew that the first man to saddle up if trouble came would be Van Doorn, but Bronk continued: 'We're worried, Veldkornet. With English rule'

'Stop right there!' Van Doorn snapped, slamming his two hands down on the table. 'The English are in command, and slowly they're learning to do things right. Accept them.'

'Exactly what I said,' Bronk cried eagerly, and when he looked to the others for confirmation, they nodded. Then he coughed, adjusted things on the table, and went on: 'Under English rule our children will have to know moreto compete, to make us proud.'

Tjaart could not guess what would come next, but a quiet member of the group said, 'You're the only one of us who can read. None of our children can read'

'We need a teacher,' Bronk interrupted. 'Find us a teacher.'

'Who would pay him?' Tjaart asked cautiously.

'All of us. We have so many children.'

A census was taken, and when the numbers were announced they gave a good picture of Boer life: 'Eleven, nine, nine, seven.' And proudly Bronk declared: 'Seventeen.'

'You mean they all want to go to school?'

'Only the young ones,' Bronk said. 'Six of mine are married.' Then he smiled unctuously at Tjaart and said, 'You have how many?'

Tjaart swigged on his gin, then said, 'First wife, two boys. They're past schooling, but they have children. Jakoba, tell them how many you have.'

Wiping her hands on her apron, she said, 'Minna here.'

Five heads turned toward the girl, who blushed deeply, for she could see that they were thinking: Why isn't she married?

'Mejuffrouw Minna is not for school,' Bronk said with a wide smile, and the others returned to the task of finding a master, and as expected, Tjaart was of help: 'At Nachtmaal, I was speaking with Theunis Nel . . .'

Bronk groaned. 'We want a real teacher. Not a squint-eye.'

Another said, 'We must have a school. Go see him, Van Doorn.'

When Tjaart reined his horse at the northern farm of Gerrit Viljoen, he was astonished by what the owner said: 'Welcome! Have you come to talk with us about emigrating north?'

'Why do you ask that?'

'Six wagons passed here the other day. Men like