The covenant - James A. Michener [341]
In the days that followed, even Tjaart, who was not quick to perceive nuances, became aware that something gravely wrong was occurring in his family, and one evening he followed Minna, and from a hiding spot, saw with astonishment his daughter's brazen conduct. Shame prevented him from breaking in upon the lovers, but next morning, after the cattle were tended, he went to his daughter's tent, told Theunis to go teach his class, and then confronted Minna.
'I know what you're doing. I saw you behind the wagons.'
'I can't live without him, Father. I'm going down into Natal.'
The possibility that a child of his should be guilty of disobedience was more than he could tolerate; a red haze flooded his eyes, and he recalled instructions from the Bible: 'If a child be disobedient, he shall be killed. If a woman commit adultery, she shall be stoned to death.' In his befuddlement he knew not what to say, so with a wild sweep of his arm he knocked her to the ground, then stormed at her, calling her names from the Old Testament, threatening to drag her before the public to be humiliated.
When his rage subsided, and some kind of sanity returned, he lifted her from the earth and held her as she trembled from the fury of his blow: 'Minna, God has tempted you and me. We have both been guilty of great sin. Tomorrow we go north to prevent the destruction of our souls. And tonight you sleep in my tent, because you are precious to me and I cannot bear to lose you.'
Next morning, 6 July 1836, Tjaart van Doorn, Theunis Nel, Balthazar Bronk and four other families not in the original group formed a new unit to cross the Vaal River and start a fresh community dedicated to the rule of God, the proper relationship between master and servant, and the strict separation of races. It took them eighteen days to reach the river, and with each tramp of the oxen's hooves, Minna Nel and her father felt more and more desolate, for they would never again see the persons they loved.
Only once did either of them mention the mournful separation; Minna said as she walked beside her father, 'My heart seems to break at every step. I realize now that he is gone. I heard a trekker describe the Drakensberg. Once a man crosses those mountains, he will not come back.'
Tjaart, desperately hungry for someone to talk with at this crisis in his life, confessed: 'Because of what you saw, you will find this hard to believe. But my heart yearns for three people. Most of all, little Paulus de Groot. I should love to watch him grow into a man. His possibilities are endless. And I will miss Lukas, too. And after them, Aletta, in a different way.'
'We'll never know.' And that was all she said, plodding her way toward the Vaal.
When they reached the river they found it swollen by an unexpected flood, and were forced to camp on the south bank, where they found several other parties also waiting for the water to subside. At first Tjaart was vexed by the forced delay, but one day the assembled Voortrekkers saw a heavy cloud of dust to the south, and as it approached they discerned four wagons accompanied by the complement of Coloureds, blacks and cattle.
It was Lukas de Groot, hurrying north to overtake his friend, and when the two men met, there was unspoken apology, silent acceptance. 'When I thought about it,' De Groot said, 'I knew my fate was to the north.' He did not add, 'With you,' but the joy his son Paulus displayed at being reunited with Tjaart spoke for the entire family. It was a happy, sensible reunion, and not even