The covenant - James A. Michener [468]
But if Lord Kitchener believed that by imprisoning the Boer women he would break the spirit of their men, he misconceived the nature of these people, for when the women were thrown together, their resolve doubled and they, even more than the men, grew determined to see this war through to victory. When four had already died in her tent, Sybilla de Groot wrote a letter, which was reprinted in hundreds of newspapers:
Chrissiesmeer, Transvaal Christmas Day 1901
General Paulus de Groot,
Never surrender. If you have to fight on foot, one against five hundred, never surrender. Carry fire to all parts of the land, but never surrender. They think that because they have thrown us here and because they deny our children food to eat that we will urge you to stop. They miscalculate. From the bottom of our hearts we cry to you, never surrender. We send you our kisses and our love, and we pray for your victory. Run, hide, retreat, burn, dynamite, Paulus, but never surrender.
Sybilla de Groot Sara van Doorn and 43 others
Lord Kitchener's relentless pressure began to produce limited results. Certain weary men, contrary to their wives' pleas, did surrender. They were called contemptuously 'hands-uppers,' and in the early years of the war would have been shipped off to imprisonment in Ceylon or Napoleon's St. Helena. But now, with the war approaching an end, it was deemed economical to incarcerate them within the country; with their farms burned and their families scattered, the only reasonable solution was to add them to the concentration camps. This was a dreadful mistake, for when two of these men were billeted at Chrissie Meer, Sybilla, Sara and the other incarcerated wives marched to the doctor's office and warned him: 'Get those "hands-uppers" out of here or they'll be murdered.'
'Now wait, that's a fearful thing to say. These men'
'Get them out of here,' the women cried in unison.
'Ladies,' the doctor said in an attempt to restore sanity. Death from disease was one thing, but planned murder was another. 'Will you listen to reason?'
'If they sleep here tonight,' Sybilla said slowly, I myself will murder them.'
The doctor gasped. This was not a wild phrase thrown out in the heat of protest; this was the calm threat of a resolute old woman who could be depended upon to fulfill it. 'We'll move them away,' he said, and the women departed.
That was the last gesture Sara van Doorn was able to make. She was so weakened from continued fever that one morning, on a fearfully hot day, she had not the strength to rise, and Detlev went running for Sybilla, who was always up early to see if she could add a little food to the ration. 'Tant Sybilla,' the boy cried. 'I think Mother is going to die.'
'You're not to use that word.'
'She can't lift her head.'
'Then we must see what's the matter,' the old woman said, and she led the boy back to the tent. He was right, his mother was about to die. The long ordeal of keeping her family together without a husband, and now without proper food and medicine, had been too demanding. Her strength was gone, and even when Sybilla and Johanna pleaded with her, reminding her of her promise, she was powerless to respond, and toward noon, in the blazing heat, she expired.
Five in this tent had now died, so after the attendants took away her body they moved a new family of four in to take their places, and Detlev watched with equal interest the departure of his mother and the arrival of these four doomed women. But then he realized that he would never again see his mother, and with a half-wail he ran after her, clinging to Johanna's hand as the body was placed in one of Hansie's caskets. When Detlev sought consolation from this kindly carpenter, Hansie had to turn away, for he was weeping.
'Almighty God,' intoned the weary doctor, 'take these Thy children to Thy bosom.' He looked as if he might topple into the grave with them.
Of the four newcomers, two died quickly, and Johanna,