The Covenant Part 48

But where in the north? One of Tjaart's earliest memories was of the tales told about his grandfather Adriaan, who had gone into that northland with a Hottentot named Dikkop and a tame hyena named Swarts: 'He said he grew frightened at the Limpopo River and turned back, and found a lake which he called Vrijmeer, and on its bank he buried Dikkop.' Tjaart believed he was destined to reach that lake.

But regardless of whether a Voortrekker elected Natal as his destination or the unexplored north, all trails converged at the foot of a mountain with a fanciful name, Thaba Nchu. The Voortrekkers called it Ta-ban '-choo, Ta-ban '-choo, and so many wanderers found rest here that for some years it formed a major settlement. and so many wanderers found rest here that for some years it formed a major settlement.

It was here that they met the first major black tribe north of the Orange River. In the first days of their trek they had encountered small groups of blacks and a few Coloureds, but at Thaba Nchu, there was a tribe of five thousand who welcomed them as allies against a mortal enemy to the north: Mzilikazi, Great Bull Elephant of the Matabele, one of the architects of Mfecane.

On 13 June 1836 wagons of the Van Doorn party rolled into Thaba Nchu, where five or six hundred earlier arrivals were waiting for their leaders to reach some decision, and they rested there, and there was time for new friendships to develop. Especially active was young Paulus de Groot, who ran with boys twice his age and wrestled with them, too. He talked little, was savagely protective of his rights, and seemed to prefer the companionship of Tjaart van Doorn above that of his own father, and this was understandable, for the lad showed signs of growing into the kind of man Tjaart was: solid, cautious, devout. When young Paulus said his prayers his large squarish face glowed with religious fervor, for it seemed to him that G.o.d was listening.

Despite this natural inclination toward devotion, Paulus disliked Theunis Nel, the self-appointed representative of religion, for the boy sensed the ridicule in which the sick-comforter was held. One morning, when Tjaart suggested that Paulus start learning his letters from Theunis, the effect of Tjaart's sponsorship was destroyed when Minna came out of her tent screaming at her husband, calling him disrespectful names and conveying to the boy the community's reaction to the c.o.c.keyed fellow. No man could discipline a strong-minded boy like Paulus de Groot if he could not first discipline his own wife.

Tjaart, hoping to see this promising lad grow into a leader of men, took it upon himself to teach the alphabet and instruct in numbers, and one morning he was seated on a log drilling the boy when Lukas de Groot came past, taking offense at the idea of another man's instructing his son: 'He don't need to read. I don't read and I do all right.'

'All boys should learn to read.'

'Your boys didn't.'

'That's right. They were to live at De Kraal all their lives, and it didn't signify.'

'Why does it signify now?'

'Because we're moving into a new world. Your son may be needed as the leader of a great community. If he can't read, the leadership goes to someone else.'

The discussion might have become ardent had not Minna wandered by to inform her father that he must go out to shoot antelope, for the supply of biltong was depleted; and as she stood speaking to the two men, they saw that of a sudden her face changed from its normal sullen expression, and a frown gave way to a smile of broadening radiance. They turned to see what effected this change, and De Groot spoke for both men: 'Look who comes to join us!'

Among the newcomers to Thaba Nchu were sixteen families who had joined the main stream of Voortrekkers just south of the Orange River, and in the lead was Ryk Naude, the handsome young farmer, and his pretty wife, Aletta. For Minna Nel, the return of the one man she could love was prophetic: G.o.d had used this exodus to bring them back together; for Tjaart, the arrival of Aletta meant that his tormented imaginings were given life. She was even more enticing than he had remembered, older now and more the woman, and his eyes would never leave her.

Wherever Aletta Naude moved in these days when the leaders were trying to reach decisions, Tjaart endeavored to place himself so that she would have to see him, and after a while she became aware that he was doing this. It irritated her. She was nineteen years old and happily married, while he was forty-seven, with a second wife and a grandchild. He looked silly when he mooned at her, and one afternoon when he had succeeded in interposing himself between her and her tent, she said sharply, 'Mijnheer van Doorn, you're making yourself ridiculous,' and this so embarra.s.sed him that he kept away from her for some days, but then the terrible fascination manifested itself again, and once more she had to avoid him.

The arrival at Thaba Nchu of so many new emigrants caused other troubles. Ryk Naude and his wife announced that they had decided to cross the Drakensberg and go down to Natal, and this encouraged Lukas de Groot to choose the same option, which meant that Tjaart would be separated both from the girl he loved and from his long-time a.s.sociate. With profound seriousness he contemplated relinquishing his idea of settlement in the north so as to remain with people he preferred, and he might have surrendered to this temptation had not the affair of the lion skin shown him what fearful temptations threatened his family.

Minna had been less discreet than her father. She was overjoyed to meet with Ryk again and was not ashamed to display her affection. She did everything but embrace him in public, and when he told the cl.u.s.tered emigrants that he and some friends were moving east to see if they could shoot some lions for their skins, she openly ran to him, imploring him to be careful, and when he was gone she moped. This so irritated Jakoba that she told Tjaart, 'You must speak with her. She's becoming a Jezebel.'

So Tjaart took his daughter aside and gave her blunt warning: 'You're married to a good man. He cherishes you and little Sybilla, and you owe him a decent respect. Minna, behave yourself.'

'But Ryk promised me. In the new land, somehow he will be set free.'

'You're married forever. In the eyes of G.o.d. Before the predikant at Graaff-Reinet. Obey your vows.'

Tearfully, but with stubborn determination, she said, 'Father, if Ryk and Aletta were separated. Somehow. In G.o.d's wisdom. How happy you and I would be.'

Tjaart was stung by her probing of his secret, by her shrewd connivance in bringing it out. What he replied was 'They're heading east over the mountain, we're going north over the Vaaland we'll never meet again.'

But when Ryk came back to camp with four lion skins and gave Minna one of them, she was certain that this proved his devotion to her, and she convinced herself that he was as hungry for her as she was for him, and at night, when others were asleep, she crept to his tent and quietly, lest Aletta hear, called him out, and coaxed him beyond the wagons. There she poured out her love, and helped him to undress, and encouraged him to join with her three times. It was an explosion of love unlike any he had ever known with Aletta, beautiful as she was, and an invitation to endless future repet.i.tions.

In the days that followed, even Tjaart, who was not quick to perceive nuances, became aware that something gravely wrong was occurring in his family, and one evening he followed Minna, and from a hiding spot, saw with astonishment his daughter's brazen conduct. Shame prevented him from breaking in upon the lovers, but next morning, after the cattle were tended, he went to his daughter's tent, told Theunis to go teach his cla.s.s, and then confronted Minna.

'I know what you're doing. I saw you behind the wagons.'

'I can't live without him, Father. I'm going down into Natal.'

The possibility that a child of his should be guilty of disobedience was more than he could tolerate; a red haze flooded his eyes, and he recalled instructions from the Bible: 'If a child be disobedient, he shall be killed. If a woman commit adultery, she shall be stoned to death.' In his befuddlement he knew not what to say, so with a wild sweep of his arm he knocked her to the ground, then stormed at her, calling her names from the Old Testament, threatening to drag her before the public to be humiliated.

When his rage subsided, and some kind of sanity returned, he lifted her from the earth and held her as she trembled from the fury of his blow: 'Minna, G.o.d has tempted you and me. We have both been guilty of great sin. Tomorrow we go north to prevent the destruction of our souls. And tonight you sleep in my tent, because you are precious to me and I cannot bear to lose you.'

Next morning, 6 July 1836, Tjaart van Doorn, Theunis Nel, Balthazar Bronk and four other families not in the original group formed a new unit to cross the Vaal River and start a fresh community dedicated to the rule of G.o.d, the proper relationship between master and servant, and the strict separation of races. It took them eighteen days to reach the river, and with each tramp of the oxen's hooves, Minna Nel and her father felt more and more desolate, for they would never again see the persons they loved.

Only once did either of them mention the mournful separation; Minna said as she walked beside her father, 'My heart seems to break at every step. I realize now that he is gone. I heard a trekker describe the Drakensberg. Once a man crosses those mountains, he will not come back.'

Tjaart, desperately hungry for someone to talk with at this crisis in his life, confessed: 'Because of what you saw, you will find this hard to believe. But my heart yearns for three people. Most of all, little Paulus de Groot. I should love to watch him grow into a man. His possibilities are endless. And I will miss Lukas, too. And after them, Aletta, in a different way.'

'We'll never know.' And that was all she said, plodding her way toward the Vaal.

When they reached the river they found it swollen by an unexpected flood, and were forced to camp on the south bank, where they found several other parties also waiting for the water to subside. At first Tjaart was vexed by the forced delay, but one day the a.s.sembled Voortrekkers saw a heavy cloud of dust to the south, and as it approached they discerned four wagons accompanied by the complement of Coloureds, blacks and cattle.

It was Lukas de Groot, hurrying north to overtake his friend, and when the two men met, there was unspoken apology, silent acceptance. 'When I thought about it,' De Groot said, 'I knew my fate was to the north.' He did not add, 'With you,' but the joy his son Paulus displayed at being reunited with Tjaart spoke for the entire family. It was a happy, sensible reunion, and not even when De Groot spoke thoughtlessly of the Ryk Naudes 'They're heading into Natal, fine pair'was there any recurrence of the earlier irritation.

Indeed, when the river lowered and the seventy-odd Voortrekkers completed the crossing, Lukas easily consented when little Paulus asked, 'Can I stay with Tjaart tonight?' The Van Doorns camped much farther to the west than the De Groots, so that late at night when frenzied messengers galloped in from the northeast, they reached the latter family first.

'Where'd you come from?' two dusty, tired men shouted, scarcely halting to rest their horses.

'Thaba Nchu,' De Groot replied.

'Go into laager immediately. Kaffirs on the rampage.'

Before Lukas could interrogate the men they disappeared, spurring their horses westward and leaving the De Groot family with a difficult decision. They had nine wagons, not enough for a proper laager, and even these were well scattered. To a.s.semble them would necessitate much maneuvering, and there was no certainty that blacks would come their way. Besides, the hurried trek up from Thaba Nchu had tired the men, so it was decided to wait till morning.

When the messengers took a last look back and realized that the Voortrekkers were not protecting themselves, they were appalled; reining in their horses, they returned to shout, 'd.a.m.nit, go into laagernow!' But again the De Groots ignored the warning, for as Lukas pointed out, 'Those men are not our friends. They're Englishmen, and they're trying to scare us into turning back.'

In disgust the messengers galloped westward along the Vaal River until they came to the Van Doorn encampment: 'Go into laager at once. Kaffirs.' 'What Kaffirs?' Tjaart shouted back. 'Mzilikazi!'

It was a name to strike terror among those acquainted with the north, and although the Van Doorns had known no one who had contact with the Bull Elephant, as he was now called, they had heard around the campfires at Thaba Nchu reports of his annihilations. One hunter who knew the area north of the Vaal had said, 'Mzilikazi was the shrewdest of the Zulus. Three times they came after him and three times he beat them off. To protect himself he has cleared an area, maybe two thousand square miles. Killed everything. Men, women, cattle, wild animals. Only thing I saw in fourteen days' travelhyenas, jackals, a few small birds. I've spotted his scouts south of the Vaal, not far from here. He's watching us every day, the Great Bull Elephant.'

'Is that the Mzilikazi we were warned against?' Tjaart asked. 'The same. He has twenty thousand warriors.' 'Good G.o.d! If they all come at us . . .'

'They're spread across the area. It will be only a small detachment.' The two Englishmen, who had been hunting in the north, accepted a drink of water, and asked, 'Any other companies of you Dutchmen?'

'Three others. Farther west.' So off the two messengers went, spurring their horses.

Even before they were gone, Tjaart had started bringing his eleven wagons into an abbreviated laager, and this consisted of jamming the front of one against the rear of the one ahead, guiding the disselboom almost completely under the front wagon and fastening it with the trek chains, then lashing the wheels together and sending children out to gather thorn bushes, which the boys cut and the girls carried back to their mothers, who wove the p.r.i.c.kly wood into spokes and wheels and each crevice along the outside perimeter. When they were finished, no enemy could sneak up to the laager and force his way either through or between or under the wagons, for he would face a wall of wood and canvas and thorn. One small opening was provided, and for it a gate of thorn was hastily built. Nine of the sixteen Coloured servants were sent back toward the river with the cattle and sheep; the other seven would fight alongside their masters.

Two people watched the construction of the laager with keen interest: Tjaart van Doorn and little Paulus de Groot, too young to help cut the thorn branches, not old enough to herd the cattle. What he did was stay at Tjaart's heels, running errands for him. Later he would carry lead to the women so that they could swiftly reload the rifles. Each adult man needed three guns, because as soon as he fired one it was useless, and he would have to pa.s.s it with his left hand to his daughter, while reaching out with his empty right hand to his wife. 'Give!' was all he would say, and the loaded second rifle would be slapped into his hand for the next shot. Tjaart's two women could load the guns just fast enough to keep one of them ready, and little Paulus could ran bags of powder to them.

Dawn came without any sign of Mzilikazi's men, but toward nine Tjaart heard a dreadful hissing sound to the east and then the ominous stamping of heavy feet on the earth, and a deafening cry of 'Mzilikazi!' followed by a t.i.tanic rush of near-naked soldiers and a flight of deadly spears.

'Do not fire!' he ordered the thirteen trekkers and the seven Coloureds. 'Let them come closer . . . closer.' And he heard the hissing sound again, the stomp of many feet and the same cry 'Mzilikazi!' Also, he heard one lonely voice inside the laager praying: 'Almighty G.o.d, we are few, but we wear Your armor. We are not afraid, for we have tried to be righteous men. Almighty G.o.d, they are many but You are with us. Guide us in this battle.' It was Theunis Nel, gun in hand, waiting for the charge.

'Mzilikazi!' shouted the warriors, rushing at the small concentration of wagons, expecting to overrun it.

'Fire!' Tjaart cried, and twenty guns blazed directly into the face of Mzilikazi's men.

The carnage was horrendous, but after the first ranks fell, wave after wave replaced them.

'Fire!' Tjaart cried again, and then the Voortrekker men pa.s.sed along their empty guns, reaching back for the next loaded one.

'Fire!' Tjaart cried again and again, but still the intrepid enemy kept rushing at the laager.

'Tjaart!' a boyish voice called. 'Under the wagon!' But before Paulus could attract his captain's attention, Jakoba had chopped at the head of a black crawling into the laager, cleaving his skull.

For ninety terrible minutes the a.s.sault continued, with every man holding his position between the wheels of the wagons, continuing to fire while women loaded the rifles.

When the Matabele warriors slowly retreated, a few infuriated veterans of other battles refused to believe that this handful of trekkers had been able to stand them off. Enraged by their defeat, they re-formed at a safe distance, shouted for the last time 'Mzilikazi!' and dashed right into the muzzles of the guns. They died with their hands touching the wagons, but none broke through.

At dusk Tjaart went out with little Paulus to find the dead and count them: 'One hundred and sixty-seven. On our side, none.'

Theunis Nel, hearing these figures, called upon the entire party to kneel, and as they did he intoned an impa.s.sioned prayer, rocking back and forth, daubing his left eye now and then with his fingers. He reviewed the G.o.dliness of the Voortrekkers, the loyal faith of their grandfathers, their heroism in entering a strange new land, and he concluded: 'Almighty G.o.d, when we looked across the veld and saw those dark and fearful forms, more than the mind could count, against thirteen of us, we knew that victory would be possible only if You were with us. The victory was not ours, but Yours.'

And every man and woman and child listening, even the seven servants not included in the prayer, knew that what Theunis was saying had to be true.

But when the final tally was taken, the Voortrekkers had gained no victory. Not at all. Of the two companies camping to the west, one had been overrun, the other had not been annihilated but had lost four men. And at the De Groot camp, which had refused to go into laager, all fifty-two people were slainchildren, Coloureds, former slavesand all were horribly mutilated.

'You mustn't go there, Paulus,' Tjaart said, tears in his eyes at the horror of the ma.s.sacre. 'Your father and mother and sisters are dead.'

'I want to go,' the little survivor said, and he rode back with Tjaart and the gravediggers to see what was left of his family. He recognized them, and did not vomit at the sight the way some of the adults did. He walked solemnly along the line of their eight bare feet, for they were stripped naked, and saw the manner of their deaths. Not a tear came to his eyes, and as the shallow graves were dugjust enough to keep the hyenas awayhe placed a stone upon the chest of each person he had loved.

The rampaging of Mzilikazi's regiments forced all Voortrekkers to change their plans. The few like Tjaart who had ventured north of the Vaal River had to retreat hastily well beyond the south bank, and all along the line of advance the emigrants took stock of their perilous state as they awaited the Great Bull Elephant's next move.

Two members of a black tribe suppressed by Mzilikazi crept down with reports that the Matabele were a.s.sembling a mighty army that would overwhelm the Boers, with a superiority of one hundred and fifty blacks to one Voortrekker.

The English government chose this moment of dread to deliver, by means of late arrivals at the camp, its latest proclamation against the Voortrekkers; it stated that even though the fugitives had fled English soil, they must not think that they had escaped English law, because any wrongdoing committed south of the twenty-fifth parallel would be construed as having taken place within English jurisdiction and would be punished accordingly. Since the Vaal River lay well south of that parallel, the battle in which the Van Doorns had defended themselves could be interpreted as an unwarranted aggression, and Tjaart could be hanged.

The doc.u.ment was of course printed in English, but after it had been translated to the astonished Voortrekkers, Tjaart asked to see it. Even though his English was spa.r.s.e, he could pick out some of the insulting words, and as his lips framed them they created in him a violent bitterness, for he could still envision the mutilated bodies of Lukas de Groot and his people.

It was typical of Tjaart's slow, stubborn awakening to any problem that for two days he said nothing, just carried the proclamation with him, pausing occasionally to reread the offensive lines, but on the third day he a.s.sembled all members of his party, and such others as he could reach, to deliver his judgment: 'We know from the Book of Joshua that we are doing G.o.d's work, in obedience to His commands. But at every turn we are opposed by the English. My father, whom you knew, Lodevicus the Hammer, he was dragged before the Black Circuit and accused by English missionaries of murder. Bezuidenhout here, his people were hanged at Slagter's Nek after G.o.d Himself broke their ropes and granted them reprieve. The English have stolen our language, the pulpits in our churches, our slaves. And now they send these laws after us to warn us that we can never escape them.

'I say "To h.e.l.l with all the English." I say to my son Paulus, "Remember this day when the Voortrekkers, facing death at the hands of Mzilikazi, swore an oath to be free men." '

Somberly the members of the party whispered, 'I swear!' And all knew that any further compromise with any Englishman had become impossible. From that day, the break must be total.

But on the very next day a smous arrived from Thaba Nchu, and Tjaart was thrown into sad confusion. The peddler brought not only supplies, but also small packets addressed to Tjaart van Doorn and Lukas de Groot.

'Major Saltwood in Grahamstown asked me to deliver these,' the nervous little trader said.

'De Groot's dead.'

'Oh, dear!' The smous was terrified. 'Mzilikazi?'

'Yes. What shall we do with this?'

'Did any of his family survive?'

'His boy, Paulus.'

'Then we'd better give it to him. Because I made a solemn promise to deliver . . .'

They called Paulus and handed him the last message ever sent to his father, and when the boy opened the wrapping, there lay a pile of crisp English pounds. Every penny owed for the De Groot slaves had been paid in full, with no commission subtracted.

When Tjaart opened his packet he found the same. He was perplexed. His English friends had proved their trustworthiness, yet he had sworn open enmity toward them, and he did not know what to say, but after he gave Jakoba the two bundles of money for safekeeping he walked for long hours alone, then sought out the smous and asked, 'Did Major Saltwood pay you for bringing me the money?' And the peddler said, 'Yes, two pounds.' Awkwardly Tjaart translated this into rix-dollars, and he was amazed that Saltwood had spent so much of his own money to forward the funds.

He was confused on other matters, too, for in these days of anxiety when no one knew how soon Mzilikazi would strike again, he learned to his disgust that Ryk Naude had not crossed the Drakensberg but had encamped some miles away. On several nights Tjaart had ridden over to seek Minna, and again spied on their love-making and he was bewildered: Why would a man with a wonderful wife like Aletta bother to plow the furrow with someone like Minna? He loved his daughter and had worked diligently to find her a husband, but he could never delude himself into thinking that she was in any way the equal of Aletta. Yet here was this young no-good imperiling his marriage by sneaking out at night to make love to a plain and married woman.

Tjaart became so disturbed by his daughter's misbehavior, relating it always to his own renewed infatuation for Aletta, that one day he resolutely confronted Ryk to upbraid him for his adultery: 'Ryk, we're about to engage Mzilikazi in a battle where we might all die. If G.o.d turns against us for our sins, we might perish. Don't you feel any responsibility?'

'I feel love for your daughter.'

'Love?'

'Yes, I should have married her, as she said.' 'But you have a beautiful wife . . .'

'Old man, tend to your battle. Guns will win it, not commandments.'

This was so blasphemous that Tjaart could not decide how to respond, but Ryk saved him: 'In two days we march northto face Mzilikazi. We may all be killed, but I'll be happy knowing that Minna . . .' He did not finish this extraordinary statement, just walked off to prepare his horses.

Tjaart was angered by the young man's insolence, and surprised, too, for he had not thought of Ryk as brave enough to oppose an elder. More tantalizing were some of the deductions that could be made from what the young husband had said: if Ryk did not think much of his wife, if he did not want her, what wrong could there be if someone else approached her? None, he concluded, and as to the adultery he would be committing, he avoided any consideration of this by simply erasing Jakoba from his mind.

So he resumed his old habit of placing himself in Aletta's path, a foolish, dumpy man in belt and suspenders offering himself to the most beautiful young woman among the trekkers. He was ridiculous, and he knew it, but he was powerless to stop. One afternoon he waited till she was apart from the others, then grabbed her, pulled her behind some wagons, and started kissing her furiously.

To his surprise, she did not resist, nor did she partic.i.p.ate. She simply leaned against him, even lovelier than in his dreams, smiling between the kisses and whispering at the end, 'You're not such a silly old man, after all.' And with that she walked slowly away, completely untouched by his embraces.

The encounter was an agony for Tjaart. During one spell he railed silently against his son-in-law: Why doesn't that d.a.m.ned fool Theunis manage his wife? Where in G.o.d's h.e.l.l did I find such a man to bring into my family? And for more than an hour he mentally reviled the little sick-comforter as the cause of his own malaise.

Then he envisioned the forthcoming battle against Mzilikazi, and when he recalled the fearlessness with which those first Matabele had kept storming the laager, he grew frightened: If twice that many, three times that many, come at us, what shall we do? Then he recalled the mutilated bodies of De Groot's people, and a sickening rage overcame him: We must slay them, slay them! No Voortrekker ever raised a finger against Mzilikazi, and he did that to us. We must destroy him.

And then he paused, and like all Boers, reflected on the fact that even self-protection, let alone victory, would be impossible without G.o.d's help, and he became totally contrite, taking upon himself the burden of sin that he had tried to throw upon the adulterous Ryk Naude. Lighting an oil lamp, he took down his Bible and looked through Proverbs till he came upon the pa.s.sage which spoke definitively of his transgression: For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: to keep thee from . . . the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. l.u.s.t not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids . . . Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

He was about to close the book when he realized that he required much more help than he could find by himself, and he sought out Theunis Nel, sleeping alone, for his wife was away committing sin, and he said to the sick-comforter, 'Come read the Bible with me and instruct me.'

Always prepared for such calls, Theunis rose, wrapped himself in a blanket, and accompanied Tjaart to where the Bible stood open under the lamp, and he grasped at once the significance of Tjaart's having been reading Proverbs Six. But he said nothing of adultery or l.u.s.ting in one's heart.

'Theunis, this time we face terrible odds.' 'We did last time.'

'But then we didn't know. Now, with the De Groots dead, we do.' 'G.o.d rides with us.' 'Are you sure?'

The little man quickly turned the pages from Proverbs and closed the book, then placed his hands upon it and said, 'I know that G.o.d intends our people to establish a new nation in His image. If He sends us on this mission, surely He will protect us.'

'Then why didn't he send his predikants to accompany us? To give us guidance in His word?'

'I've wondered about that, Tjaart. I think He sent common folk like you and me because He wanted His word to work up slowly from the ground. Not thundering down in sermons written by learned Scottish predikants.'

'Is that a possibility?'