The covenant - James A. Michener [95]
'It's what we sought!' Willem cried, and in the flickering light the two men responsible for this tiny settlement peered over his shoulder to find justification for whatever they might have to propose. Van Riebeeck was delighted: 'It's quite plain. Their covenant was circumcision, and God ordered the slaves to be circumcised. Our covenant is baptism, and He orders our slaves to be baptized.' He was so relieved that he cried, 'Commissioner, we must go to the ship at once, and have Dr. Grotius baptize the children,' and when Van Doorn protested at the lateness of the hour, Van Riebeeck jabbed his finger at the Bible and cried, 'Did not God command that it be done that selfsame day?'
Carefully Karel studied the Bible, and when he read the words in the selfsame day he knew he was obligated to have these children baptized before midnight. 'I think we should give thanks for God's guidance,' he said, and the three men knelt once more.
Bearing lanterns against the night, they carried their Bible to the waterfront, aroused the boatmen, and made their way to the Groote Hoorn, where they summoned Dr. Grotius. 'Dominie,' Karel cried when the predikant appeared in his nightgown, 'God has spoken!' And they spread the text before him.
For a long time Dr. Grotius studied the passages, reflecting upon them. Finally he turned to his visitors and said, 'Mijnheeren, I was wrong. Can we pray?' So for the third time they knelt, while Dr. Grotius, his hands firmly on the Bible, thanked God for His intervention and begged for continued guidance. But Willem noticed that the doctor was lingering over every item of his conversion, so that when Commander van Riebeeck suggested that he return to shore for the infants, so that they could be baptized within the day, Dr. Grotius said, almost triumphantly, 'That day is now passed. We shall perform the office before this day ends.'
With that he closed the Bible, but as he did so, a corner of the cloth upon which it had been resting caught in the leaves, and he fingered the pages to set the cloth loose, and this led him to reopen the book to the page on which Willem had inscribed the birth-facts of his first-born: 'Son Adam van Doorn born 1 November 1655.'
'Have you a son?' Dr. Grotius asked.
'Yes,' Willem said frankly.
'But. . .' There was a painful silence, after which the predikant asked, 'Wasn't the dark child to be baptized named Adam?'
'He is my son.'
The awfulness of this admission, that the brother of a distinguished merchant who was serving as commissioner for the Lords XVII should have been consorting with a pagan slave girl, struck Dr. Grotius and Karel dumb. Twice the former tried to form words of condemnation: 'You . . . you . . .' But he could think of no damnation proper for the crime. He had never served in the East and had little comprehension of the anxieties and hunger Dutchmen could feel. Karel, however, did know Java and the miseries that could ensue when men of promise married with native women . . .
'Oh, my God!' he cried suddenly. Looking at Dr. Grotius with shock, he indicated with his shoulder another cabin and cried, 'She's in there.'
'Oh, goodness!'
Whipping about, Karel jutted his face into his brother's and asked, 'Are you married?'
'I wanted to'
'I wouldn't permit it,' Van Riebeeck said.
With fervor Karel clasped the commander's hands and cried, 'You were so prudent.'
'But Deborah' Willem began. Karel brushed him aside and said petulantly, 'I wanted this to be a surprise.' With grandiloquent gestures he pointed to his right: 'Your future wife is in there, asleep ... waiting to meet you in the morning.'
'My wife?'
'Yes. My wife's cousin. A girl of fine family, come all the way from Amsterdam.' And on the spur of that moment Karel rushed from the little cabin, ran down the hallway, and banged on a door: 'Katje! Come out!'
Katje, whoever she was, did not appear, but Kornelia did, tall and formidable in her night clothes. 'What's