Chapter 19: Robben Island
"Why go to those prison inmates? If we need Boers for eyeliner, then we also have Boers in our commandos. Henry couldn't understand why Roque had the idea to hit the lowly prisoners, there were four Boers in the commando team, and they could also infiltrate the Boers to find out.
The Boers are not all descendants of the Dutch, but also descendants of the Germans, descendants of the French, and so on, as long as the white people who lived in Cape Town before the British colonized Cape Town, the British classified them as Boers.
Although the Boers have established their own country, it does not mean that Cape Town has no Boers, in fact, there are more than 100,000 people in the entire Cape Town, most of them are Boers, and the British even set up a colonial force composed of Boers in order to rule Cape Town, it is too normal to have Boer police in the police station, there are few pure British, and the British cannot colonize Cape Town at all without relying on the Boers.
Of course, because the country was founded by the Boers, the British were always in a state of doubt about the loyalty of the Boers, so the police department would hire police from India and the Qing state, which could not solve the problem completely, but at least it solved most of the problems.
"The Boers in the commandos can't be used, they are definitely ostracized among the Boers, those Boers know that they are police and won't tell them the right news, and have you found a problem, there have been so many attacks and no Boer police have been attacked, what does that mean?" Roque did not trust the Boers, nor did he trust the Indians, and even did not dare to give 100 percent trust to the Chinese police.
It is a very frustrating fact that in Cape Town, the people that Roque can really trust are the British, because the British are the rulers, and they have no reason to collude with the Boers.
"We have a mole within us?" Henry was still naïve and immediately blurted out.
"I didn't say that, you can't talk nonsense without evidence, but we have to be on guard." Roque was startled, Henry could say this, but Roque couldn't.
"It must be so, the rioters only attack the Indian and Chinese police, and when the patrol is made up entirely of Boers, those people can be more unscrupulous, and we must catch them." Henry gritted his teeth, which is why Roque trusted the British.
The location of the prison is Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town, which was originally a concentration camp for exiled lepers, and after the British colonized Cape Town, they converted Robben Island into a prison, but did not remove the lepers on the island, so there are still lepers on Robben Island.
Robben Island was a no-go zone for the British, and Henry refused to get on board at the docks, leaving all the rights of the informant to Roque.
"Captain, there are lepers on the island, we have to be careful." Henry had a choice, the other two Chinese policemen named by Roque were not selected, and Donne, who was more than 1.8 meters tall and weighed more than 188, was a little frightened, and looked at the captain who was driving the ferry as if he was a leper.
"Don't worry, if anyone else can go, we can go, and there are our colleagues on the island, it's fine." Roque is not too worried, since there are still ordinary people on the island, it proves that leprosy has been controlled, as for whether the British have this ability, Roque believes that the British have.
The simple fact that all the lepers were sent to Robben Island and then cut off from the world, they had no one to visit and could never return to the mainland, as if they had disappeared from this world, and Roque was not even sure if there were any lepers on the island.
Looking at Robben Island in the distance, it is quiet and peaceful, with lush vegetation and lush trees, and the barbed wire fence on top of the wall can be faintly seen, and the road leading to the prison is made of stone hardening, and there are no horse-drawn carriages on the island, so Roque and his family can only walk to the prison.
"Hey, cowboy, have you been sent to whack moles too?" On the tower next to the dock, a guard with a gun greeted Roque, whose wide-brimmed hat did indeed resemble a cowboy hat.
Whack-a-mole?
What is this job?
"No, we're going to interrogate a few prisoners, what are you doing up there?" Roque was a little curious, this island doesn't look like there are a lot of gophers.
"Hunting, it's very cool, do you want to try it, no matter what, as long as you want to fight, you can fight." The guards on the tower were not very happy, and their voices were full of self-defeat.
Roque immediately understood what whack-a-mole was, this was the British scheme to control leprosy, as soon as someone approached the dock, they would immediately be shot by the police on the tower, simple and crude, but effective.
"Have fun." Roque drew a middle finger, did not respond to the guard's laughter and scolding, and walked away.
Having been here for a long time, people are all perverts, and Roque is grateful that August Russell did not arrange for the Chinese police to be guards on Robben Island.
Roque didn't have much sympathy for those lepers, this era is like this, the era of human life is like a mustard, there is the Black Death in the future, there are ** concentration camps in the back, the British in the second Boer War are not much better than **, no one is qualified to sympathize with anyone, Roque's motherland is still experiencing the collective aggression of eight countries, although Roque does not like my Qing Dynasty, but Roque does not want my Qing Dynasty to be invaded by foreign enemies.
It is the common people who suffer.
The prison's warden, the warden's assistant and assistant warden, were British, but they never went to Robben Island, and Roque found the actual administrator of the prison, Fred Sinclair, who also held the rank of sergeant, a native Boer.
"What are you going to do as a thief?" Fred Sinclair had already checked Austin Pence's warrant for Roque and was just chatting casually.
"Not a simple thief, it must be a prisoner who has a family in Cape Town and has no more than a year remaining in prison, and I have a special job that requires their cooperation." Roque just explained casually, and there was no need to say the details.
Although Roque is demanding, there are many such people, the entire Robben Island covers an area of more than 13 square kilometers, and the area of the prison is only a small part, but there are more than 500 prisoners held here, and they are all held in the dungeon, in other words, they are locked up at the feet of Roque.
"There are only four, and a few more are dying, so I don't think you need to waste your time." Fred Sinclair was very efficient and soon brought four humanoid skeletons.
It was really a humanoid skeleton, they were almost unclothed, but they couldn't see the original color of their skin, and the thick dirt was all over their bodies like fish scales, and they emitted a disgusting stench, and after being taken out of the cell, the four men knelt down in a row, their hands folded behind their heads, and there was no resistance.
Roque was skeptical that they would be able to complete the task.