The covenant - James A. Michener [399]
'First of all,' one of the young gentlemen told Saltwood, 'he's known as Oom Paul, Uncle Paul. He's twenty-eight years older than Mr. Rhodes and will demand due respect. He's very vain, you know.'
'And ugly as sin,' another said. 'His face is all crags without the grandeur of mountains. His nose is marked with bumps, and his eyes are hooded. He stands leaning backward, with his great belly projecting forward. But because of his height. . . He's much taller than Mr. Rhodes and will treat him like a little boy.'
The first instructor resumed: 'He was in the Great Trek, you know. Killed some of Mzilikazi's warriors. Extraordinary strength. Extraordinary bravery. He's fought in all the wars.'
'But what you must remember, in all his life he's had only three months of schooling. He boasts, "Only book I ever read was the Bible, but since that contains all knowledge worth knowing, it's enough." '
'Do not,' the first man warned, 'react in any way if he mentions the earth.'
'I don't understand,' Frank said, seeking to build up his portrait of the Boer leader.
'Oom Paul believes the earth is flat. The Bible says so. And if he finds that either you or Mr. Rhodes holds it to be round, he'll stomp out of the room. He's also convinced that the Boers have been given their republics by God Himself, so Mr. Rhodes will be forced to prove that joining our empire is what God proposed, not Mr. Rhodes.'
'The one thing in your advantage, Frank, is that even though Kruger hates colonial Englishmen, he despises Uitlanders. Calls them the atheistic rabble stealing his land. He sees the English miners, Australians and Americans as impious and immoral, and he's not going to concede them anything. But if Mr. Rhodes can insinuate that he feels the same way about the Uitlanders . . .'
'It must be done with tact,' the oldest of the gentlemen warned. 'Oom Paul is beloved by his Boers. He's a dictator, because he knows he has total support, no matter what he does. He'll be imperious, objectionable, insulting and infuriating. But consistently he outsmarts the Uitlanders sent to deal with him. He's a brilliant manipulator. You are not meeting an ordinary man.'
One of the younger men added, 'And remember, the world is flat.'
Frank went to sleep that Thursday night with three adjectives reverberating: 'Stubborn, opinionated, God-driven,' and he concluded that in contesting with Oom Paul, Mr. Rhodes might be in for a difficult tussle, but then the adjectives that depicted Mr. Rhodes began echoing: 'Relentless, self-assured, empire-driven,' and he began to wonder if perhaps it might be President Kruger who would need help. Before he fell asleep he recalled the description of Kruger's appearance: 'Ugly as sin,' and he reflected that spiritually Mr. Rhodes might be described with those same words.
Late on a Friday afternoon they arrived in Pretoria in Mr. Rhodes' private coach, and they retired early so as to be up fresh and ready for their important meeting; Frank observed that Mr. Rhodes took special care with his shaving, as if he were seeing a princess, and adjusted his tie and high-collared coat so as to make the best appearance. In a carriage they rode through this extremely Boer town until, on a handsome street, they came upon an unpretentious cottage, somewhat Oriental in style, marked by a wide stoep on which stood a comfortable armchair. In it, so that all Pretoria could see him consulting with his people, sat Oom Paul himself, a hulking giant of a man, shoulders hunched forward, belly out, legs spread wide, his hooded eyes inscrutable, his beard framing his massive face. He was holding court for whoever