The covenant - James A. Michener [73]
When dawn illuminated Table Mountain, young Willem van Doorn made his decision: the Tiger would sail without him; he would obey his mother's orders and sail on to Holland with the March fleetbut as the Tiger was about to hoist anchor he set up a great shouting, 'Captain! Captain!' until the commander thought he had changed his mind and now wished passage to Java.
Not at all. He was running to the post-office stone under which he had buried the six letters addressed to Java. Puffing, he ran to the Tiger's, longboat, and the documents were on their way.
When the ship pulled away he felt little regret, for as it went he had the curious sensation that he was intended for neither Amsterdam nor Batavia: What I'd like is to stay here. To see what's behind those mountains. That night he read long in his Bible, the sweet Dutch phrases burning themselves into his memory:
And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them ... go up into the mountain and see the land ... and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad . . .
And as he studied other texts dealing with the reactions of the Israelites to the new land into which they had been ordered to move, he felt himself to be of that exploring group; he had gone up into the mountain to spy out the land; he had journeyed inland to see how the people lived and whether the land was good or barren. It was ordained that he should be part of that majestic land beyond the mountains; and when three days later the swift little flute Noordmunster left to overtake the two slower vessels bound for Java, he saw it go with no regret. But how he might manage to stay at the Cape he did not know, for the Dutch were determined to abandon it as soon as a homeward fleet arrived.
In the empty days that followed, Van Doorn occupied himself with routine life at the fort. On a field nearby he shot a rhinoceros. In a stream inland he shot a hippo. He went aboard the English ship Sun to deliver mail, which the captain would forward from London, then helped two sick Dutch sailors aboard for the long trip home. Of great interest, he headed a hunting party to nearby Robben Island, where the men shot some two hundred penguins; he himself found the flesh of these birds much too fishy, but the others averred that it tasted better than the bacon of Holland. And twice he led parties that climbed Table Mountain.
Only one unusual event occurred during these quiet days. One afternoon, at about dusk, a small group of Hottentots approached the fort from the east, leading cattle, and when the sailors saw the fresh meat coming their wayanimals much larger than those at homethey cheered, but the trading was not going to be easy, because Jack was in charge, and in broken English, said, 'Not sell. We live in fort. With you.'
The officers could not believe that these savages were actually proposing that they move into the fort, and when Willem insisted that this was precisely what Jack was suggesting, they broke into laughter. 'We can't have wild men living with us. You tell them to leave the cattle and go.'
But Jack had a broader vision, which he tried to explain to the Dutchmen: 'You need us. We work. We grow cattle for you. We make vegetables. You give us cloth . . . brass ... all we need. We work together.'
It was the first proposal, seriously made, that natives and whites work together to develop this marvelous tip of the continent; Jack knew how this might be accomplished, but was brusquely repelled: 'Tell him to leave those damned cattle and begone!'
Van Doorn alone, among the white men, understood what was being suggested, and he had the courage to argue with his officers: 'He says we could work together.'
'Together?' the officers exploded, as if with one voice