Chapter 18 Summary

The next day, in his swartgalligheid, his black mood, he pays a visit to Kappie, who, noticing his mood, tries to cheer him up. He fails. However, he invites the lieutenant for coffee and to listen to music that evening at seven-thirty. Pieter vows to keep his cool and not to lose his temper or shout at Sergeant Steyn, regardless of how poorly the inspection goes. However, the first thing he sees is the prisoner Kleinbooi who is supposed to have been in the court at Sonop that same day.

Mistakenly, the Sergeant believed that the order needed only to be carried out the following day. Pieter, enraged, screams at him in English, which he knows Steyn does not like, asking him if he can read. Steyn begins to reply in Afrikaans, but Pieter admonishes him, because it is a rule in the...