Border, Breed Nor Birth

by James A. Cox

*

  Even before they got thoroughly settled, Jack Peters was launchinginto his pitch.

  "We need an official language," he said. "The El Hassan movement hasset as a goal the uniting of all North Africa. We might start here inthe Sahara, but it's just a start. Ultimately, the idea is to reachfrom Morocco to Egypt and from the Mediterranean to ... to where? TheCongo?"

  "Actually, we've never set exact limits," Homer said.

  "Ultimately _all Africa_," Dave Moroka muttered softly. He ignored themanner in which Isobel contemplated him from the side of her eyes.

  "All right," the West Indian said. "There are more than seven hundredmajor languages, not counting dialects, in Africa. Sooner or later, weneed an official language, what is it going to be?"

  "Why _one_ official language? Why not several?" Cliff scowled. "SayArabic, here in this area. Swahili on the East coast. And, say,Songhoi along the Niger, and Wolof, the Senegalese lingua franca,and--"

  "You see," Peters interrupted. "Already you have half a dozen and youhaven't even got out of this immediate vicinity as yet. Let me developmy point."

  Homer Crawford was becoming interested. "Go on, Jack," he said.

  Jack Peters pointed a finger at him. "To be the hero-symbol we have inmind, El Hassan is going to have to be able to communicate with _all_of his people. He's not going to be able to speak Arabic to, say, aMasai in Kenya. They hate the Arabs. He's not going to be able tospeak Swahili to a Moroccan, they've never heard of the language. Hecan't speak Tamaheq to the Imraguen, they're scared to death of theTuareg."

  Homer said thoughtfully, "A common language would be fine. It'd solvea lot of problems. But it doesn't seem to be in the cards. Why notadopt as our official language the one in which the _most_ of ourpeople will be able to communicate? Say, Arabic?"

  Jack was shaking his head seriously. "And antagonize all the Arabhating Bantu in Africa? It's no go, Homer."

  "Well, then, say French--or English."

  "English is the most international language in the world," Morokasaid. But his face was thoughtful, as those of the others werebecoming.

  The West Indian was beginning to make his points now. "No, any of theEuropean languages are out. The white man has been repudiated.Adopting English, French, Spanish, Portuguese or Dutch, as ourofficial language would antagonize whole sections of the continent."

  "Why Esperanto?" Cliff scowled. "Why not, say, Nov-Esperanto, or Ido,or Interlingua?"

  Jimmy Peters put in a word now. "Actually, any one of them wouldpossibly do, but we have a head start with Esperanto. Some years agoboth Jack and I became avid Esperantists, being naive enough in thosedays to think an international language would ultimately solve allman's problems. And both Homer and Isobel seem to have a workingknowledge of the language."

  Homer said, "So have the other members of my former Reunited Nations team.That's where those books you found came from. Elmer, Bey, Kenny ... andAbe ... and I used to play around with it when we were out in the desert,just to kill time. We also used it as sort of a secret language when wewanted to communicate and didn't know if those around us might understandsome English."

  "I still don't get the picture," Cliff argued. "If we picked the mostcommon half a dozen languages in the territory we cover, then millionsof these people wouldn't have to study a second language. But if youadapt Esperanto as an official language then _everybody_ is going tohave to learn something new. And that's not going to be easy for ourninety-five per cent illiterate followers."

  Isobel said thoughtfully, "Well, it's a darn sight easier to learnEsperanto than any other language we decided to make official."

  "Why?" Cliff said argumentatively.

  * * * * *

  Jack Peters took over. "Because it's almost unbelievably easy tolearn. English, by the way, is extremely difficult. For instance,spelling and pronunciation are absolutely phonetic in Esperanto andthere are only five vowel sounds where most national languages havetwenty or so. And each sound in the alphabet has one sound only andany sound is always rendered by the same letter."

  Dave Moroka said, "Actually, I don't know anything at all about thisEsperanto."

  The West Indian took him in, with a dominating glance. "Take grammar andsyntax which can take up volumes in other languages. Esperanto has exactlysixteen short rules. And take vocabularies. For instance, in English weoften form the feminine of a noun by adding _ess--actor-actress_,_tiger-tigress_. But not always. We don't say _bull-bulless_ or_ghost-ghostess_. In Esperanto you simply add the feminine ending to anynoun--there's no exception to any rule."

  Jack Peters was caught up in his subject. "Still comparing it toEnglish, realize that spelling and pronunciation in English are highlyirregular and one letter can have several different sounds, and onesound may be represented by different letters. And there are evensilent letters which are written but not pronounced like the _ugh_ in_though_. There are none of these irregularities in Esperanto. And thesounds are all sharp with none of such subtle differences as, say,_bed/bad/bard/bawd_, that sort of thing."

  Jimmy Peters said, "The big item is that any averagely intelligentperson can begin speaking Esperanto within a few hours. Within a weekof even moderate study, say three or four hours a day, he'sastonishingly fluent."

  Isobel said thoughtfully, "There'd be international advantages. It'salways been a galling factor in Africans dealing with Europeans thatthey had to learn the European language involved. You couldn't expectyour white man to learn kitchen kaffir, or Swahili, or whatever, notwhen you got on the diplomatic level."

  Cliff Jackson was thinking out loud. "So far, El Hassan is an unknown.Rumor has it that he's everything from a renegade Egyptian, to anescaped Mau-Mau chief, to a Senegalese sergeant formerly in the FrenchWest African forces. But when he starts running into the press andthey find that Homer and his closest associates all speak English, andmost of them with an American accent, there's going to be some fat inthe fire."

  "And El Hassan will have lost some of his mysterious glamour," Homeradded thoughtfully.

  Even Moroka, the South African, was beginning to accept the idea. "IfEl Hassan, himself, refused in the presence of foreigners ever tospeak anything but Esperanto, the aura of mystery would continue."

  Jimmy Peters, elaborating and obviously pushing an opinion he and hisbrother had already discussed, said, "We make it a rule that everyschool, both locally taught and foreign, must teach Esperanto as arequired subject. All El Hassan governmental affairs would beconducted in that language. Anybody at all trying to get anywhere inthe new regime would have to learn the official inter-African tongue."

  "Oh, brother," Cliff groaned, "that means me." He brightened. "Wehaven't any books or anything, as yet."

  Isobel laughed at him. "I'll take on your studies, Cliff. We have afew books. Those that Homer and his team used to kill time with. Andas soon as we're in a position to make requests for foreign aid of thegreat powers, Esperanto grammars, dictionaries and so forth can behigh on the list."

  With a sharp cry, almost a bark, a figure jumped into the entrance andwith a bound into the center of the tent, sub-machinegun in hand."_All right, everybody. On your feet. The place is raided!_"

  Dave Moroka leaped to his feet, his hand tearing with blurring speedfor his holstered hand gun. "Where's that bodyguard?" he yelled.

  VII

  "Hold it," Homer Crawford roared, jumping to his own feet and grabbingthe South African in his arms. He glared at the newcomer. "Kenny, youidiot, you're lucky you don't have a couple of holes in you."

  Kenny Ballalou, grinning widely, stared at Dave Moroka. "Jeepers," hesaid, "you got that gun out fast. Don't you ever stick 'em up whensomebody has the drop on you?"

  Dave Moroka relaxed, the side arm dropping back into its holster.Homer Crawford released him and the South African ran a hand over hismouth and shook his head ruefully at Kenny.

  Isobel and Cliff crowded up, the one to kiss Kenny happily, the otherto pound him on the back.


  Homer made introductions to Dave Moroka and the Peters brothers.

  "I've told you about Kenny," he wound it up. "I sent him over to thewest to raise a harka of Nemadi to help in taking Tamanrasset." Hejoined Cliff Jackson in giving the smaller man an affectionate blow onthe shoulder. "What luck did you have, Kenny?"

  Kenny Ballalou rubbed himself ruefully. "If you two will stop beating,I'll tell you. I didn't recruit a single Nemadi."

  Homer Crawford looked at him.

  Kenny said to the tent