The covenant - James A. Michener [91]
When he stepped carefully ashore, he looked disdainfully at the slaves who held his pinnace. He was dressed in black, with broad white collar, ribbed hose and brightly buffed shoes. He wore a broad-rimmed hat, carried a lace handkerchief, and guided himself gingerly with a silver-topped cane. He wore his hair in ringlets, which cascaded over his collar, and his beard in a trim point. He was tall and stiff and handsome, and when he was safely ashore, he turned to assist a lady even more carefully dressed than he. She reminded Willem of his mother, for she looked as if she had the same inborn sense of regal command, and he could visualize her occupying the big house in Batavia.
Karel, of course, did not see his brother; his attention was directed solely to Van Riebeeck as the senior Compagnie official, and even when these two had exchanged greetings, no attempt was made to summon Willem, so he stood lost in the small crowd as cheers were given while the entourage marched to the fort. Even there Karel did not ask to see his brother, for as commissioner, he deemed it necessary to impose his authority upon the settlement as promptly as possible.
'What are your major problems?' he asked Van Riebeeck as soon as the door was closed on the watching subordinates.
'Four, Mijnheer.'
Karel was forty-three years old that year, a man burdened with importance, and since Van Riebeeck was only thirty-seven, smaller and less imposing, Karel would normally have been able to lord it over the resident agent, but he had in addition full and sole jurisdiction to look into every aspect of the Cape occupancy and to draft whatever new instructions he deemed prudent.
Placing a sheet of valuable paper before Van Riebeeck, he asked, 'What are the four?'
'There has been no predikant here since the founding. We need marriages and baptisms.'
'Dr. Grotius is on his way to Batavia. He'll come ashore tomorrow.'
'The slaves run away constantly.'
'You must guard them more carefully. Remember, they're Compagnie property.'
'We guard them. We punish them if we recover them. We chain them. And still they seek their freedom.'
'This must be stopped, and harshly. The Compagnie does not purchase slaves to have them vanish.'
'But how do we stop them?'
'Every man, every woman must assume responsibility for keeping the slaves under control. Especially you. The third problem?'
'Desperately we need women. Mijnheer, the workmen cannot live here alone . . . forever.'
'They knew the terms when they signed with us. A place to sleep. Good food. And when they get back to Holland, enough money saved to take a wife.'
'I've begun to think that many of our men may never go back to Holland.'
'They must. There's no future for a Compagnie man here.'
'And this is the fourth problem. I detect an innate restlessness among the free burghers.'
'Rebellion? Against the Compagnie?' Karel rose and stomped about the room. 'That will not be tolerated. That you must knock down immediately.'
'Not rebellion!' Van Riebeeck said quickly, indicating that the commissioner should resume his seat and waiting until he had done so. 'What I speak of, Mijnheer. The men complain of the prices we pay for their corn . . . their expenses . . .' He stopped at the look Van Doorn gave him. 'They sometimes seem driven to probe eastwardon their own, not on Compagnie business at all. As if the dark heart of Africa were summoning them.'
Karel van Doorn leaned back. On three separate occasions the Lords XVII in Amsterdam had detected in Van Riebeeck's voluminous reports hints that the free burghers at the Cape were beginning to look beyond the perimeters set for them at the time of their original grants. This burgher baker had wanted an additional plot for himself. That farmer had suggested moving out to where the lands were more spacious. Even Van Riebeeck himself had petitioned for a hundred acres more so that he might extend his personal