by Andre Brink
© 1982, 2007 by André Brink
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Originally published in Great Britain by Faber & Faber Ltd.., 1982
First published in the United States of America by William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1982
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Brink, André Philippus.
A chain of voices / André Brink.
p. cm.
1. South Africa—History—To 1836—Fiction. 2. Slave insurrections—Fiction. 3. Slaves—Fiction. I. Title.
PR9369.3.B7C5 2007
823’.914—dc22
2007020230
Contents
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Act of Accusation
Part One
Ma-Rose
Piet
Galant
Ontong
Alida
Nicolaas
Achilles
Hester
Barend
Part Two
Cecilia
Galant
Hester
Bet
Lydia
Barend
Ma-Rose
Nicolaas
Ontong
Galant
Goliath
Nicolaas
Abel
Hester
Pamela
Cecilia
Nicolaas
D’Alree
Alida
Galant
Klaas
Du Toit
Thys
Nicolaas
Galant
Part Three
Campher
Galant
Nicolaas
Ma-Rose
Achilles
Hester
Klaas
Galant
Lydia
Ontong
Galant
Bet
D’Alree
Rooy
Pamela
Adonis
Cecilia
Verlee
Barend
Campher
Abel
Hendrik
Jansen
Galant
Helena
Part Four
Ma-Rose
Du Toit
Thys
Hester
Klaas
Goliath
Plaatjie Pas
Bet
Dollie
Ontong
Barend
Hendrik
Cecilia
Abel
Nicolaas
Rooy
Martha
Helena
Pamela
Achilles
Moses
Piet
Galant
Hester
Galant
Verdict
About the Author
Back Cover
Also by André Brink
Before I Forget
Looking on Darkness
An Instant in the Wind
Rumours of Rain
A Dry White Season
This one is for TIM
History is always and above all a choice and the limits of this choice
—Roland Barthes
Every man is an abyss; you get dizzy when you look down
—Georg Büchner
History makes itself in such a way that the final result always arises from conflicts between many individual wills, of which each again has been made what it is by a host of particular conditions of life … What each individual wills is obstructed by everyone else, and what emerges is something that no one willed … (Yet) each contributes to the resultant and is to this degree involved in it
—Friedrich Engels
Act of Accusation
Fiscal’s Office
Cape of Good Hope
10 March 1825
In the criminal case of Daniel Denyssen, Esquire, His Majesty’s Fiscal at the Cape of Good Hope, acting ratione officii by prevention, versus
1. GALANT (age 26 years, born in the Cold Bokkeveld), formerly slave of the late Nicolaas van der Merwe;
2. ABEL (age 28 years, born in the Cold Bokkeveld), slave of Barend van der Merwe;
3. ROOY (age 14 years, born in Swartberg) and
4. THYS (age 18 years, born in Swartberg), both Hottentots formerly in the service of the late Nicolaas van der Merwe;
5. HENDRIK (age 30 years, born in the Warm Bokkeveld), Hottentot formerly in the service of the late Hans Jansen;
6. KLAAS (age 40 years, born in the Cold Bokkeveld), slave of Barend van der Merwe;
7. ACHILLES (age approx. 55 years, born in Mozambique), formerly slave of the late Nicolaas van der Merwe;
8. ONTONG (age approx. 60 years, born in Batavia), formerly slave of the late Nicolaas van der Merwe;
9. ADONIS (age 60 years, born in Tulbagh), slave of Jan du Plessis;
10. PAMELA (age 25 years, born at Breede River), formerly slave of the late Nicolaas van der Merwe;
11. JOSEPH CAMPHER (age 35 years, born in Brabant), Christian of the Cape Colony;
be it hereby made known that it has appeared to His Majesty’s Fiscal from a report dated the 8th February 1825 from the Landdrost of Worcester to the Government Secretary, and from further preparatory Informations obtained in this case:-
That the first prisoner Galant, who in one of the winter months of last year, 1824, had been guilty of deserting from his Master, the late Nicolaas van der Merwe of the farm Houd-den-Bek in the Cold Bokkeveld, (but having afterwards voluntarily returned to his Master), and who further, during the time of the last harvest, which must have been in the latter end of the month of December 1824, had formed the wicked intention, together with the other people in his Master’s service and with the 11th prisoner Joseph Campher, a foreman in the service of the neighbor Jean D’Alree, to provoke his Master, while they were at work at the threshing-floor, by complaining of bad victuals, and then should their Master punish them, to murder him, but which intention they did not carry into execution, in consequence of their Master when they told him that they could not eat his victuals having merely answered that he could not give them better, without his having said anything further or attempted to punish them, availed himself of the opportunity that offered, by his Master taking him with him when riding round to visit his friends after the Harvest was got in, to draw into his Interest the people of several places where his master stopped and especially tho
se of his father-in-law Jan du Plessis, among whom was the prisoner Adonis, slave of said Du Plessis, from which time he communicated to and persuaded some of those people to join in the plan he had framed to attack the places and effect a general effusion of blood among the Christians, and in this manner to get possession of the farms as far as should be in their power, and finally to repair to Cape Town; or in case they might not be safe within the Colony, to proceed beyond the boundaries to the Great River and join a number of Bastards who had collected there. -
That the 1st prisoner Galant, both previous to and on his said journey and also after his return to the place of his Master, got some of the people in the neighborhood to join in his plan, and in particular those of his own Master, namely the prisoners Rooy, Thys, Achilles and Ontong; likewise the prisoner Abel, belonging to the place Elandsfontein of Barend van der Merwe, elder brother of the late Nicolaas van der Merwe; also the prisoner Hendrik who, on the day before the murders, i.e. on the afternoon of Tuesday 1st February, had arrived with his master Hans Jansen from the Warm Bokkeveld on the farm Houd-den-Bek in search of a strayed mare; also some people in the service of the tailor and shoemaker lean d’Alree, resident on a plot of ground on the farm of Nicolaas van der Merwe, among whom was the prisoner Joseph Campher and in all probability the convict named Dollie. -
That of all the prisoners whom Galant had persuaded to join in his said plan, the 2nd prisoner Abel took the most active part, by using his endeavors to get his fellow slaves to cooperate therein, and actually persuaded the prisoner Klaas, foreman or mantoor on the farm of Barend van der Merwe, to take a part. -
That the night between Tuesday 1st and Wednesday 2nd February of this year 1825 had been fixed as the time for carrying their plan into execution, such decision having been taken on Sunday 30 January when the prisoner Abel and his Master spent the night on Houd-den-Bek (i.e. after the late Nicolaas van der Merwe and the prisoner Galant had returned from their visit to neighboring farms); that on the following day the prisoner Abel returned to the farm, upon the pretext of having forgotten a leather thong, in order further to consult with the prisoner Galant; and that on the evening of the 1st the prisoner Abel, in accordance with their agreement, set out for the place of the late Nicolaas van der Merwe, in order with the people of that place to commence the execution of their plan; where having arrived, he proceeded to the hut of the 1st prisoner Galant and his concubines, the Hottentot woman Bet and the 10th prisoner, the slave woman Pamela (the latter however not being present on that occasion, having been instructed by her Master, as was his habit, to spend the night in his house); and having found the prisoner Galant already prepared together with the prisoners Rooy, Thys and Ilendrik, the latter having been persuaded earlier that day to join in the plan, accompanied them on horseback to the place of his master Barend van der Merwe; and having reached the place in the night, he and the 1st prisoner Galant began their operations by rushing into the house, while his master was enticed out of doors by the sheep running out of the Kraal, and where they seized two guns together with the powder and ball belonging to his master. -
That the 1st and 2nd prisoners Galant and Abel, the former of whom acted as Captain and the latter as Corporal of the gang, divided the guns and the powder-and ball between them, and being further joined by the 6th prisoner Klaas, they each fired a shot at Barend van der Merwe, who in the meantime had perceived treachery through the barking of the dogs, of which shots the one fired by Abel wounded him in the heel, but the other missed him; on which Barend van der Merwe ran into the house, but having shortly afterwards come out through the back door and taken flight through the quince hedge to the mountain, clothed only in his nightshirt, he was again fired at by the 1st and 2nd prisoners, but without effect. -
That the wife of Barend van der Merwe, named Hester (née Hugo), having at the same time availed herself of the darkness of the night, also left the house and some time afterwards made her escape into the mountains accompanied by her children and assisted as it seems by a young slave named Goliath who had not joined the gang, after which the first five prisoners, augmented in their number by the 6th prisoner Klaas, rode back to the place of the late Nicolaas Van der Merwe, the 1st prisoner’s Master. -
That on their way thither, the first six prisoners, although it was their intention to murder Jean D’Alree, living about half an hour’s walk on foot from the farmstead at Houd-den-Bek, they however did not call at the dwelling of said D’Alree in order that the late Nicolaas van der Merwe should not be put on his guard to defend himself by hearing the shots that they might fire there, but they nevertheless inquired on passing by the hut of the old Hottentot woman Rose if their fellow prisoner Joseph Campher was at home, in order to take him with them as had been previously arranged; whereupon they were informed by Rose that the said Campher had gone to Worcester in order to escort to the Landdrost the slave Dollie who had deserted a few days before. -
That upon being informed of this circumstance the said first six prisoners rode on to the place of the late Nicolaas van der Merwe, where they arrived in the middle of the night, and having dismounted and put up their horses, they proceeded to the 1st prisoner’s hut, where it seems they were joined by the prisoners Achilles and Ontong, and where the 1st prisoner’s Concubine Bet likewise was, who previously to their departure had been left bound and in the care of said Achilles and Ontong upon the instructions of the 1st prisoner, that she should not have the opportunity of informing her Master thereof. -
That while they were in the hut, a long discussion took place in the course of which it was agreed to wait there till nearly daybreak, at which time the prisoners Galant, Abel, Thys and Klaas proceeded to the farmhouse to take up their previously appointed positions under the peach trees, while Rooy and Hendrik were charged with the care of the horses, and Achilles and Ontong remained at the Cattle Kraal, there to await their Master’s coming. -
That while they were thus concealed, the late Nicolaas van der Merwe, accompanied by the late Hans Jansen who had spent the night on the farm, came out of the front door of the house and went to the threshing-floor, on which the prisoners Galant, Abel, Thys and Klaas left their hiding place and ran into the house, when the prisoners Galant and Abel immediately proceeded to the Master’s bedroom where they knew that he kept his two guns on a rack against the wall, having been thus informed by Galant’s Concubine the slave woman Pamela, and while Van der Merwe’s wife Cecilia (née Du Plessis) was still in bed, they each seized a gun. -
That Cecilia van der Merwe on seeing this, leaped up and got hold of the guns one in each hand, but of which the one held by Galant was immediately forced from her by him and given to the prisoners Thys and Klaas who in the interim had remained outside the bedroom door, on which Cecilia van der Merwe having used her utmost endeavors to force the other gun from the prisoner Abel, who it appears was assisted by Thys, she in this manner struggling reached the kitchen, when the other people called out to the 1st prisoner Galant: “Shoot!”, the latter actually fired the gun that he had in his hand, which was loaded with shot, and most dangerously wounded Cecilia van der Merwe in the upper part of the left thigh, creating a wound of nearly 8 inches in diameter and from one inch to one and a half inches in depth, lacerating also a portion of the tensor vagina femoris muscle and exposing others, whereby she fell and was obliged to let go the gun that she had got possession of, and which Galant thereupon took up and brought out of the house. –
That the 1st prisoner Galant, being thus outside the door, was immediately followed by Abel, Thys and Klaas, and thereupon successively joined by Rooy, Hendrik, Achilles and Ontong. -
That the two guns of the late Nicolaas van der Merwe, which had been taken away, one of which was without a lock, were distributed on that occasion by the 1st prisoner Galant, the one to Klaas and the other without a lock to Ontong, while the 4th prisoner Thys was armed with a sabre that had been stolen from the house of Barend van der Merwe, and Achil
les with an assegai which his master had purchased for him to take care of the sheep; the prisoners having likewise in their possession at that time the necessary gunpowder and balls, partly made from a quantity of lead which together with the bullet mould was stolen by the 9th prisoner Adonis from his master Jan du Plessis, father-in-law of the late Nicolaas van der Merwe, and given to Galant during his visit the previous weekend, and partly with other balls and slugs made of shot, all stolen from their masters. –
That while the prisoners were thus outside the house, Nicolaas van der Merwe and Hans Jansen, having heard the shot that wounded the wife of the former, proceeded to the house, upon which the 2nd prisoner Abel, whose gun was loaded with shot, fired at Nicolaas van der Merwe and wounded him in the left arm or shoulder, notwithstanding which however both Van der Merwe and Jansen got into the house. -
That after this took place, a short time elapsed, during which the gang prepared to attack and again rush in, which opportunity said Jansen availed himself of to get out of the house, mount a horse, and ride towards the place of Jean D’Alree, but which the prisoner Rooy having perceived and warned the other prisoners of, he at the order of Galant brought the horses to the house, and having mounted, he accompanied by Abel and Thys pursued Jansen, who was soon overtaken by Abel, who had a good horse, and driven back to the house of Nicolaas van der Merwe, into which he rode with the horse, when the door was shut after him. -
That the house having been thereupon surrounded by the first eight prisoners and each person’s post assigned to him, they waited for the moment that they could execute their murderous plan against Nicolaas van der Merwe and Hans Jansen, as well as Johannes Verlee, the Schoolmaster who had arrived at Houd-den-Bek only three days previously together with his young wife Martha and their baby, in order to take care of the education of Van der Merwe’s daughters; but the 1st prisoner Galant, who it seems was driven by impatience because the master would not open the door, had more than once resolved to set fire to the house, which however it appears he was dissuaded from by the prisoners Achilles and Ontong, because they said not only the women and children would be burnt but everything else in the house as well; while the 4th prisoner Thys made an effort, but without success, to get into the house by breaking open one of the window sashes. -