The Cost of Sugar(72)

In the meantime the soldiers at Buku had been trying to construct a kind of bridge over the swamp. Much jeering from the Bonis from behind their fortifications. Every time a length of bridge was completed it was shot to bits, and several soldiers were wounded as well. And it rained and rained! Everything in the military camp was wet through. Not a thread of what the soldiers were wearing was dry. Those who were not wounded became ill. In addition, the food turned mouldy and rotted.

In the evening, the soldiers could hear the Bonis feasting, singing and dancing in their village. During the day they were always provoking the soldiers and ridiculing them. They asked, for example, whether they would like some of their gunpowder and guns to be able to shoot.

Twelve negroes from the Free Corps were allowed close to the village for negotiations. They were first offered the chance to join the Maroons. When they refused, eleven of them were shot dead. The twelfth was sent back with an ear and his hair cut off and the message that the bush-negroes feared neither the whites nor the Black Hunters.

Now the bakras were really and truly scared. You could see the fear in their eyes. In many households the head of the house went to bed with a pistol to hand. Some other families padlocked the doors and windows of the slave huts from the outside at night to prevent the slaves leaving. The whites were expecting an uprising any moment now. Men often came to talk with Masra Rutger at his office. Some of them wanted the masra to send Alex away from his seat near the door, but Rutger always answered that he saw no reason to do this.

Yet again a detachment was sent to the Marowijne-Cottica district. Governor Nepveu had placed all his hope in the Zwarte Jagers Corps. When Alex wanted to visit Caesar in the camp again, all the Redi Musus had departed. Caesar was also gone. The detachment was under the command of Captain Mayland and the hundred-and-eighty Zwarte Jagers or Redi Musus were under the command of the young lieutenant Frederici.

Everyone followed these events anxiously. In every house the slaves listened at the doors and tried to hear what the bakras thought was happening. In their secret language the slaves were able to pass messages to each other. In the grounds of every house there were whispers about those bush-negroes who were the bosses and would never be defeated by the bakras. Plans were made in secret. To well and truly defeat the bakras they would have to do what the bush-negroes had been doing.

Most of the plans were hatched on the plantations. Alex knew that in the town some slaves felt too attached to their owners to want to harm them. He knew for certain that none of the Le Chasseurs’ slaves would turn against them, himself included. Misi Elza and Masra Rutger had always been good to them. If necessary, he would certainly help and protect them, but on the other hand he would take the side of his own people if it came to the crunch. Then, all at once, in September, came the news … Buku had fallen! Fort Buku was in the hands of the military. That was surely impossible? What a disappointment. The slaves could and would not believe it. Buku could never be taken. But it was true, Buku had fallen. The wretched bakras were so pleased. They had reason anew to feast, drink and laugh out loud and to make jokes about how the army had got those dumb negroes.

When the soldiers under Captain Mayland’s command and the Zwarte Jagers under the leadership of Lieutenant Frederici returned they were given a heroes’ welcome by the inhabitants of the town and very soon everyone in Paramaribo knew how Buku was captured. The story was told everywhere and was of course embellished often enough. The truth was this …

The military had closed in on Buku. When Baron saw them, he hoisted a white flag next to the yellow one, not in surrender but as a sign of provocation. The Zwarte Jagers managed to find a path where the swamp was relatively shallow, only about the depth of a foot under the water. Captain Mayland staged a mock attack. Baron deployed all his forces at the focus of the attack. In the meantime Frederici with the Zwarte Jagers went along the newly discovered path on the other side and climbed over the palisades. A terrible bloodbath followed, with about forty negroes being killed and fifty being taken prisoner, including twenty-six women and nineteen children. A large proportion of the Bonis managed to escape, including the leaders Boni and Baron.

When Alex heard that the men had returned he hurried to the camp the same evening. There he looked for Caesar, but could not see him anywhere. Alex asked one of the men if he knew where Caesar was, but he answered, “I don’t know.”169

Where might Caesar be, Alex wondered. Had he returned, Alex asked another Redi Musu. This person answered that Caesar had definitely not returned. Alex then asked whether Caesar was dead, to be given the answer again, “I don’t know.”