The covenant - James A. Michener [491]
Piet Krause saw it as his duty to keep the farm and the town of Venloo at the center of Transvaal activity; he forced everyone to follow with careful attention everything that happened, and was always ready to explain its significance. On the memorable day in 1910 when the four disparate colonies the English Cape and Natal, the Afrikaner Orange Free State and Transvaalwere united by the Act of Union into one nation, with its own governor-general, prime minister and parliament, Krause exulted: 'Now we're set on our own course. What we accomplish is up to us. Think of it, boys! Someone in this school may be a future prime minister of a country that is totally free.' He looked at each of the boys, endeavoring to inspire them, but he was thinking of himself.
'We're not totally free,' one bright lad said cautiously. 'We're still a union which owes allegiance to the king.' Seeing his teacher frown, he added, 'We're part of the British Empire.'
'Don't use that word!' Krause stormed. 'We have no quarrel with Britain. Do we fight against Scotland or Wales or Ireland? Not at all. Our fight is with England.' And from then on, his students used only that word.
'Will we always owe allegiance to the king?' the same boy asked.
'That will change,' Krause said firmly, but for the moment he was not prepared to explore details. However, on his next visit to the farm, Detlev recalled that brief exchange and asked, 'Do you think we will break away from England,' and to his surprise, Krause did not respond, but Johanna did. With a fierceness Detlev had not seen before, she orated: 'We shall never be free until we do break away. We must have our own flag, our own anthem, our own president, and not some bedamned Englishman like Governor-General Gladstone making believe he's our king.' On and on she went, outlining a program whereby the Afrikaners would take over control of the nation, as free men and women: 'In Pretoria only Afrikaans will be spoken, only Afrikaners will hold positions of power.'
'Will the English allow this?' Detlev asked.
'We will find ways to make them allow it,' Johanna said, at which General de Groot applauded.
'There will be ways,' he agreed, slapping Detlev on the knee. 'And this young fellow will discover what they are.'
In private conversations Johanna Krause was always the one who gave fiery direction, but in public, as in any good Afrikaner family, she allowed her husband to take the lead, and one morning in school he excited his pupils by announcing, 'I want everyone who can do so to bring his parents and his wagon, and we'll ride up to Waterval-Boven to see a magnificent sight.' He would not tell them what, but when he insisted that General de Groot come along, the old man predicted: 'He wants you to see where President Kruger ruled this country in the last days,' and when they reached that revered spot, De Groot lectured the children: 'The great man lived on these railroad tracks, in Car Number 17, first up here above the waterfall, then down below in the little house next to the hotel. And you must remember one thing,' he warned them in a voice quivering with anger, 'no matter what lies the English newspapers print, Oom Paul Kruger did not run away with half a million pounds in gold. It left Pretoria somehow, but he never took it.'
It was neither the waterfall nor the lost gold that had attracted Piet Krause. His attention was reserved for the clock, and at three he assembled everyone at the railway station.
'We're about to witness a glorious moment in our national history,' he said, and when the train from Pretoria appeared around a bend he and his wife led the children in wild applause, though what they were clapping for, the students did not know.
Piet had arranged with the stationmaster that the train would halt for six minutes, but when the first three customary carriages drifted slowly past, showing no special passengers, General de Groot told Detlev, 'I don't understand.' But now fifteen roofless cattle trucks creaked to a halt, allowing the amazed schoolchildren to stare into the yellow