The covenant - James A. Michener [72]
It was a futile trip. All that remained aboard the creaking wreck were the heavy guns and anchors and the broken woodwork, and these had no appeal to the Hottentots, who had been taught by Coree after his return from London, 'Wood nothing, brass everything.' The brass had long since vanished.
But as the others climbed back into the boat, Willem chanced to find a hidden drawer containing an item of inestimable value. Hearing the officer coming down the gangway to hail him, he slammed the drawer shut and followed the Hottentots ashore.
That night when others were asleep he told the watch, 'I want to inspect the Haerlem again,' and silently he rowed out to the ship, which had now settled nine feet into the sand. Fastening his line to a stud, he climbed aboard, going quickly to the captain's quarters, where he opened the drawer. And there it was, with thick brass corner fittings and center clasps.
Carefully opening the brass locks, he turned back the cover and saw the extraordinary words: 'Biblia: The Holy Scripture translated into Dutch. Henrick Laurentsz, Bookseller, Amsterdam, 1630.' This was a printing of the very Bible his mother had cherished and he knew it would be most improper to allow a book so sacred to sink at sea, so covering it with his shirt, he carried it back to the fort, where he hid it among his few possessions. Occasionally in the days ahead, when no one was watching, he gingerly opened his Bible, reading here and there from the sacred Word. It was his book, and at the New Year he borrowed a pen and wrote on the first line of the page reserved for family records: 'Willem van Doorn, his book, 1 January, 1648.'
The Dutch sailors at Table Bay were not forgotten. During the twelve months they stayed, nearly a hundred Dutch ships engaged in the Java trade passed back and forth between Amsterdam and Batavia, standing far out to sea as they rounded the Cape. Some English ships actually sailed into the bay, offering help as needed, and in August three Compagnie ships anchored near the fort, providing mail, information and tools.
The captain of the Tiger, leader of the flotilla, caused Willem serious trouble, because on the evening prior to his departure for Java, he announced at the fort that any sailors who wished to return to that island for an additional tour of duty were welcome, and three volunteered. 'We sail at noon tomorrow,' the captain said, and all that night Willem wrestled with the problem. Intuitively, with a force he would always remember in later years, he shied away from going on to Holland, a land he did not know and to which he felt no attachment. But if he failed to join the Tiger, right now, the next fleet would be Europe bound, and he might never see Java again.
Toward midnight he woke the fort commander and said, 'Sir, my whole heart pulls me toward Java.'
'And mine,' the officer responded, and with swift phrases he explained how any man of character who had once seen the Spice Islands would never want to work elsewhere: 'It's a man's world. It's a world of blazing sunsets. Java, Formosa! My God, I'll die if I don't get back.'
'My mother argued'
'Son, if I weren't commander of this fort, I'd ship aboard the Tiger like that!' And he snapped his fingers.
'My mother says that no Dutchman has a chance with Jan Compagnie if he's born in Javaunless he gets back home for education and proper church training.'
'Well, now!' the commander said in the dim candlelight. 'Well, now, Mevrouw van Doorn is the smartest woman in the islands, and if she says...' In some irritation he banged his fist on the table, causing the candle to flicker. 'She's right, goddamnit, she's right. Jan Compagnie has no respect but for Amsterdam trading