The Storm That Shook the World

by Walter Soellner

  “No, no, Lieutenant, but we are staying at that new hotel over there, the Bismarck. It’s the building with the ladders leaning against it. Join us for dinner if you like, about seven.”

  “That would be delightful, Professor. I’ll see you then.” He did a half-salute, with a smile to the two ladies, and said, “Ladies,” and left. Dorothy Lange, in her gracious and subtle way, said to her husband, after Markus left, ““You seem especially taken by that young officer, dear. Could our daughter have anything to do with your interest in him?” Fortunately, Diana was peering over the side of the ship, watching all the activities.

  “Now, Dorothy, the man’s in my same field of work and very bright—and you saw his two Iron Crosses. They don’t give out those honors except for exceptional reasons. He wouldn’t be a bad match for Diana.” He hesitated and took his wife’s arm, turning her slightly. “Look at her, so lovely and smart. She’s got a head on her shoulders, that girl, but she’s already twenty-two!”

  “Twenty-one, dear, twenty-one.”

  “Yes, for another eight weeks!”

  “But a foreigner? You can’t be serious. And we know nothing of his family.”

  “He’s German. You can’t beat that for a foreigner. They’re some of the smartest people on the planet. Look how many successful Germans there are back home.”

  “That’s my point, dear. They’re back home.” She finally added, “And there’s that Andrew Hopkins. I’m told he’s going into his father’s business in San Francisco.”

  “Really?”

  “Railroads and banking.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Yes, dear.”

  Markus arrived at the Bismarck and found his way to the dining room while sniffing the fresh paint in the lobby. Black servers, obviously well trained by the hotel staff and impeccably attired with white gloves, were busy serving guests. He came up behind the professor and faced the two women across the table. “Greetings again, Mrs. Lange and Diana. I hope you are well settled here in this lovely hotel.” He did a quick sweep of his arm around the dining room.

  “Professor.” Markus nodded his head to him.

  “Yes, Lieutenant, welcome to our little home away from home—very nice quarters.” Lange picked up the menus. “Now, let’s see what they serve in one of the Kaiser’s colonies, shall we?”

  As everyone studied the menus, Markus related, “The last time I was here in Swakopmund was Christmas 1900 on the way home from China. Governor Theodor Leutwein gave us a wonderful New Year’s Eve party just down the street at Government House. The food and music and dancing were excellent. Everyone had a grand time!”

  “You mean there were ladies to dance with here in 1900?” Diana asked.

  Markus delighted in answering the Lange’s lovely young daughter. “Why, yes, there were, but not enough of them.” The Langes burst out laughing in unison. Flustered, Markus quickly added, “What I meant to say was that I was on a troop ship, so there were a lot of men and they all wanted to dance, so the ladies were really put upon to dance most every dance.”

  He regained his composure and smiled broadly before adding, “My good friend Levi, whom I served with in China, was also with me. Our ship stopped in Uruguay, and we met a very nice family whose daughter, Katherina, was on her way to Berlin with her aunt for her studies. She danced and danced, and it was all great fun. Levi actually married her several years later. They recently had a pretty little girl.” Warner Lange looked across to his wife who exchanged the look.

  Markus was staring at the center of the table in a fixed way, lingering in his private thoughts. Diana looked at her mother. Finally, Dorothy looked intently at Warner. He caught the unspoken signal.

  “Yes, well, an interesting story and nice to hear everyone had such a splendid time. And your friend, Levi, is it? You must be very happy for him and his family.”

  Markus snapped back to the here and now. “Yes, it’s a wonderful family. They deserve all the happiness in the world.”

  “So, let’s order!” Lange said with a flourish. “I could eat a longhorn!” The two women laughed while Markus looked puzzled.

  Diana spoke up, “A longhorn is a cow, well, actually a steer, and most of them are wild! You will find them in the West … of America. They have big, long horns, each one this long!” She stretched out her arms full length, almost reaching from her mother’s shoulder to Markus.

  “That must be some animal. I’ll have to come to California and see one someday.”

  Mrs. Lange said, “Diana, put down your arms!”

  “I was only showing Herr Lieutenant, I mean, Lieutenant Mathias, how big they were.” Diana blushed in embarrassment.

  “Frau Lange, your daughter has really quite a wide reach. Those cattle must truly have big horns.” Everyone chuckled as dinner arrived.

  CHAPTER 3

  The Ranch, the Hunter, and the Huntress

  The next few weeks found Markus settling into his quarters in Windhoek, getting acquainted with the existing military staff of the wireless station, and uncrating the delicate wireless equipment. The Langes also found their accommodations in Windhoek, and Warner and Markus began their collaborative efforts of installing and testing the new equipment Markus had brought from Germany. Governor Leutwein expressed great interest in the wireless station and its vital military and commercial value by staying in close consultation with Lieutenant Mathias and Professor Lange.

  At one of the frequent, long lunches held by the governor to discuss progress and technical problems of the wireless, several leading businessmen also attended. One of them was a large landowner, rancher, and early settler in the South West Africa colony named Tomas Conrad. After one of the luncheons, Herr Conrad invited the Langes and Markus out to his ranch for several days of relaxation and hunting.

  The sprawling Conrad holdings encompassed several thousand acres of grasslands, salt pans, upland forest, a few year-round springs, and during the dry season, dry river beds. With several blacks in his employ, Conrad and his seven children lived as isolated, landed gentry. Conrad was one of the lucky ones, or rather, he got in early, got good land, and diversified his enterprises. Some of his fellow German farmers and ranchers weren’t so fortunate.

  “We raise cattle, some sheep, and the orchards do quite well for us. The railroad makes it easy to transport our meat, fruit, and livestock.” Conrad was obviously proud of his accomplishments and his family.

  “We’ve started doing a bit of mineral exploration up along the escapement.”

  As the four guests settled into overstuffed, slip-covered couches in the parlor of the ranch house, Tomas proceeded to introduce his seven offspring who had filed in. They were lined up as in a military formation but with bright smiles for their visitors.

  “My oldest, Wolfgang, now twenty-six; Arnold, next, twenty-five; Humboldt, twenty- four; Helena, twenty-two; the twins, Michael and Norbert, nineteen; and our little angel, Christina, eighteen.” Everyone exchanged greetings before several of the Tomas boys excused themselves.

  “Always lots to do around here,” Arnold said, staring at Diana as he took his leave. The two daughters stayed and were delighted to talk with another young woman. After many questions about ranch life, Tomas said, “Petre, our houseman, will show you to your rooms. We dine at seven and retire early, as we will head out just after sunrise tomorrow. The wagons, guns, and equipment will leave at five, and your horses will be saddled by six. It should be good hunting.”

  Talk at breakfast was all about the hunt. Wolfgang began, “We will be after antelope today, several types actually, but we may see elephants, zebras, giraffes, and hyenas—lots of hyenas. If we’re lucky, we may spot a desert rhino, the black one … That would be a bit of luck.”

  Michael added, “With real luck, we may spot die strandwolf. Now that would be something!” He concluded with a grin.

  “At least we won’t have to worry about the Nile crocodiles; we aren’t going as far as the river today.” He c
huckled at his own joke.

  Warner spoke up, “You have crocs here? In America, we have alligators, thousands of them, but not in California!” Everyone thought that was funny.

  “Ja, I know about your alligators,” Conrad said, looking across the table at Warner.

  “But these Nile crocs are something else again. They get to eighteen feet or more, live for seven or eight decades, are surprisingly fast over open land, and are man eaters. We always stay clear of them when we’re down by the river. They take cattle, sheep, antelope … anything that goes near the river.” Michael looked serious and sounded serious. “All the animals out here are dangerous in one way or another, including the wild dogs. We had a visitor to the ranch once who went out early one morning. He saw a wild dog and decided to feed it a breakfast roll. He came back with a bad bite on his hand … very lucky there weren’t several other dogs. They would have taken him down, gone for the throat; that would have been the end of it … And I won’t even mention the snakes!”

  “Now, now, let’s not scare our guests. No one in the family has had a bad experience with snakes,” Conrad added

  “What about Mobuto? He—,” Arnold spoke up but was interrupted by his father, who gave him an exasperated look.

  “He wasn’t part of the family,” Conrad said.

  After a morning blessing recited by a very devout Helena, the breakfast table was abuzz with chatter about the animals. The hungry hunters devoured fresh-baked Kaiser rolls with honey and butter, African coffee, and an assortment of fresh fruit and sausages.

  “Everyone finished? Good. Let’s saddle up,” said Tomas.

  The Langes and Markus were fascinated by the topography of the ranch—so different from California or Bavaria.

  “You warned us it would be very warm out here in open land. You’re right,” Lange said, as he used his riding crop to swat off a horsefly on the mane of his mount.

  They had been riding for over an hour, away from the tall trees and cool shade surrounding the ranch house. Markus was glad he now wore the cowboystyle hat with one side pinned up that the German army had issued to its African troops. The wide brim all around kept the blazing sun off his neck and out of his eyes. Better to see the lovely Helena, with her silver crucifix rising and falling with the rising and falling bounce of her white blouse.

  Their horses trotted through the vast grass lands that swept to the distant, shimmering, blue-gray hills miles distant. Diana, obviously an expert rider like her mother, rode on the other side of Helena. The entire Conrad and Warner families, and Markus, were riding out, but only several were actually to hunt. The rest would stay in the day camp already set up for them before dawn.

  Tomas and Warner lead the twelve riders, along with three black rifle bearers. The tracker was several hundred yards ahead of them. Tomas made sure all were kept far behind the tracker. He pulled back on his rains and brought his horse to a stop. The others caught up and also halted.

  “From here on, I must ask you all to refrain from talking,” Tomas cautioned. “Our tracker has signaled that he found traces of game nearby.” On signal, the rifle bearers quietly rode up, slid out of their saddles, and distributed a half dozen rifles out of large saddle bags: one to each of the lead riders and one to Helena.

  “They’re loaded, but no rounds are in the chamber,” Tomas said quietly. The metallic click and counter click sounded six times simultaneously as each hunter opened and closed the bolt, sliding a round into firing position. Markus held his rifle across his lap behind the saddle pummel, as did most others.

  “So, Helena, you’re to be a hunter today also?” Markus asked, smiling.

  “Of course! Why not? I often hunt with Papa and my brothers. It’s fun. I like to get out into the open country and see what surprises God has for me today.” With that, Helena spurred her horse forward and joined her father.

  Most of the hunting party without rifles broke off and headed to the camp. The hunters walked their horses quietly for several hundred feet through high grass interspersed with thorny bushes twelve feet tall.

  While khaki-colored dust was everywhere, there were patches of dark, almost black, spiky leaves on the bushes and faint traces of a lighter green at the base of the straw-like grass. All around were shades of tan, brown, gray, and black. Only the cool blue sky broke the deathlike colors of the arid landscape before them.

  Tomas raised his hand and all stopped in their tracks. He did a hand signal, twirling his finger held out to his side, then raised it to his lips for silence. Everyone knew the hand signal meant, “dismount.” The rifle bearers came up, without making the slightest sound and took the reins of the horses. The six hunters with both hands on their rifles cautiously moved forward toward the tracker, trying carefully to avoid stepping on dry sticks and other debris.

  Without turning around, Conrad brought his left hand directly out from his shoulder and rapidly spread his fingers out twice. Everyone stopped in his tracks and remained motionless. Each stood like a statue for at least three minutes when the tracker, in the line of sight of them all, raised his hand slowly and signaled three times with his hand and pointed off to the left.

  Fifteen, everyone thought. By rotating his wrist, he communicated for the six hunters to come forward into a firing line. The group had been briefed that when the tracker found antelope, each hunter was to pick out one as a target but not shoot until Tomas fired the first shot.

  The party members in camp heard the crack of rifle fire: ten, eleven, thirteen shots in all. Flocks of birds flapped into the air near the fallen antelope. The crashing of thorn bushes and branches was heard as the rest of the frightened animals sprinted, in great leaps, for their lives.

  “How many did we knock down?” Warner practically shouted as the group moved forward. One of the antelope lay on the ground but still kicked its legs in an effort to get up. The tracker, with a quick shot, dispatched the wounded animal.

  “Looks like we have seven fine kills,” Tomas declared as the others walked around, prodding and poking and debating who shot which antelope.

  “This one’s mine!” several said.

  “How many shots did you get off?” asked Warner.

  “One,” Markus replied.

  “One? Only one?”

  “It’s all I needed.”

  “But didn’t you try for a second kill? I mean, there were a whole herd of them!”

  “It wasn’t my intent to shoot the whole herd,” Markus said, as he examined the chamber of his rifle.

  “Breaches open, everyone!” Tomas ordered the safety procedure, and added with a big smile, “Time for lunch!”

  Back at the ranch house, after a lunch at the day camp, a late dinner was prepared that included antelope steaks, roast antelope, and a wonderful, cream-based antelope stew. Following the leisurely meal with tales of past hunts and famous African hunters, everyone strolled into the parlor for a surprise Tomas was eager to share.

  “This just arrived on the same ship our guests sailed on, the Konigsberg,” he said, primarily addressing his family. Tomas walked to a small table and dramatically pulled a cloth away, revealing a beautifully finished wooden box.

  “It’s a gramophone! See here,” he opened the lid. “I ordered several dozen of these musical cylinders. Helena and Christina selected the musical pieces. Shall we try it?”

  As the Edison gramophone was cranked and a cylinder recording of Brahms piano lullabies wafted through the parlor, Michael asked Diana if she would like to go for a stroll in the garden, just outside the double doors of the parlor. Several others joined them, including Markus, Wolfgang, and Helena.

  “The last time I was here, the Boer War was still being fought. Of course, that was nine years ago. I’m interested to hear what impact the war had on your family and the ranch,” Markus directed his comment to Wolfgang, with Helena listening.

  “Yes, well, actually, it had a positive effect,” Wolfgang began. “Both the British and the Boers purchased our crops: beef, sheep
, and of course, timber after the war. We had a lot of sympathy for the Boers’s cause, actually. After all, they were ranchers and farmers like ourselves. As soon as gold was discovered in the Boer territories, the British jumped in to take control of as much land as they could … and to expand their empire.”

  Markus listened intently as Wolfgang went on, “Of course, the Boers weren’t blameless. Up until around 1900 they still supported slavery!”

  A calm silence enveloped the threesome as they looked at the dazzling night sky, blazing with a million stars against coal-black infinity.

  Finally, Wolfgang added, “But we get along with our British neighbors all right. They’re good customers!” A little laugh and smiles warmed the star-studded heaven gazers.

  “This is one of my favorite times. I mean, at night, like this,” Helena spoke to no one in particular. “I often stroll in the evening, after dark. It’s like I feel closer to God when I am alone and it’s quiet, with the vast heavens above.” She was looking up at the shimmering sky.

  Markus paused and lingered, looking at her staring up, her head back and the faint light from indoors just lighting her white neck and the side of her face. Wolfgang again broke the silence. “Helena already has a reserved seat in heaven … if she can get one of those for her devotion. A good Catholic she is, always in church and always praying for everyone in the family!”

  “Don’t mock me, Brother. God can hear every word you say.” With that, she turned and walked off.

  “I’m sorry, Sister. I was just making a joke for our guests!”

  There was an awkward moment, and then Markus offered, “Maybe I’ll join her for a few minutes.” With that, he turned and stepped lively in the direction Helena had taken. The young woman stopped by a small grove of fruit trees her father had planted.

  “May I join you, Fräulein Conrad?” Markus spoke softly.

  “Oh, I thought I was alone.”

  “I’ll leave if you like.”