The Commander mulled over the report on his desk. He hit the table a couple of times while he read, got up and paced the room, snorting and swearing. When Abraham appeared in the doorway he was in a spitting rage. Abraham caught sight of Angela's visit to the one-ear slave.
'He will come back for her. It is a matter of time. And patience. He tried once. He will do so again.' He tugged at his beard, his eyes two slits buried in his creased brow. 'We wait. She is our only hope to bring him in.'
'Commander, the slave had been in solitary for more than a year. If we hope to get any value out of her, get her back to work. From what I gather her mind is going.'
'She will remain in solitary until I decide otherwise.'
'We sacrifice two soldiers to guard one convict slave. A woman. We need every available soldier in the Colony. We can come under attack any day or night. Send her to the island. That is where she belongs. With the other convicts. A public announcement in the square that is imprisoned there will spread the word.'
'She stays. That Batavian Hottentot must know pain. He must suffer.'
The fiscus held a different view. 'Put a huge bounty on his head. Send bounty hunters to bring him in. Dead or alive.'
'Abraham, that slave is his Achilles heel. He is suffering. Believe me, he is. We put a bounty on his head when I say so. What is important now, is that is that Eva is back. From what I hear the Cochoqua is open to negotiate a peace that will benefit the Caapmen.'
'Maybe they will trade him for the one-ear slave. As part of the peace deal.'
'Abraham. Abraham, Abraham. You have much to learn. Never underestimate these people. Nommoa is one of them. They have no need for that slave. The only one who has any interest in her is that wounded Hottentoo. I will be satisfied with nothing less than Nommoa's body broken on the wheel.'
Abraham steered the conversation in another direction. 'Commander, you are familiarised with the freemen affair?'
'How could these freemen help him escape? Those traitors must be dealt with.'
'Nommoa, it appears, is not as stupid as we thought. He knew that if he formed liaisons with the freemen who were not happy with the placcaats...
'How did he, a Khoe outsider, know that?
'It is no secret that freemen, Harman, and Hans had been conducting business with them for a while. He exploited their greed to make money and they aided his escape when he was wounded. With promises of more cattle from the interior captains,' said Abraham.
'They are freeman! How could they allow themselves to be used by the enemy!'
'Profit and a search for higher station drive the actions of many freemen in the Colony. The position of freemen is a steppingstone. They want more.'
'They are traitors. What angers is that this treachery was allowed to continue without detection. Right under our noses'
'It is difficult to enforce the ban on the freemen... they are desperate entrepreneurs. Willing to go to any lengths for business.'
'Conniving with the enemy for selfish gain? No. That is unthinkable. Set up a meeting of the Council of Justice. Charged them. Today. They must stand trial as traitors. Their deeds will not go unpunished.'
Freemen Harman, Hans, Jan, Jacob, and Caspar were arrested and brought before the Court of Justice on the same day. With them appeared three Khoe accomplices, Heijde, Nantisa and Oedimackha. The three alleged accomplices were in pain. Most of them could hardly walk. They had facial injuries. Swollen cheekbones, eyes, and lips. All of them held their hands, one beneath the other, close to their chest in a protective manner. Their thumbs were bruised and bleeding.
It was obvious that they had been forced to speak with the help of the thumbscrew. Judging from the manner in which they stared at the hand it was obvious that the small but simple torture device had crushed their thumbs. The three Khoe men were cringing with pain.
'Harman Remajenna, Hans Ras, Jan the huntsman, Jacob Cloeten and Caspar Brinkman, you stand accused of killing your sheep and cattle and selling the carcasses to the ships. You were fully aware how this dastardly act of greed harmed the Colony and the Company. Yet you persisted with your illegal trade of Company stock. With the help of three Khoe accomplices who go by the names of Heijde, Nantisa and Oedimackha, you traded with the enemy for sheep and cattle. How do you plead?'
'Not guilty,' they all responded as their names were called and the question put to them. The Khoe accomplices did not follow the proceedings with much interest. Their attention was fixed on tending to their injuries.
'Your actions were paramount to treason.' Raucous erupted amongst the freemen when they heard the word 'treason'.
The Commander could no longer hold his tongue. 'Order!' He shouted. Despite the hubbub among the defiant freemen, he was not in a forgiving mood. 'The sight of you standing here! The audacity to plead innocence sickens me.' His stoic face contorted with disgust. 'Killing breeding stock stops the increase of our stock. It is injurious to the Company. We heard freeman Harman saying, repeatedly, that he is not a farmer. That he did not know this and that. I am not convinced. Your lies stop today. You did not care. Not about the people of this Colony or the boats who are dependent on us, on me. This Colony must supply every ship with meat when they dock. That is why I freed you from your duties as sailors and soldiers and made you freemen. For no other reason! A carcass is not an income to you or anyone, except the Company. How dare you reduce it to a mere profit for upward mobility in the Colony. Freeman Harman, honesty was never your metier. You deserve to be hanged by your neck until you are dead.' He banged the table and sat down. The freemen shouted and refused attempts to silence them. It was as if a thousand devils had been let loose among the Council. On the one end of the spectrum were the Councillors, and on the other end were the freemen. All intrinsically linked as friends, family, and neighbours.
The fiscus stepped into the brouhaha that had erupted. It took him a while to restore the order. 'Evidence against these freemen proved that they paid more attention to bartering with the ships and increasing their profits than agriculture and the breeding of stock. The Council will adjourn to discern and reflect on a proper verdict, and punishment.'
The week-long trial of the freemen worried the Commander. It brought discontent among the settler community. It also loosened the tongues and opened the floodgates for criticism. The talk at the taps abounded with unsavoury conversation about his reign as Commander.
More upsetting was witnessing how the resolve of his once loyal Council fizzled out and lost momentum until they showed no appetite to prosecute members. Let alone accommodate the idea of hanging them because they traded cattle for their own survival.
It took them five full days before the Council reconvened with a verdict. The Commander was not present when the fiscus ordered the accused to rise. Outside the fort most of the Colony's settlers had gathered in support of the freemen.
'Harman Remajenna and the three co-accused, please rise.' He looked to the three Khoe men who were slumped over. Fast asleep. One of the soldiers shook them and they woke up. Uncertain they looked around. The soldier told them to get up. 'You, with the help of these three accomplices violated the trade ban which prevented freemen and other colonialists from trading cattle with the Khoe. You had no permission and you never sought permission for your activities, at any point. No witnesses stepped forward with concrete evidence against Hans Ras Jan the free huntsman, Jacob Cloeten and Caspar Brinkman during this trial. Nevertheless, we are of the opinion that all of you knew full well that we were desirous to grow our own herds. You knew that breeding rather than buying from the Khoe was done to reduce dependency on them for meat supplies. It is also agreed that this violation of the trade ban is a serious crime. With serious implications for the Colony and the Company. Hans Ras, Jan the free huntsman, Jacob Cloeten and Caspar Brinkman step forward. You are warned. You will tend to your crops with diligence henceforth. If any of you are found guilty of any offence in future, you will be evicted from your farms. All your possessions will be confiscated and returned to the Company. You will be banned from the Colony and placed on a boat to Batavia with the clothes on your back. Do you understand the terms of your punishment?' When they nodded, he gestured with his head to Councillor Harwarden to hand them the papers. They stepped aside and signed it. Once they were done, they were ushered out of the room. He ordered the soldiers to bring the three Khoe men to the front. The men were cowering into each other. He addressed Harman. 'The Council were persuaded by the confessions of these men against you and Hans.' He returned his attention to the three men. 'Heijde, Nantisa and Oedimackha,' he said. 'You are set free with a warning. Henceforth, keep off the forbidden paths or you will come to grief.' They left, walking close to each other, glancing back and forth as they were ushered out of the room.
'Harman Remajenna. You are accused of working against the Company. Today, 10 July 1660, the Council, augmented by the burgher councillors, have decided on the following sentence. The three Khoe witnesses testified that you conducted private trade in livestock with them. You shall pay a fine of 160 reals.
For a while the Commander retreated behind the walls of the fort. His absence was linked to his discontent with the treason trial. But his growing unpopularity among the settlers was irreparable. Sporadic skirmishes with the local population forced him into the public eye to erect a wooden fence. A line of defensive towers reinforced with a wild almond hedge from the river known to the Khoe as the Salt River which stretched all the way to his farm. It sent a clear message to the indigenous that they had lost the war. It was no longer their land. Under pressure from the free burghers, the first of many search parties explored the interior and form trade relations with the powerful inland communities.
The timing for a peace agreement was perfect. With Autshumao on Robben Island and Doman seriously wounded there was not much resistance when he staked his claim for all to hear outside the fort. 'The Peninsular Khoe could not produce proof for the land they laid claimed belonged to them. Or any authority that prohibited the us from farming on the land in dispute. The land we set foot on with our tents and three ships eight years ago belonged to no one. It now belongs to us, by law.'