The Claims of Labour

This chapter begins with the exact same paragraph that begins the first chapter, describing the road that leads to Ixopo, but then turns to the estate of James Jarvis, who watches the ploughing of his fields. His workers are weak and ignorant, knowing nothing about farming, but with greater education the workers simply go to look for better occupations. Jarvis considers the various problems of agriculture, such as the scarcity of land and the problem of splitting large farms into smaller ones. Jarvis sees a police car from Ixopo and suspects that it will be the Afrikaner policeman Binnendyk. Jarvis notes that Ixopo is now full of Afrikaners. The police captain van Jaarsveld brings Jarvis the news of his son's murder. van Jaarsveld offers him every assistance, and tells him that there is a plane waiting at Pietermaritzburg that can take him to Johannesburg by midnight. Jarvis tells van Jaarsveld that his wife is watching from the window, and knows that something is wrong. Jarvis goes into the house and tells his wife, Margaret as he arranges to make the journey to Johannesburg.