The covenant - James A. Michener [478]
'At the camp, Dr. Higgins cried a lot.'
'Who was Dr. Higgins?'
'The man who was supposed to keep us alive. When we died, he often cried. Men don't do that.'
'Answer my question. "Why are the English so clever and we Boers so dumb?"'
'My father isn't dumb,' Detlev said quickly. 'And you're not dumb, Oupa.'
'I mean in books and banks and things like that.'
'I don't know.'
'The English are clever because they know things we don't.'
'What things?' Detlev asked, all attention.
'Books. Figures. Big ideas.' These words landed like Krupp shells in the little kitchen. No one spoke, and Detlev looked at his three elders, each of whom nodded. He would never forget this heavy moment.
'So what you are to do, my young clever one, is go to the English school and find out everything they know.' When Detlev nodded, the old man continued: 'You are to be the brightest boy that teacher has ever met. You are to learn everything.'
'Why?' the somber little boy asked.
'Because when you know as much as they do, you can declare a new kind of war against the English.' The old man's hands began to tremble. 'You are the generation that will win this country back. You will win the war that your father and I lost.'
General de Groot felt so strongly about this that he personally led Detlev in to Venloo, and he was impressed by the efforts taken to improve the old house that now served as schoolroom and hostel, and by the care with which Mr. Amberson had arranged things. There were books, and slates, and pictures on the wall... When he saw the florid portrait in color of King Edward VII he turned away.
'We are honored to have with us this morning,' Amberson said in hesitant Dutch, 'a great hero of this country, General Paulus de Groot, the hero of Majuba, the Avenger of the Veld. We never did catch you, did we, General?'
De Groot was astounded by such words coming from an Englishman, and when the nineteen children applauded he dropped Detlev's hand and retreated.
At the end of the second week, when De Groot returned to fetch Detlev, he asked no questions on the short ride to the farm, but that evening when supper was ended, the three adults sat the boy in a chair, faced him, and asked, 'What happened?'
He liked school and especially he liked Mr. Amberson, who was patient with his young scholars. 'He explains everything,' Detlev said enthusiastically, 'but sometimes I can't understand his words.'
'Does he teach in Dutch?' Johanna asked.
'Of course. We don't know any English.'
'What does he teach you?'
'That King Edward is now our king . . .'
Johanna stomped out of the room.
'Does he teach you how to figure?' De Groot asked. 'Oh, yes!' And with some enthusiasm the little boy began to recite the two-times table, but in English.
'What are you saying?' De Groot cried.
'Two-times,' the boy replied.
'But in what language?' the old man roared.
'In English. Mr. Amberson says that after he learns our language and we learn his, all classes will be in English.'
De Groot was so agitated that he began pacing about, but after a while he calmed down and lifted the boy up, sitting him on his knee. 'Of course. You must learn English as fast as you can. Every week you must learn more English, because that's how they conduct their affairs.'
But at the half-year mark, when General de Groot went to fetch Detlev, he found the boy quite distraught but unwilling to talk, so on the way back to the farm he did no probing, but when they were assembled that night Detlev suddenly burst into tears. 'What is it?' Johanna asked with great solicitude. She allowed the old general to mastermind the lad's education, but she felt responsible for his safekeeping, and when he wept in this manner she knew that something most serious had occurred, for he was a boy who did not cry.
'What is it, Detlev?'
'I had to wear the dunce's cap.'
He knew the word only in English, and when the three demanded further explanation, he fashioned with his hands the long, thin paper hat he had been required to wear four times that week.
'What for?' the general exploded.
'Because