"EPISODE 1 Rites of passage" "There, sir." "Make way, there!" "Excuse me." "Mr Talbot!" "Mr Talbot!" "What is this stink?" "!" "Stink, sir?" "Lord, sir, you'll get used to that." "I do not wish to get used to it." "Where's the captain of this vessel?" "Captain Anderson can do nothing about the stink, sir." "It's sand and gravel you see." "The new ships has iron ballast, but she's fifty years old, sir." "Mind your head, now, sir ..." "Good God..." " Curious warship, Wheeler." " Warship, sir?" "It's a passenger ship, a mail coach, a storeroom, a farm..." "We have to have something to eat for the next six months." "It's only a warship if we should meet the Frenchy." "Will she make it to Australia?" "She'll float till she sinks, Mr. Talbot." "I'll fetch you a brandy, sir." "I am onboard the ship at last" "I must confess the thing's not as I had expected." "Why an ancient ship of the line such as this one has been transformed into a passenger conveyance is only to be explained by the straits the Admiralty are in with more than 600 warships in commission." "But your Lordship is well aware of the... ways of the Admiralty." "How else would you have secured my passage or the position that awaits me in the Governor's office, on arrival at Sidney" "You, my honoured godfather, have set my foot on the ladder... and and however high I climb - for I must warn your lordship that my ambition is boundless" "I shall never forget who's kindly hand first helped me upwards." "On the cot, there." "And be careful!" "You've asked me to use my time aboard the ship wisely and conceal nothing in this journal." "And report back on the activities of some of my fellow passengers." "I've yet to encounter Mr. Prettiman, the radical." "I suppose that he is somewhere onboard." "We've cast off, sir." "The next dry land will be Australia." "Perhaps I could have a word with the captain about a more spacious cabin." "If you take my advice, sir, you'll stay here a while." "Forgive me Wheeler, I'm not feeling quite the thing." "Nothing to be ashamed of, sir." "Even the late Lord Nelson suffered famously from the 'mal de mer'." "It'll help you sleep, sir." "Wheeler!" "Wheeler!" "Can I fetch you another draught of the paregoric sir?" "I believe you found it to be very settling." "It is." "It stroke most efficiently." "What are its properties?" "Opium, sir." " What are you doing, Wheeler?" " It is but learning to ride a ship, sir." "Good day, sir." " I said: 'good day to you', sir!" " Lieutenant Cumbershum!" "Who the devil is this?" "!" "Have you not read my Standing Orders?" "My name is Edmund Talbot, Captain." "I carry letters from my godfather." "I have much regard for your..." "his lordship." " I trust that you are comfortable, Mr..." " Talbot." " What is our position, Captain?" " We are still in the Channel, Mr Talbot." "And as such the rule is that passengers come to the quarterdeck by invitation only." "Oh ... in your case I would hope to see more of you." " We are now in finer weather, sir." " What the devil is this now?" "!" "Ah, Captain Anderson, may I take this opportunity to...." "No, no, no!" "Passengers come to the quarterdeck by invitation!" "I'm not accustomed to these interruptions in my work, sir." "Go forward if you please." "Keep to the leeward!" "Leeward, sir?" "Please convey my sincere apologies to the..." "Do you wish to subvert all my officers, sir?" "!" " There is some mistake..." " Are you aware of the powers of the captain on his own ship?" "You're a nuisance, sir!" "Put aboard without a note to me." "I'm shown more courtesy over a bale or a keg!" " My sincere apologies, Captain." "I did you the courtesy to suppose you could read." "Read, Captain Anderson?" "Of course I can read." "Then you have my orders." "My Standing Orders!" "A paper prominently displayed near your quarters and those of the other passengers." "Read it!" "My attention was not drawn to such a paper, sir." "By Christ!" "Am I to be out faced on my own deck again and again by every ignorant landsman?" "Am I, sir?" "Tell me!" "Read my orders!" "And when you have read them, learn them by heart!" "Come, sir, you treat me like a schoolboy!" "I will treat you like a schoolboy if I choose sir!" "Or have you flogged, if I choose, sir!" "Or have you clapped in irons if I choose." "Sir!" "Or have you flogged by the gratings if I choose, sir!" "Or have you hanged by the yardarm if I choose, sir!" " The whole ship must have heard him." " Parsons you see, Mr Talbot." "Don't commonly have them in the navy, sir." "Not enough of them to go around." "But law requires one aboard every ship of the line, does it not?" "Captain Anderson would wish to avoid it." " Come, come, Wheeler." "Are not seamen notoriously superstitious?" "You don't require the occasional invocation of mumbo jumbo?" "Captain Anderson does not, sir." "Nor did the great Captain Cook, I believe." "He was a notable atheist and would have sooner taken the plague into his ship as a parson." " Good God!" " Mr Colley is a passenger." "Nothing more." "Come!" "Mr Summers' compliments to Mr Talbot." "Will Mr Talbot take a glass of wine with him in the passengers' saloon?" " Mr Summers?" " The first lieutenant, sir." "He's second in charge to the captain, is he not?" "Tell Mr Summers I'll be happy to wait on him in 10 minutes time." "Mr Talbot." "Do you find your accommodation commodious, Mr Pike?" "Well, uh ... well..." "Mr Talbot?" "Lieutenant Summers." "How are you finding the motion?" "Well, my servant tells me I must learn to ride the ship." "I see you are managing." "Lt Deverel, Mr Talbot." "Mr Summers." "Would you mind just clarifying something for us?" "Excuse me, gentlemen." " Mr Edmund Talbot, I believe." " Yes, indeed." "Who hunts with the Shropshire Fieldings." "The very same!" "Delighted to make your acquaintance, sir." "Bates!" "Drink for Mr Talbot." "Thank you, sir." " Your health." " And yours." "Do you mind my asking -your scar- was it delivered by a French sword?" "A Frenchy indeed tried to split my skull, sir." "But my head proved harder than his steel." " Mr Talbot." "Have you met Miss Granham?" " I don't believe I have." "...but surely games are not altered in themselves by the nature of the place in which they are played." "I'm very happy to hear you say so." "I've seen cards played in queer places, I can tell you." "I would expect some knowledge of whist as necessary to a young lady." "Always provided she has the wit to lose prettily." "There are many hours of innocent enjoyment to be afforded by the cards." "Miss Granham, may I introduce Mr Talbot?" "I hope ma'am that at sometime during our long voyage" "I should have the benefit of your instruction." "Instruction, Mr Talbot?" "How clever of you to have discovered that I am a governess." "Why, ma'am..." "Yours is most necessary and gentile profession open to a lady." "I'm willing to bet you're as secure in the affections of your young ladies and gentlemen as old Dobbie..." "Miss Dobson remains in mine." "A lady who is the daughter of a late canon of Exeter Cathedral and who is obliged by her circumstances to take up the offer of employment among a family in the Antipodes may well set the affectionate friendship of young ladies and gentlemen at a lower value than you do." "This is excellent meat." "What takes you to Australia, Mr Talbot?" "A position in the Governor's office, sir." "Aah, a politician at our table." "Then we may all sleep soundly." " Mr Prettiman, is it not?" " Indeed it is, sir." "Have we been introduced before?" "No, I don't believe we have, but, of course, it is a belated pleasure." "Do you think we should experience any action on this voyage, Deverel?" "I pray that we don't, sir." "This is hardly a proper ship of the line with a crew that know each other." " You've not sailed together before?" " The crew is small in numbers ..." "We were swept together in a day or so." "You've met the officers, Mr Talbot." "I shouldn't wish to rely on Cumbershum for a hand in a battle with the Frenchy." " As for the captain..." " I've met the captain." "He spends more time with his plants than his commanding officers." "Indeed." "And to make matters worse this war is running down like an unwound clock." "Zenobia, my dear child!" " How is your poor mother?" " A shadow of herself, ma'am." "Will you join us Miss?" "I'll find you a cushion." "My cushion is free." "Miss Granham you cannot leave me here alone among so many gentlemen." "Yes, Miss Granham." "Must you leave so soon?" "Rest assured ma'am, your virtue is as safe here as anywhere on the vessel." "Dear Miss Granham, I'm sure your virtue is safe anywhere." " Allow me, ma'am." " Thank you, Mr Oldmeadow." "A true gentleman." "I saw you, sir." "You threw salt over your shoulders." "Superstition is the religion of the feeble mind." "I will have you know, Mr Brocklebank." "I am the inveterate foe of every superstition." "How angry Mr Prettiman is." "I declare that when roused he is quite, quite terrifying." "The custom of touching wood comes from the papistical habit of adoring the crucifix and kissing it." "Mr Bowles!" "We are indebted to you, sir." "My nurse had a horror of a loaf being turned upside down." "Apparently it presaged to disastrous sea..." "'Alone, alone...'" "'All,allalone'" "'Alone on a wide, wide sea'" "'God save the ancient mariner from the fiends that plague the vast.'" "'Why looketh thou so?" "'" "'With my crossbow I shot the albatross.'" "Mr Broklebank painted Mr Coleridge's portrait." "Albatross." "More superstition." "Would you dare risk shooting such a bird?" "Do you have a gun, sir?" "I have been advised -as I intend to travel in the country- to take a gun..." " Bring me your gun, sir." " I will bring you my gun, sir." "And I will shoot an albatross." "And we shall see what fate befalls this ship." "And where is the parson?" "The cabin walls are so thin." "Every morning I hear him in prayer." " The parson keeps his cabin." " Ha ha, the reverend Colley." "He's a newly hatched parson that had to be smuggled aboard." "We shall see little of him I think." "Thank God and the captain for that." "Is it true that Captain Anderson has refused the parson to hold a Sunday service?" "Did you not witness the altercation between them?" "Our captain threw him to the floor." "This is why we are denied a Sunday service?" "My wife would like a service on the Sabbath... if..." "Well." "I should think it might be possible for the parson to hold a short service for those who wish to attend, might it not?" "Then it's decided." "Ah!" "Mister... um..." " Mister..." " The reverend Robert James Colley." " At your service, Mr Talbot, sir." " Service is the word, sir." " Mr Colley." "When is the Sabbath?" " In two days time, sir." "A few ladies and gentlemen would welcome it if you were to conduct a short service in the passengers' saloon at seven bells at the afternoon watch." "Mr Talbot, sir, this is... is it is like you!" "The brooding captain will not dictate to me in this manner." "Is he to tell me whether I should have a service to attend or not?" "Why no, sir!" "'Lord, whom winds and waves obey'" "'Guide us through the watery way'" "'In the hollow of thy hand'" "'Hide and bring us safe to land'" "Two points to starboard, Mr Cumbershum!" "'Jesus let our faithful mind'" "'Rest on thee alone reclined'" "'Every anxious thought repress'" "'Keep our souls in perfect peace'" "'Keep the souls whom now we leave'" "Bring her onto the wind!" "'Bid them to each other cleave'" " Another point to starboard!" "'Bid them walk on life's rough sea'" " Onto the wind!" "One point to starboard!" "'Bid them come by faith to Thee.'" " Hard to lee, Mr Cumbershum." "'Save, till all these tempests end'" " Swing her around." "'All who on Thy love depend...'" " Steady!" " Steady!" "I have regrettably little to report to your lordship." "We have ventured, at last, into the Tropics." "Mr Prettiman is still trying to shoot his albatross." "The other passengers keep themselves to themselves." "Mrs Brocklebank has recovered from her sickness." "To everyone's surprise, she certainly does not look old enough to be Zenobia's mother." "I had known the world of Art is not to be judged by the accepted standards of morality but would prefer Mr Brocklebank to set up his brothel elsewhere." "Added to the heat and humidity a sea voyage I'm learning can have an effect on the male constitution." "To meet the lady is easy enough and, indeed, unavoidable." "The problem -devil take it- is a place of assignation." "if you'll ask what is wrong with my hutch or, indeed, hers - then I will answer 'everything'." "Does Mr Colley cry but 'Hem' on the other side of the lobby as he wakes Ms Granham in the hutch just aft him." "Does that windbag Mr Brocklebank but break wind and our timbers shudder clear through my hutch and into" "Mr Prettiman's just across from me." "Clearly, I must prospect farther for a place suitable to the conduct of our 'amours'." "Wheeler!" "Sir?" "I would like to look around our ship, if I may." "You'll need a guide, sir." "Make way for Mr Talbot." "What the devil is this?" "Gentleman Jack." "Always one for a joke, Mr Deverel." "He put Willis up to it." "Mr Deverel told me that was the only way to get on... in the navy." " It's a creeper, see?" " Most amusing." "You'll take an observation through a glass, Mr Talbot?" "The air is very close inhere, gentlemen." "A wonder you can endure it, day after day." "It's a hard life, Mr Talbot." "Here today, gone tomorrow..." "Here today, gone today if you mind that young fellow Hawthorne." "That's more donkey than boy." "He's a fuckin' idiot." "Last man on the rope, young Hawthorne." "Boatswain says: 'whatever in this natural world, don't let go!" "'" "The boat begins taking charge on the yard." "Hawthorne holds on like he's been told." "What's wrong, what happened?" "The end of the rope runs up to the block just like that." "Hawthorne's on the end of it..." "We never saw him again." " Good God!" "Here today, gone today." "It's so stuffy down here." "Remember them girls, Mr Gibbs?" "'Can we 'ave a window open?" "'" "'Can we 'ave a window?" "'" "So it is possible to obtain commerce, even on a vessel such as this?" " No one see you?" " I saw them." "No match goes unseen, Mr Talbot." "As you may know already." "Mr Willis will show ya." "Go on." "Pretend you're the captain doin' his rounds." "And if you're very lucky, you might get to see the purser." "Remember that gunner's mate?" "He lost his head..." "Was there anything else you wished to see, Mr Talbot?" "I trust we shall be seeing you at the ceremony, Mr Talbot." " Ceremony?" " This afternoon we cross the Line." "As we cross the Equator, King Neptune comes to visit the ship." "Yes, I have heard of this barbaric ritual." "Mr Summers!" "The ritual... custom, I should say." "Does the whole ship attend?" " Nobody is excluded, sir." " And it is.. entertaining?" "If you like your entertainment noisy." "It has come to me in a flash." "If I cannot alter the place, then all that it is left to alter is the time." "The ship is about to provide me not with the place, but with an opportunity." "I hear there's to be entertainment, Mr Talbot." "And we are all to be included." "Not quite all of us, Mr Pike." "This wretched heat has given me a headache." "I shall pass the time in my cabin." "Colley!" "Robert James Colley!" "Come out, Robert James Colley!" "You are coming to judgement." "No, I'm not ready!" "No!" "No!" "Please!" "Gentlemen, unhand me!" "Please, no!" "Please gentlemen." "God save me!" "This is Neptun's dominium, parson." "Pray for me!" "You are a low and filthy fellow, who must be cleansed." "Come on, now!" "Edmund!" "The French!" "Calm yourself." "It is Mr Prettiman who has at last seen an albatross." "Now, my dear." "We must get you back to the social scene." "It will never do for us to appear together." "Edmund!" " Why, what is the matter?" " You will not desert me." "Come, what can I do?" "Step overboard into a ship of my own?" " Cruel!" " Do not pretend these are circumstances with which you're wholly unfamiliar." "Unless you're waiting for..." " For what?" " For a suitable moment to retire to your hutch -'cabin', I mean to say- and repair your toilet." "We have very little time." "If there should be unhappy consequences..." "Yeah, we must cross that bridge would you come to it." "Now..." " Close is clear -yes- go, go!" " Edmund!" "Edmund!" "Talbot, my... my dear fellow." " Bates!" "A glass for Mr Talbot!" " Thank you, sir." "What a sight it was..." "What famous sport!" "Indeed, sir." "Famous sport..." "Bates, another glass, for Mr Deverel." "You are kindness itself, Talbot." "...and the whole thing went too far, in my mind." "I agree, Mr Pike." "Ah, but diverting, nonetheless." "And was it not... diverting for you, Mr Talbot?" " Can I get you anything, sir?" " No, thank you Wheeler." "That'll be all." " I thought I could smell perfume, sir." " I don't think you did, Wheeler..." "Good night, sir." "Good night, Wheeler." "So you shot your albatross, Mr Prettiman." "I did not, sir." "I did not." "Weapon was snatched from me hands." "Whole episode was grotesque and lamentable." " Such a display of savage superstition." " No doubt." "No doubt..." "Such a thing would never happen in France." "Parson." "Captain Anderson." "I desire to speak with you." "Well, sir, you may do so." "Your people have done my office wrong." "You yourself have done it wrong." " I know it, Mr Colley." " You confess as much, sir?" "It was never meant..." "The affair got out of hand." "You have been ill used, sir." "After this confession of your fault I..." "I forgive you." "Freely." "But there were, I believe, other officers involved." "They were I suppose acting not so much under your orders but by force of your example." "I believe I know them, sir, disguised as they were." "Not for my sake but for their own -they must admit their fault." "Christ!" "You will have it all then, will you, sir?" "I defend my Master's office as you would the King's." "And there are the poor ignorant people in the front end of the ship." "I must visit them and bring them to repentance." " Are you mad?" " Indeed no, sir." "Mr Colley." "Have you no care what further mockery may be inflicted upon you?" "You have your uniform, Captain Anderson." "And I have mine." "Have I your permission then to go forward and address them?" "Do as you please." "Mr Summers." "I believe it was you who discharged Mr Prettiman's weapon." "It was, sir." " I trust no one was injured." " I fired over the side." " I must thank you for it." " It was nothing, sir." "'Lord whom winds and waves obey'" "'Guide us through the watery way...'" "I beg you, allow me to take charge, sir." "Let's not interfere with the ways of the church, Mr Summers." " The men are in drink, sir." " See they are punished for it." "Something had happened during the ship's entertainment." "while I was so closely engaged with... the delicious enemy." "I have no doubt the people subjected the parson Colley to some slight, real or imagined, and it could have been a great deal worse had it not been for the timely intervention of Mr Summers." "What the devil's going on?" "Sir, I must see the first lieutenant, sir." "It's the parson sir." "Mr Colley's in the fo'castle, sir, as drunk as the butcher's boots." "Get below, sir, or I'll masthead you." "They are laughing at us, sir." "Sir." "Sir?" "Inform the parson he must return to his cabin at once." "Mr Willis!" "Inform the parson he must return to his cabin at once." "Joy!" "Joy!" "Joy!" "The blessing of God the Father Almighty, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost be with you and remain with you always!" "This is the 51st day of our voyage." "I think..." "And then again, perhaps it is not." "I've lost interest in the calendar and almost in the voyage too." "I have felt a lethargy." "It has been little to do than walk the deck and drink with anyone who will." "I have little to amuse your lordship at present." "I have avoided Miss Brocklebank who glows in this heat so as to almost turn a man's stomach." "I'm sure that Deverel has had to do with her." "I fear that a man might well suffer shipwreck on that coast." "What is of some interest, however, is the behaviour, or lack of it of the parson Colley." "The fact is that since the fellow's fall he has not left his cabin." "Four days have now passed since his drunkenness." "Come!" "What is it, Wheeler?" "Lieutenant Summers was inquiring if you have called on Mr Colley." "I've no intention of calling on Mr Colley, it's the thing furthest from my mind." "Lt Summers believes a visit from you would send a message to the rest of the ship." "Seeing as no other passenger carries your authority." " Is the parson unwell?" " Hard to say, sir." "You can still make out that the gentleman is breathing." "Very well, Wheeler." "I shall pay a visit to Mr Colley." "but I do not wish to be offended by the sights and smells of a sickroom." "Of course not, sir." " Good God!" " I've done my best, sir." "Mr Colley." "Mr Colley, it is I, Edmund Talbot." "No one blames you for what happened, sir." "Life has not been made... easy for you." "But this is not the way to behave." "This is not good enough, Mr Colley." "I have called upon you, sir." "I desire further acquaintance with you." "Well, sir." "When you are in a better humour, pray call on me." " Mr Talbot." " Mr Summers." "I've discharged those responsibilities you were so kind to bring to my attention." "with little success, I have to report." "The man made a beast of himself and now I am weary of the subject." "I have entered the cabin and seen for myself." "Then I shall marvel if you can eat after it." "The stink alone..." "Mr Talbot." "We have no physician onboard." "And I believe the parson is mortally sick." "The man is young and suffering from no more than over indulgence in liquor." "Is that all, Mr Talbot?" "Are you as indifferent to the man's fate as others are?" " I am not an officer on this ship." " The more able to help, sir." "I may speak to you freely, may I not?" "Well then." "How has the man been treated?" "First he was the object of one man's specific dislike." "Then the object of general indifference leading to contempt." "Even before his latest... escapade." "What I say now may well ruin me if I misjudged your character." "My character?" "You have been studying my character, sir?" "We know your birth, your prospective position." "Men and women will flatter you in hope..." " God!" " Wait, wait!" "Understand me, Mr Talbot!" "I do not complain." "You have exercised your privileged position." "Now I'm asking you to shoulder its responsibility." "Who was responsible for the parson's state?" "Devil take it, man!" "Himself!" "Very well, Summers, let us not mince round the truth like a pair of church spinsters." "You are going to spread the responsibility, are you not?" "You will include the captain and I agree." "Who else?" "Deverel?" "Yourself?" " The starboard watch?" "The world?" " You, sir, are the man most responsible." " What?" "!" "My career is now in far more danger then from the French." "They, after all, could do no more than kill or..." "How mean, how vindictive do you think I am?" "!" "Your precious career is safe." "Now explain your words!" "You ignored the captain's orders and ventured upon the quarterdeck." "You made good use of your rank to strike a blow at the very foundations of a captain of his own ship." "Because of your rank, your prospects, your connections you got away with it." "The parson, sir, could not be so fortunate." "If Colley had read the captain's Standing Orders..." "You are a passenger as he is, did you read them?" "Had you not acted as you did, with the arrogance of your class then Mr Colley would have not assumed the liberty of himself venturing upon the quarterdeck." "The captain humiliated the parson, sir, because he could not humiliate you." " You've said enough." " I hope so." "A man does not want to die of shame because he got drunk." "The best medicine for Mr Colley would be a visit from the captain." "And there is only one man amongst us with sufficient influence to bring the captain to such an action." " A fine evening for you, Mr Talbot." " Indeed it is, sir." "Do we make as much progress as is common in these latitudes?" "I doubt we shall achieve more than an average of a knot over the next day or two." " 24 sea miles a day." " Just so, sir." "I must confess to finding these latitudes agreeable." "Could we but tow the British Isles to this part of the world, how many of our social problems would be solved!" "The mango would fall in our mouths." "You have a quaint notion there, sir." " Do you mean to include Ireland?" " No, sir." "I would give her to the United States of America." "It would remove half a watch of my crew at a blow." "Well worth the loss, sir." "Balmy the air is..." "It's almost insupportable that I must descend again." " And busy myself with my writing." " Ah... a writer..." "We have a writer onboard." "Partly an amusement, partly a duty." "What my godfather would call a 'journal'." "Or a log, if you prefer." "You must find little to record in such a situation as this." "Indeed, you are mistaken, sir." "I find I have neither time nor paper sufficient to record all the interesting events and my observations on them." "It's my godfather's intention that this voyage allowed his godson time for reflection and exercise for his powers of judgement." "This journal will be evidence that his hopes have been fulfilled." " The journal is for your godfather?" " It is my present to him." "To distract him from his gout." "I'm instructed to hide nothing." "The officers of this ship must bulk large in your accounts, sir." "They and the language they use." "And some of the personages." "Mr Prettiman and his outspoken views." "All will amuse his lordship." "And myself?" "You, sir?" "I've not considered that." "Well you are after all the king or emperor of our floating society..." "I had not looked to become famous, Mr Talbot." "...with prerogatives of justice and mercy." "Yes." "I suppose you do bulk large in my journal." "And shall continue to do so..." " Good God, man!" " My apologies, Mr Talbot." " But it cannot continue." " Colley?" "I am to look in on him again by the captain's orders and you are to assist me." " I?" " You're not ordered to assist." "but Captain Anderson feels that the parson will listen to your invaluable advice." "Very well." "Let us try once again to rouse Mr Colley from his... ..his lethargy." "Mr Talbot has come to see you, Mr Colley." "Well, Mr Colley, this is... an unfortunate business." "But you are refining too much on it." "Uncontrolled drunkenness and its consequences are an experience every man ought to go through at least once in his life, or else how is he to understand the behaviour of others?" "I have been brought to see how I am" "in however distant a way- partly responsible for your.. predicament." "Had I not enraged the captain as I did, then..." " We need a doctor." " We don't have a doctor." " Mr Brocklebank!" "Wheeler!" " Brocklebank?" "!" "He was at medical school before he was a painter." "Wheeler!" "Wheeler!" "Sir?" " Wake Mr Brocklebank at once." "I believe the gentleman is still in the passengers' saloon." "Then fetch him, man!" "And Wheeler!" "Notify the captain." "Mr Brocklebank." "We require your medical knowledge." "Good evening, Parson." " Well?" " Well what?" "Is he dead?" "The man is not dead." "He is asleep." " He is in a low fever." " There is no such thing as a low fever." "Well?" "To the best of our knowledge, sir, Mr Colley is dead." "Nonsense." "Stiff drink will rouse him." "I fear the man's intemperance has destroyed him." "Intemperance, sir?" "A single unlucky indulgence." "And you will enter it, sir, in the log, I presume." "That is something for me to consider in my own time, Mr Talbot." "A moment's unlucky indulgence has not..." "I heard a mention of a low fever, did I not?" "That is my opinion, Captain." "Mr Brocklebank is not quite himself, sir." "Nevertheless, he's the only man aboard with medical knowledge, is he not?" "A moment ago he pronounced the man asleep." "Mr Summers!" "Make the customary arrangements." "Mr Willis!" "Bring aft the sailmaker and his mate." "And three or four able-bodied men!" "Ladies and gentlemen." "You will not wish to witness what follows." "May I request that the cabins be cleared?" "The air of the quarterdeck is to be recommended." " What happened to the parson?" " He was made drunk, as you know." "I mean before." "The crossing of the Line." "You did not witness the ceremony?" "I was otherwise occupied..." "For what did he receive the captain's apologies?" "A 'low' fever, gentlemen, is the opposite to a 'high' fever." "I bid you good night." "There is a young gentleman onboard whom" "I trust and pray- will become my friend as the voyage advances." "He's a member of the aristocracy with all the consideration and nobility of bearing that such birth implies." "I have made so bold as to salute him on a number of occasions and he has responded graciously." "His example may do much among the other passengers  who have an indefinable indifference to me." "I have furthered my acquaintance with Mr Talbot." "I was he, of all people, who did in fact search me out." "He's a true friend to religion." "He came to my cabin and begged me in the most open and friendly manner to favour the ship's people with a short address." "This is a Godless vessel." "What a man does defiles him -not what is done by others." "My shame -though it burn- has been inflicted upon me." "I must visit the poor ignorant people in the front end of the ship." "I shall go forward ad rebuke these unruly but truly lovable children of our Maker." "What is it, Wheeler?" "The captain has requested your presence in his stateroom, sir." "Why?" "There is to be an enquiry, sir." "Into the death of Mr Colley." "Come in." "Ah, Mr Talbot." "Come in, come in." "I must apologize to you for not greeting you at the threshold." "You've caught me in my garden." "I did not realize you had a private paradise, Captain." "Indeed, yes." "This geranium you see, Mr Talbot has some disease of the leaf." "And I dusted it with the flours of sulphur but to no effect." "I shall lose it, no doubt." "But then, sir, he who gardens at sea must accustom himself to loss." "On my first voyage in command I lost my whole collection." "Through the violence of the enemy, sir?" "No, sir." "No, sir." "To the uncommon nature of the weather which held us, for weeks without either wind or rain." "I could not have served water to my plants." "There would have been mutiny." "Still." "The loss of one plant is no grave matter." "Besides, you may exchange it for another at Sidney Cove." "We are a long way and a long time from our destination, Mr Talbot." "Shall we get on with the matter in hand?" "Mr Colley agreed to a taste of rum." "He said it was in the spirit of something." " Reconciliation?" " I think that was the word he used, sir." "What were you doing forrard?" "The cable to the bower anchor was to be rousted out and walked end to end." "Having finished my inspection, I was coming to report." "I stayed a while, having never seen a parson in that state before." "And then?" "I proceeded aft to inform Lt Summers but I'd been given a bottle by Mr Cumbershum." "Thank you very much, Mr Willis." "That is all." " But what's a bottle got..." " A 'bottle' is a rebuke, sir." "Let's get on." "The laughter and applause we heard, Mr East?" "Was when the reverend Colley exchanged word with the seamen." " After he'd been drinking." " He was more sociable after the rum." "I didn't see him again, not after the seamen took him down amongst the ropes." "I was with me wife - she had suffered a miscarriage." "Thank you, Mr East." "Actually the men most likely to enlighten us on how much Colley had drunk would be the fellows that brought him back on deck." "I've ordered them to attend." "However, my informant advises me that this next witness we should press." "Informant?" "Informant on what?" "We are here to establish the cause of Mr Colley's death, sir." "Or had you forgotten the agenda?" "I had not, Captain, but I believe we are doing what you gentlemen call 'making heavy weather of it'." "The parson Colley was made drunk - which isn't exactly a crime." "Can we not confess it is intemperance that killed him but rather our general indifference to his welfare was, likely enough, the cause of it?" " Indifference?" " Intemperance, sir." "One moment, Summers!" "Mr Talbot, I pass over your odd phrase, 'our general indifference'," "But do you really think a single bout of drinking is enough..." " But you said as much yourself!" " That was yesterday." "It is likely enough that the parson, helplessly drunk, suffered a criminal assault by one or God knows how many men." " Good God!" " I will have no concealment, sir." "Nor will I tolerate any frivolous accusations which touch me myself in my conduct of the ship." "Or in my attitude to the passengers in her." "I have made a submission, sir." "I beg your pardon if you find it beyond my line of duty." "Very well, Mr Summers." "Let us get on." " Surely no man will confess to such a..." " You are young, Mr Talbot." "You cannot guess what channels of information there are in a ship such as this." "Channels?" "Informants?" "Mr Summers tells me you claim some skill in cross-examination." " Did he?" " Hmm." " Did I?" " Your witness, sir." "Now, my good man, your name if you please." "Billy Rogers, my lord." "Foretop man." "We want some information from you, Rogers." "We want to know in precise detail what happened when the gentleman came among you the other day." " What gentleman, my lord?" " The parson!" "The reverend Colley." "The gentleman who is now dead." "He had a drop too much, my lord." "He was overcome, like." "Then he was not assaulted?" " Assaulted, my lord?" " With you permission... my lord..." "Mr Colley suffered an outrage in the fo'castle." "Who did it?" "Would it surprise you to know that you yourself are suspected of this particular kind of assault?" "I know nothing, Captain sir." "Nothing at all." "Come Rogers." "You were seen with the parson." "What did you sailors do to him?" "What did we do, my lord ?" "Buggery, Rogers." "Buggery!" "If you are innocent, then you may help us by bringing the criminals to book." "At the very least you can provide us with a list of those you suspect capable of this particular form of... beastliness." " We want names!" " Aye aye, sir." "Shall I begin with the officers, sir?" "Very well, Rogers." "You may return to your duties." "Have we any other witnesses?" "I believe no, sir." "And there, Mr Summers, ends our investigation." "Sherry, anyone?" "Hawkins!" "But we still do not know what happened!" "Sherry for myself and Mr Talbot, Hawkins." "Mr Summers." "I believe you must oversee the various arrangements." "for the unfortunate man's committal to the deep." "Yes, Captain." "A low fever it is, then." "Will you be willing to counter-sign the report?" "I have no official standing in this ship." "Come now, Mr Talbot." "Rogers has it in his power to ruin all of us if he be so brazen - as I doubt not he is." "All of us." "Witnesses, inquiries, accusations." "Lies." "Yet more lies." "Court martial." "Such accusations cannot be disproved." "Whatever the upshot, something would stick." "Buggery is a hanging matter, sir." "The parson died of a low fever." "I ask you once again: will you be willing to countersign the report?" "I will make a statement and I will sign that." "Thank you." "To your health, sir." "You mentioned informants, Captain Anderson." "Did I ?" "I..." "No, I think not." " You asked Lt Summers..." " Who replied there were none, sir." "Yes?" "Not a man jack among them." "Do you understand?" "No one has come sneaking to me." "You can go now, Hawkins." "Servants have ears, Mr Talbot." "Ah, yes, of course." " I'm very sure my fellow Wheeler has." " Wheeler?" "Oh, yes, indeed." "The fellow must have eyes and ears all over him." "Well then, until the sad ceremony I shall return to my journal." "Ah, the journal." "Do not forget to include, sir, that whatever may be said of the passengers, as far as the people and my officers are concerned, this is a happy ship." "I'm sure your godfather would want to know that." "It seems to me then" "it still seems so-  that I was and am consumed by a great love of all things." "The sea, the ship, the sky, the gentlemen and the people and of course our Redeemer above all!" "Here at last is the happiest outcome of all my distress and difficulty." "Captain's company, off caps!" "I did not realize that Mr Colley was so tall." "It's the cannon balls, sir." "Two of 'em strung to his feet." "'Man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live and is full of misery.'" "'He cometh up and is cut down like a flower.'" "'He fleeth as it were a shadow and never continueth in one stay.'" "'In the midst of life we are in death:" "of whom may we seek for succour,' 'but of thee, O Lord, who for our sins art justly displeased.'" "'We therefore commit his body to the deep' 'to be turn into corruption looking for the resurrection of the body' 'when the sea shall give up her dead' 'and the life of the world to come, through our Lord Jesus Christ.'" "Present arms!" "Fire!" "Leeeoonnawwll!" "I should be a rich man, now, had not the warmth of my constitution." "an attachment -more than usually found- to the sex." "And the opportunities for excess forced on my nature by the shocking corruption of English society." "What would a dolt know of the corruption of society?" "Indeed, sir ..." "My dear Talbot." "I hear you've been interrogating our good crew." " At the captain's request, Deverel." " Old rumble-guts?" "I tell you this: the moment we reach Sidney Cove I shall resign my commission." "Call the captain out and shoot him dead." "You, sir, or the drink?" "You look as though you could use a drop yourself, my good man." "Bates!" "A glass for Mr Talbot." "Did you know?" "I was the first in the field after the death of Lord Nelson with a lithograph, portraying the 'happy occasion'." "I've seen it." "I have seen it." "There is a copy on the wall of 'The Dog and Gun'." "Although, I've always wandered:" "how the devil did the whole crowd of young officers contrive to be kneeling around Lord Nelson in attitudes of sorrow and devotion at the hottest moment of the action?" "Aa... you are confusing art with actuality." "Was that not the scene you observed?" "Imagine:" "Lord Nelson died down below in some stinking part of the bilges, with nothing to see him but a ship's lantern." "Who the devil's is going to paint the picture of that?" "!" " Rembrandt, perhaps?" " A, madam, the immortal Rembrandt..." "What did you do to him, Deverel?" "You refer to the parson Colley." "You were amongst the crew when he was made drunk." "When he... when he was assaulted." "Made drunk, perhaps." "But there was no assault, sir." "Well, if you wish me to call it by another word then I shall." "Buggery!" "I don't recall the parson objecting to a damn thing, sir." "In fact, from where I was standing, he seemed to be somewhat enjoying himself." "You lie." "Do I, Talbot?" "Perhaps you don't know the man as well as you may think." "...very similar to death." "A fine, upstanding man of the cloth." "A truly degraded man." "Lieutenant Deverel?" "Mr Colley." "Come, ma'am..." "'De mortuis' and all that." "A single unlucky indulgence was harmless enough..." "Harmless?" "A priest?" "Harmless?" "!" "I was not referring to drink, but to vice... in another form." " Come on!" "The parson had no vices." " Do you doubt the lady's word, sir?" " No, no, of course not!" " Let it be, dear Mr Prettiman." "Mr Talbot has chosen to doubt your word, ma'am, and I will have an apology!" " You have it, ma'am, unreservedly." " Oh, well." "We learned of his vicious habits accidentally." "It was two sailors descending on one of the rope's ladders who made us aware." "Miss Granham and I were..." "It was dark." "We were sheltering in that confusion of ropes at the foot of the ladder." "Discussing how true liberty must lead to true equality." "Anyway, these sailors weren't aware of our presence so without meaning to... we heard all!" "Smoking is bad enough but at least gentlemen go no further." "But, my dear Miss Granham, I..." "It is as savage a custom as is known amongst coloured people." "By Jove, ma'am!" "You can't mean the gentleman chewed tobacco!" "You shall have the facts, sir, as they were spoken." "Natural aptitude has made me an expert in the recollection of casual speech." "One sailor said to the other, as they descended the ladder," "'Billy Rogers was laughing as a bilge pump as he came out of the captain's cabin.'" "'He went into the heads and I sat beside him.'" "'Billy said he's know'd most things in his life, but he'd never thought to get a chew of a parson.'" "No, I fail..." "I fail to see what's so amusing." "'Blessing of the Father, of the Son' 'and of the Holy Ghost...'" "Well, really!" "Get up!" "There are ladies present!" "Disgraceful!" "I think I finally understand what happened to the pitiable, clownish Mr Colley." "It was he -not Rogers, not Deverel- who committed the fellatio that the poor fool was to die of when he remembered it." "And so, your lordship, in the not too ample volume of man's knowledge of man, let this sentence be inserted:" "Men can die of shame." "Wheeler!" " Where is Wheeler?" " He cannot be traced, sir." " We think he may have gone overboard." " Good God!" " The captain mentioned informants..." " They're searching the ship now." "Phillips will serve you in the meantime." "Shall I fetch him for you?" "Perhaps you can give this to the captain." "I've done as he asked." "The captain will be reassured." "What a man does defiles him." "Not what is done by others." "Sir?" "It's a phrase from Mr Colley's journal." " The matter is closed, is it not?" " Not entirely." "For my part, I must write a letter to Mr Colley's sister." "I shall describe my growing friendship with her brother." "I shall describe my admiration for him." "Account all his days of 'low fever' and my grief at his death." "It will be lies from beginning to end." "And then?" "Australia." "This is the last page of your journal, my lord." "I have turned back over the pages ruefully enough." "Wit?" "Acute observation?" "Entertainment?" "Why, it has become, perhaps, some kind of sea story." "But a sea story with, as yet, not a tempest." "No shipwreck, no sinking, no rescue." "No sight nor sound of an enemy, no thundering broad sides, heroism, prises, gallant defences or heroic attacks." "But there is still a long way to go." "Get her onto the wind, Mr Cumbershum." "Steer!" "One point." "Large." "EPISODE 2 Close Quarters" "My clothes are becoming impossible to wear." "I have to put them on damp." "That is rain water, sir." "The salt will be irritating the rash." "But I thought rain water was fresh." "It may be, if you live far enough from the sea." "Is that why my soap won't lather?" "Did your servant, Wheeler not give you the ship's issue before he left us?" "Good God, is this soap?" "I thought it was a brick..." "It's saltwater soap." "I do not detect any scent." "And I suppose you think soap's naturally scented, do you?" "Is it not?" "Come with me, Mr Talbot." "And bring as many of your clothes as you can carry." "We have moved at last out of the fair weather of the Equatorial regions and are now pushing south." "There is, once more, an unsteadiness in the deck." "A constant canting to the right." "Time hangs heavy." "I amuse myself... pass the time." "What else can a poor devil of a landsman do to occupy himself on a voyage from the top of the world to the bottom?" "Mr Hall!" "Mr Hall!" "Cut them away!" "All hands!" "Look to Mr Talbot there!" "Mr Willis!" "Where is Mr Willis?" "You should be tending to the ladies, Phillips." " What happened?" " The wind sir." "The sails was taken aback." "Round Mr Pitts to check the gudgeons." "Have you any idea how much canvas has been flogged into ribbons?" "How much hemp there is now good for nothing but stuffing fenders?" " You were on watch Mr Willis!" " Sorry, sir." "What are you doing on the deck, boy?" "Get up when I'm talking to you!" " Sir, Mr Deverel..." " What's the boy done now?" "Curse him!" "Mr Deverel!" " You were on watch I believe." " Young Willis was on watch!" "There is a Standing Order against leaving a midshipman on watch at sea, sir." "Your absence on deck was criminal neglect, sir." "You may consider yourself under open arrest." "Sod you, Anderson!" " You sodding by-blow!" " And Mr Deverel!" "You are forbidden to drink!" "How is she?" "The foremast is sprung so at the moment we cannot fully rig it." "What happened?" "A squall must have struck on the wrong side of the sails." "We were taken aback." "You should get some more rest, Mr Talbot." "You were struck with a rope's end." "I'm fine, Mr Summers." "Only glad the sea has chosen to be calm." "It is no reason for celebration, sir." "The damage has set us back considerably." "We've been borne back into the doldrums." "Talbot!" "Talbot!" "Dear fellow, have you heard?" "A sail!" "They've sighted a sail on the horizon!" " Let us hope it's one of ours." " Where's your spirit, man?" "They spied her royals and they're white as a lady's kerchief." "She's an enemy, depend on it!" "They gave no indication of having seen us?" "No sir." "With two topmasts down, there is some chance of us avoiding her." "I have no intention of avoiding her, sir." "If we'll be drawn together and she's the enemy than I shall fight." "We have six grade guns on either beam." "Can we man the starboard side with seasoned men?" "Hardly, sir." "Mr Summers, ask the passengers to retire to the saloon." "And instruct the ladies as to the way down to the orlop deck." "They must retire there immediately upon my command." "Come, Mr Talbot." "Just keep her full by, boys." "My precious children." "Come, Mr Pike." "Never fear, man." "We're all in this together and we shall give a good account of ourselves." "As for the little girls, be easy." "They are far too young for the French." "Mr Talbot!" "You have excelled yourself." " No, I only meant..." " The French are as civilised as we." "We may expect to be treated with the same -indeed more- liberty and generosity as they are by us." "Mr Bowles, you have some experience with the law, I believe." "A solicitor's clerk, sir." "Well, may we civilians not fight?" "Seen on deck with a sword and pistol in hand we are legally entitled to have our throats cut." "Yes, well, you are indeed matter-of-facts so you might even be called... cold blooded." "There is a way out of it, sir." "Passengers could volunteer, be sworn in and entered on the ship's books." "Don't know what the situation would be over naval pay in that event." "I share a glass with you, Mr Bowles." "You show us all where our duty lies." "How could you volunteer before you know what enemy we face, sir?" "Suppose it is... a ship from the United States of America." " We are at war with America, sir." "Some of us believe she deserves her independence." "I understand they hate the French..." "almost as much as they hate the British." "I will fight as well as any man here." "But I will not fight for my country!" "I am leaving it!" "I will not fight for 'my ship', or 'my king', or 'my captain'!" "So." "Mr Bowles will shed any blood, provided writing of his agreement is precise." "Mr Pike will fight for his family, but nobody else." "And Mr Prettiman will aid us against the French and the Dutch but will spare any American who should be rash enough to come his way." "How could you joke so?" "!" "What does it matter what ship is out there, hidden in the mist, if it has guns and may shoot them at us!" "Come, let us consider the situation." "Now." "Maybe the ship... most likely she's not concerned with us." "If she has seen us, well, we are a Royal Navy ship of the line." "The most fearful engine of destruction in this modern century." "A thousand to one we will neither see nor meet that ship again." "I fear it is not so." "That ship, whatever she is, is becalmed as we are." "In a prolonged calm, ships are drawn together by the mutual attraction of heavy objects." "If the wind does not get up, then we shall inevitably lie side by side." " I do not find this credible." " it is true, nevertheless." "The captain feels you are better able to conduct yourselves with propriety if the plain facts are laid before you." "And what are we to do, then?" "The gentlemen here have engaged themselves to help in what way they can." "I expected no less and will provide you all the suitable employment." "So much for your attempt at heartening us, Mr Talbot." "Mr Summers has got a better way about it." "I have no sword." "Have you a sword, Bowles?" "Good God!" "No, sir." "The ship will have a supply, no doubt." "Mr Brocklebank, you are, forgive me, of a full habit." "Will you descend into the orlop with the ladies?" "I have an inclination to stay on deck." "Though I have on numerous occasions depicted the war at sea yet I have never before had the opportunity of taking notes in battle." "I have often inquired of military men precisely how a cannonball in flight is visible to the naked eye." "We could not be better situated for the observation!" "I only hope darkness is not too far advanced before we are engaged." "On your reckoning, sir, the perfect idea of a cannonball is to be formed by the gentleman who's having his head knocked off by it." "If it comes, sir - why, it comes." "Half a point to starboard!" "Bring her half-a-point to starboard." "Roundly." "The oddest thought has occurred to me." "I might, in actual fact, be killed." "I have only now realized it -which may seem strange to anyone who has not been in a like case." "The knowledge is... oppressive." "Edmund." "I thought you was closed up at the guns." "I had letters to write, Deverel." "The captain has lifted your arrest?" "Battle pays all debts." "The others have gone down, I urge you to join them." "Good luck to you." "..you gentlemen and emigrants you lay your hands at such ropes as the captain to the guns may command." "And when he says 'Haul!" "', you will haul until your guts fall out!" "Then you will be as quiet as little mice" "So the Frogs do not hear us coming." "And when you have run the guns out -silence, you pick up your guts you put'em back and you stand waiting." "If we should open fire, them gun tracks run back so fast you cannot see'em move." "Now." "I've seen gun trucks here." "And I've seen gun trucks back there." "But I have never seen'em half-way." "They move so quick!" "So, you do not want to be lounging behind'em or the Frogs will think that you are what they calls... 'confiture'." "Jam, gentlemen." "Jam." "Will the... will the enemy be firing by then?" "How do I know, sir?" "Eh?" "What do I care?" "When fire is opened, things is different." "Very queer how different things is." "When a gun is being fired in anger." "Then, gentlemen, you have the full permission of His Majesty the King to shout." "And yell." "And shit yourselves." "So long as it's fucking noisy and you hold your guts in as you when told to!" "God!" "And if any volunteer should think that the far side of the ship is a bit cooler, or a little bit further from the enemy, these two little fire irons in my belt are loaded." "Now, my heroes." "Run out that gun!" "Not that one, sir." "That one." "Haul!" "Now, now, Mr Talbot, sir." "Where was you goin'?" "Had we been in action, I'd be forced to put a pellet in your head, you've come so close to the midpoint!" "The gun deck is no place for a man of your heights." "You'll be better on deck where the Frogs can get an eyeful of you all bloody and glaring." "Keep low as you go, sir." "Come on my lads a round of applause for a gamecock of the afterguard!" " Talbot!" "You're our first casualty!" " Give me a weapon, Deverel." " A meat axe, a sledge hammer, anything!" " You'll board with me?" "I will carve up and eat the first Frenchman I come across." "Spoken like a true Briton." "Can you use it?" "Well enough." "Wait till Oldmeadow's men have fired or you'll get a lead through you." " And don't forget your boots." " Boots?" "Kick'em in the balls." "It's as good as anything." "It will all be over in a second." "One way or another." "If you're alive after a minute, you'll be a hero." "Might I suggest some heartening message be passed among the men, sir?" "Why?" "The men already had their rum." "Trafalgar, sir." "If you think it proper." "Have the men reminded of the unforgettable signal." "O, and Summers!" "Remind the men that, with the war going the way it is, this may well be their last chance for prize-money." "Death or glory..." " They brought out the guns." " Present arm!" " Aloft there!" " She missed us, sir!" "It was a signal rocket, you young fool!" "Here she comes." "Here she comes." "Bring her half a point to starboard." "His Majesty's frigate Alcyone." "Captain Sir Henry Somerset." "27 day out of Plymouth." "The war with the French is over!" "God save our gracious King!" "God save the King!" "God bless you boys, God bless you!" "Wheeler?" " Curse it, you drowned." " Allow me, sir." "You're a ghost, Wheeler." " Surely..." " You're wounded, Mr Talbot." "I will bring water to your cabin." "Only think, Mr Talbot!" "I have served at the guns!" " My congratulations, Pike" " Mr Askew remarked that a few days of gun drill and he would have turned us into prime gunners." "He said that we would be fit enough to fight all the Frogs in the world!" " You are still excited, sir." " Well, I was... and I am." "Bates, some brandy." "Bates please consult with my servant Wheeler about a bottle of brandy and a glass for my hutch." "A glass for Mr Pike." " Thank you, sir." "No..." "I'm not accustomed to brandy, it burns my mouth." "An ale, if you please." "D'you hear brandy... d'you hear Bates?" "Sorry to see you struck down, Mr Talbot." "I had to laugh, it seemed so comical..." "Though, of course, it must have been very painful." "It still is, Mr Pike." "Call me Dick." "Will you not?" "There in the office, they would call me Dickie, or Dickie-bird..." " No, no, the ale is for... um..." "When Mr Askew said that you would come so close to the midpoint..." "I remember, Mr Pike." "I wish to forget the whole lamentable episode." "Of course, sir." "If you wish..." "Mr Pike, Mrs Pike would appreciate your assistance with the twins." "They're very over-excited." " Of course, ma'am." " Please be seated, Miss Granham." "I expected to find Mr Prettiman." "Phillips was to cut his hair." " I will look for him for you..." " Good heaven!" "You're wounded!" "Bates!" "Sit down." " Yes, ma'am." " Fetch me a clean cloth and some water." "Now you do not look at all the thing." "My skull contains now a large fragment of the ship's deck..." "You have a lacerated contusion." "Tear it into pieces." "The Alcyone will have a surgeon aboard, I believe." "I've taken harder knocks in fisticuffs, ma'am, I pray you be not concerned with it." "I'll get you something to eat, sir." "The episode was made to seem..." "a little comical." "Now I see the result I berate myself for having been amused by it." "It seems that I covered myself with blood, but not glory." "Not as far as the ladies are concerned, sir." "You're quite the hero." "You are tired and concussed, Mr Talbot." "The war is over." "And you should rest." "I've yet to ask you, Wheeler, how you came to fall overboard." "I slipped, sir." "Three days in the water before the Alcyone picked me up." "You are a lucky dog, Wheeler." " But you were pushed, surely." " Sir?" "You informed on Billy Rogers to the captain, did you not?" "And he... the others say he tried to do away with you." "If you say so, sir." "But you drowned..." "You must have." "I did, sir." "And the life in me's so strong." "Then you're a ghost, Wheeler." "Ghost." " I'm sure that it's in your trunk." " I can't wear it!" "Well, your trunk is not in there." "Oh, I don't know what's happening." " What are you doing, Mr B?" " Papa!" "Papa!" "Oh, wake up man!" "No, you can't wear that shirt..." "Wake up, man!" "Wheeler!" "Find something else!" "Quick!" "Yes, that's it!" "Found the scarf!" "Oh, dear..." "Where is..." "Wheeler!" "No, it won't do!" "It's no good!" "Morning, Miss Granham." "Like it, ma'am, you are radiant." "A pretty speech from our gallant defender." "How does your head, sir?" "I now know what is meant by heart of oak I appear to be roofed with the stuff." " Bates, have I missed breakfast?" " I've put aside a plate, sir." "All you ladies are going out of your way to delight us." "You do not think highly of the nature of the ladies, sir." "We are prepared for a whole day of festivity." "We shall dine in Alcyone's wardroom." "There is to be a ball, on our own deck and an entertainment presented." " By our own seamen." " Good God!" "Captain Anderson agreed to a ball?" "Surely not!" "Not at first, Mr Talbot, he sat up most upright." "But then Lady Somerset managed Sir Henry who had a word with our captain." "Supposing there is wind" "Surely we cannot sail together and dance at the same time." "Oh, no." "Lady Somerset feels that there will not be..." "Sir Henry says that he relies on her to make the weather behave." "Oh, they are such a delightful and charming couple!" "Lady Somerset has a 'fortop' piano but she declares herself sadly out of practice so she presses Miss Chumley to play it." "Oh, she does so delightfully..." " Who is Miss Chumley?" " Miss Chumley?" "Miss Chumley is" "An orphan and Lady Somerset's 'prodigy'." "God!" "She be as finished a musician as that, ma'am?" "Ah, well, they taking her with them to India to live with her distant relative." "for she's quite without fortune -except for her skills- her tal..." "Ah!" "So much to do!" "Good Heavens!" "It feels as though I've woken into a dream." "A ball, in the middle of the ocean..." "I must own to a most eccentric feeling, in the circumstances." "Almost a universal fright at the prospect of peace." "We are set free from the simple and understandable duty of fighting for our king and country." "It was all so unexpected and quaint that I had forgot the ringing of my head." " Mr Talbot." " Captain Anderson." "I came near to being myself, once again." "Sir Henry Somerset, may I present Mr Edmund Fitzherbert Talbot..." "Who is to serve His Majesty in the Antipodes." "Mr Talbot." "I know of your godfather, of course." "How is he?" "Troubled by his gout, Sir Henry." "But in good spirits, the last I heard." "Good, good." "Lunch, gentlemen?" "Mr Talbot!" "Come forward, do." "Lady Somerset, may I present Mr Talbot?" " Lady Somerset." " Such a pleasure." "Come in, Marion." "I was laying odds you'll be up and about." "The lightning that struck the top of the mizzenmast ran down and melted conductor into white hot drops the deck had burst open and the electrical fluid destroyed me." "It surrounded the girl who stood before me with a white line of light." "Mr Talbot..." "May I present Marion Chumley?" "Poor Marion." "She's been positively prostrate with the 'mal de mer'." "Slightest movement - good God!" " Up it all comes..." " The Alcyone is lively then Sir Henry?" " So-so, Captain Anderson." "An utmost dispatch is utmost dispatch, after all." " And your ship?" " Ooh... steady as a rock, sir." "And even when she were taken aback, she only put her rail under for less than 10..." "Gentlemen, you are making the poor child quite pale." "You'll say no more about it." "The floor is as steady as a ballroom and I've seen you happy enough on that." "I believe we are to hold the ball aboard of my ship, ma'am, which is even steadier than this." "Anything is steadier than this..." "beautiful, wild thing." "I am certain beyond a peradventure that Captain Anderson would offer up his vessel as refuge for the rest of your journey, Miss..." "Miss Chumley..." "Now, now, Mr Talbot." "We're not going to India, we're going to Sydney Cove." "Besides, our ship is full of..." "passengers, emigrants, cargos..." "Miss Chumley, if you would take passage with us, I would abandon my cabin to you." "I shall sleep in the orlop or the bilges." "I shall guarantee to pace the decks at night." "But come sir, we have an empty cabin." "I shall move there immediately and" "Miss Chumley shall take mine." "To India you must go, Marion." "And on Alcyone too... mhmm." "Oh, come straight in, Janet!" "Down there." "You need not be scared, nor say anything." "You were only brought in to make up the numbers." "...entirely different from theirs..." "I understand you are to give us a recital, Miss Chumley." "Where did you hear such a thing?" "Rumour went that you was a prodigy, which word I first discounted." "Now..." "I see that it was no more than the truth." " Prodigy, Mr Talbot?" " Prodigy, Miss Chumley." "The word was wrongly reported to you, sir." "Lady Somerset is sometimes kind enough to refer to me as her "protégée"." "To me, Miss Chumley, prodigy." "Ever and always." "Miss Chumley..." "I am dazed." "No, bedazzled, dazzled." "Have bewitched me already." "You must have done so before." "Have we met in Cathay, Tartary, Timbuctoo... where was it?" "Mr Talbot, are you travelled?" " No, Sir Henry." " But you... aam..." " Well, I'm sure Marion has not been..." " Mr Talbot is making up a fairy story, uncle." "I'm certain he intended for you not to listen, for it is a great nonsense." "Nonsense?" "Miss Chumley..." " You cut me to the quick." " I would never be so cruel, Mr Talbot." "Fairy tales are not nonsense to some." "The Alcyone is a flyer to have made such a time out of Plymouth." "You must have judged what she will carry to a hair, sir." "As far as Gib she was positively snoring." "You should have been with us back at Plymouth Sound though, right across from Shit Creek - they took us out with a steam tug." "Good God!" "I've never been so astonished in my life!" "The smoke!" "The smoke from that chimney!" "My coach cloak was quite spoiled by it." " Marion said her pillow was black." " Helen!" "You did, my dear." "Don't you remember the trouble we had with your scalp?" "Come, Lady Somerset!" "Miss Chumley is not a Red Indian." "Very good." "If I may enquire, Sir Henry, what is a steam tug?" "Well, Mr Talbot, it is an extraordinary invention." "And I swear, nothing but the native genius of our nation could have brought it forth." "It is a craft with a steam boiler." "The force from which makes great paddle wheels rotate on either beam." "That's too much fire for me I cannot like the things." "If one should explode than it might set off an entire fleet like tinder." "Well, that's probably right, but they're building a larger one in Portsmouth." "This shall be the ruin of real seamanship." "Well, they make a devil of a mess." "But there's no denying they towed us out against the wind in under two hours, whereas it would have taken a whole day kedging." "Might not a larger vessel operate on the high seas?" "It's possible, Mr Talbot." "But there's not a necessity for it." "Once given sea room, a ship may do well enough for herself." "But might one not build a steam warship that would paddle out of the harbour and seek the enemy." "When you come in the Government," "I beg you, accept any post but that of the Admiralty." "But you have not answered Mr Talbot's question, uncle." "I'm sure he would make a splendid admiral or.. whatever it is." "If we would have a steamed tug large enough to engage an enemy." "We'd need double the crew to keep'em clean." "Let alone feed'em with coal." "I'm sure the mechanical genius of the British would overcome such difficulties." "Well speak up, Captain Anderson." "You have so much brain as to be found in the service, I think." "The real objection, if you will have an answer to such a preposterous question, is this:" "If she is to be a warship, then a paddlewheel on either beam will reduce her broadside." "Secondly: during an engagement, if a single ball were to strike the flimsy members of her paddle, she would be rendered uncontrollable." "Well said." "Yeah." "We are answered, Mr Talbot." "We are beaten from the field." "I'm sorry..." " Oh, really?" " Now, isn't that surprising?" "One would hardly have thought it." "How true." "You're most welcome, Miss Granham." "Miss Granham I wonder if you'll be kind enough to consider  the possibility that we might dance." "Tonight, there is to be a ball, Miss Chumley." "And we must dance the night away." "I will beg the allemande of you." "And the quadrille." "And the round, and the waltz." "And the cotillion." " Whichever shall I chose?" " All, if you please." "It would be improper, sir." "You must know that, surely." "Then I'm an advocate of impropriety." "Peace has been declared, sir." "Better share it." "You cannot be so cruel as to let me go." "The wind will do so, Mr Talbot." "And tonight I must take your hand for as many -and perhaps rather more- dances than I thought proper." "If I am seized by the wrist, what can I do but submit?" " The fault will be yours." " I will be brazen." "Wheeler!" "Wheeler!" " Sir?" " Ah, Wheeler." "I need you to take my..." " Devil take it, man, you stink of rum!" " I was owed a few seepers..." "I require you to take all of my gear across the lobby, to the cabin Mr Colley used." " I can't do that, sir." " What do you mean, you can't?" " I haven't an order." " I'm giving you an order!" " Captain Anderson..." " I've just been with him and he raised no objection so you need not." "Now go!" "Hurry!" "'Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso,'" "'Notte e giorno d'intorno girando,'" "'Delle belle turbando il riposo,'" "'Narcisetto, Adoncino d'amor.'" "'Delle belle turbando il..'" " Mr Talbot!" "What is this?" "You're not dressed for the ball, Mr Summers." "Why do you wish to change cabin?" "I could not think of asking Miss Chumley to use a bunk in which the poor Mr Colley willed himself to death." "I shall sleep here, she across the lobby, in my hutch." "'Cabin', I should say." "This is impossible." "You cannot just..." "I will do as I wish!" "Now answer me, why are you not dressed for the ball?" "I told you before." "I do not dance." "Oh, come, Mr Summers." "All officers dance." "My background is not like other officers'." "Unlike your friend, Lt Deverel," "I was promoted from the lower deck." "A common sailor?" "Well then, Mr Summers, I must congratulate you." "What for, Mr Talbot?" "For imitating to perfection the manners and speech of a somewhat higher station in life." "'Delle belle turbando il riposo,'" "'Narcisetto, Adoncino d'amor...'" "'God save our gracious king'" "'Long live our noble king'" "'God save our king'" "'Send him victorious'" "'Happy and glorious'" "'Long to reign over us'" "'God save the king'" "'Thy choicest gifts in store'" "'On him be pleased to pour'" "'Long may he reign'" "'May he defend our laws'" "'And ever give us cause'" "'To sing with heart and voice'" "'God save the king.'" "'Here's a health unto his Majesty'" "'With a fa la la la la la la'" "'Confusion to his enemies'" "'With a fa la la la la la la'" "'And he that will not drink his health' 'we wish him neither wit nor wealth'" "'Nor yet a rope to hang himself'" "'With a fa la la la la la la la la With a fa la la la la laaaaaaa'" "Well done!" "Well done!" "Bravo!" "'The sheep's in the meadow the kye are in the corn'" "'Thou ower lang in thy bed, o, bonny at morn'" "'Canny at night, oh bonny at morn'" "'Thou ower lang in thy bed, bonny at morn'" "'The birdie's in the nest, the trout are in the burn'" " She sings well, does she not?" " Oh, yes..." "A singing master would have wished more tremolo." "And, of course, more practiced presentation, but..." "What sir, you..." "I apologize, Miss Chumley." "I've been hit over the head and I'm not entirely myself." "You must recover slowly from such injuries and not be exposed to the profound of human emotions." "I am recovered, Miss Chumley." "I must ask you to forgive me, again." "'The lad will not work and the lass will not learn'" "I've yet to ask you:" "why do you travel to India?" "Lady Somerset is persuaded that India is the natural paradise." "I believe she may be disappointed." "What about you, Miss Chumley?" "What are your reasons?" "Young persons are like ships, Mr Talbot." "They do not decide their fate, nor their destination." "May I take your hand for the next dance, Miss Chumley?" "Oh, perhaps a refreshment first, Mr Talbot." "At once." "No, no, no." "Right foot." "Sir." "It seems unnecessarily harsh, when room maybe found upon our ship, to subject your protégée to such suffering at the hands of the sea..." "Come, come, Mr Talbot." "We know who is suffering and who will continue to." "I will not allow circumstances to fault me." "A proper sentiment on a young man." "Why." "This is the stuff of poetry." "And here am I, a devotee of the Muses forced to be the one all poets deride." "No, ma'am." "If you are yourself, and not suffering from your injuries, you would see it as I do." "Marion is in my care." "She must remain on the Alcyone." "Mountain won't come to Mahomet..." "You dance very well, Mr Deverel." "It's the rum - keeps me in a straight line" "Without the rum, sir, can you still dance?" "Still in a straight line, only..." "Mr Deverel!" "My chair, I think." "Mr Deverel!" "You are placed under open arrest and forbidden to drink, sir." " Return to your quarters." " By Christ, Anderson!" "Quiet, you fool!" "Say nothing." "Come, Miss Chumley." "Let us take the air." "One of the Deverels, is he not?" "How very unfortunate... mmhm." "How happy they are!" "How gay!" "If only I..." "You would not understand, sir." "We should return." "It is the cotillion." "And I do not wish to disappoint your Mr Willis." "Mr Willis?" "!" " Impertinent scamp!" "I'll have his ears for this!" " Come, sir." "A moment, Miss Chumley." "Marion..." "We must not part." "I offer you..." "Can I offer you?" "Yes..." "I offer you the ruin of my career and the devotion of a lifetime." "I beg you will say no more, sir." "I cannot leave you with as little mark of favour as might be accorded any gentleman in either ship." "Please, sir, say no more." "Marion, dear." "Stay one minute." "I cannot." "Than tell me you do not regard me as little as these other gentlemen." "I do not, sir." "Good night, Mr Talbot." "Good night, Captain." "Anderson!" "Anderson!" "Turn in, Mr Deverel, you are drunk!" "I resign my commission." "As a private gentleman" "I issue a formal challenge to a duel." "Mr Deverel, I urge you to turn in." "You are a coward, sir!" "Accept my challenge or you are a coward!" "Inform the blacksmith the prisoner is to be restrained in irons." "Coward!" "I did not receive it, Mr Talbot." "Pray be witness to that." "Kindly take charge of it." "I do not wish to interfere in a service matter." "Pick it up!" " Mr Talbot!" " Sir Henry!" "Sir Henry, I must talk to you." "Mr Talbot, come aboard, dear boy." "It's about little Marion, is it not?" "Hmm." "Charming girl." "But if you wish to correspond, dear boy you must seek permission from Lady Somerset." " It is more than that, sir." " Good God, the little minx!" "She's all sweetness, but sir, I beg you I wish to take passage at Alcyone." "Your face, Talbot." "It's bleeding." "Bring forward the ship's surgeon." "Quickly, Mr Saunders." "It's just my head. 'Tis but a trifle." "I am Mahomet." "Good God!" "You've been drinking, that's what it is." "No sir!" "I wish to take passage on Alcyone." "You must allow me!" " But your career my boy..." " It means nothing!" " But your godfather." "Your mother..." " I beg you, sir!" "Sir Henry, you must take me to India with you, you must!" " You must!" " Hurry man, he needs medical assistance." "I do not!" "I am Mahomet!" "Sir Henry!" "I am Mahomet!" "Marion!" "Marion!" "I tell you who I am." "I am Mahomet!" "I am Mahomet!" "Marion!" "Lord, have mercy upon us." "Christ, have mercy upon us." "Oh, Lord, hear us." "Oh Christ, hear us." "God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost have mercy upon us." "'We're all laid idle, we're keeping the bairn'" "'The lad widnae work and the lass widnae lairn'" "Dobbie..." " Dobbie..." "'Canny at e'en, oh bonnie at morn'... '..." "Thou's o'er lang in thy bed oh bonnie at morn.'" "Wheeler!" "Wheeler!" "Marion..." "Marion!" "Marion!" "You were nearly gone there, Mr Talbot!" "You have the advantage of me, sir." "Francis, you careless bugger!" "If I see you slip out of the strop I'll have you at the grating!" "Forgive me, Mr Talbot, sir." "I am Lt Benét." "with one 'n' and an acute accent on the second 'e'." "French?" "!" "Distantly, sir." "Then you're from Alcyone?" "Where else, in this waste of water?" "You should return to your cabin, sir." "This is no place for passengers." "Make a run for it!" "Now, sir!" "If to be restored to a complete understanding of one's situation is to be healed, then let us all prefer sickness." "You should keep down what you can, sir." "All that I wish for is that this motion would hurry up and finish me." "Lt Benét has said to be takin' measures to make our passage more tolerable." "He's a valuable addition to our crew." "Then why would Sir Henry want rid of him?" " I believe it was an exchange, sir." " Exchange for what?" "Lt Deverel." "By this time, Dashing Jack would be the other side of the Cape." "With my beloved Marion!" "It cannot be within the confidence of mere captains to decide such things!" "The saying is, once the ship's out of sight of land, a captain can to anything he likes to you but get you in the family way." "This is too much!" "The exchange was a benefit to both captains, sir." "Lt Benét would still be on the Alcyone now, had he not been so sweet on the captain's lady." " Lady Somerset?" " Sir Henry caught them." "Him on his knees and she not trying to get away very hard." "So, Captain Anderson having an unhappy officer to dispose of and" "Sir Henry having an officer to get rid of, the exchange was made." "Carry on!" " Good afternoon, Mr Benét." " Mr Talbot." " Are we making good progress, sir?" " Four and a half knots." "Surely soon we shall find those westerlies and be blown all the way to Sydney Cove." " Indeed, sir." " Mr Benét, a moment." "It had occurred to me that, during your passage aboard Alcyone, perhaps... you had the opportunity of forming some opinion on the character of Miss Chumley." "She has none." " I beg your pardon?" " She can have none, Mr Talbot." "She's a schoolgirl." " Miss Chumley..." " I have no opinion of schoolgirls." "It's useless to look to them for sympathy or understanding or anything." "They are blown by every wind, sir." "Miss Chumley is no longer a schoolgirl, sir!" "She's pretty, I grant you." "Amiable." " With a trace of wit." " Trace?" "!" " Malleable..." " Mr Benét!" "She's a sporty girl, though." "I give you that!" "Why, as man to man, had little Marion detained her uncle with some plea about the conduct of the ship, then" "I don't mind telling you" "I should've been a devil of a sight nearer being caught 'in flagrante delicto' than I was." "She knew about you and Lady Som..." "She understood?" "A criminal connection!" "She was accustomed to keep 'cave' for us." "You'll excuse me, Mr Talbot." "I have duties to carry out." "Marion..." "The voyage continues." "A man cannot weep forever." "The ship is making what way she can over a beam sea and with much wind" "But our foremast is still shot and we can spread no sail." "We've been too long in the Doldrums and our hull is incrusted with weed." "Miss Granham!" "You should take to your cabin in these conditions." "I am perfectly able to reach the passenger saloon, Mr Talbot." "Then perhaps Mr Prettiman should escort you." "He took a fall yesterday, a severe one and has been unable to leave his bunk." "Good God!" "I had hoped to ask for a little warm water." "Wheeler!" " Wheeler!" " Sir?" " We want some hot water at once." " There isn't any, sir." "Nonsense." "You brought some to me just this morning." "Miss Granham is not on my side of the lobby, sir." "Well neither am I since I've changed over." " Yes, sir." "But, sir, I ..." " Hot water, Wheeler, and quick about it!" "And if necessary, light the damn fire again." "And tell whomsoever it should concern that it was under my instruction." "Please allow me to escort you to your hutch... 'cabin', I mean to say, for you're not a rabbit." "Wheeler will bring your hot water, I promise you." "I will see to that." "Under my instruction." "Now!" "Haul away on the messenger, Mr Toner!" " Come on, you idlers!" " Tell me, what are the crew doing?" "They're rigging a dragrope." "Weed on the hull, Mr Talbot." "I was informed that such an operation can only be performed in a harbour or tidal creek." "You will notice that neither are at our disposal, Mr Talbot." "But how can you insure that the dragrope will stick to the hull?" "A careful officer will exercise his wits in finding a way round such difficulties." "The dragrope may be held from several directions;" "not merely side to side, but fore and aft." "Mr Benét has proposed a plan which we think will work." "Mr Benton, your men are idling!" "You have benefited from the exchange of officers." "Mr Benét is a real seaman, sir." "He's all ropes and blocks and canvas." "There's no steam about Mr Benét..." "Certainly very energetic man..." "As far as your opinion of his seamanship is concerned, I must take it on trust." "He will go far in my opinion." "A veritable marine Adonis..." "You have a fancy way with words, sir." "I trust he will find a way into your journal." "Pull away at the dragrope!" "Roundly now!" "The devil take the sea and the Navy together!" "They do their best, Oldmeadow." "Well, it's not enough, that's what I say." "Aaaa, Mr Brocklebank, sir." "I've been told you've been forced to keep to your bunk" "It is supposed that a little movement may improve me." "Talbot!" "Oh..." "I'm in a sad way." "But so, I am informed, is our ship." "Mr Benét is endeavouring to rid the hull of weed." "Yes, but will it ease the motion?" "I am not sure." "But it will increase our speed" " I hear Mr Prettiman took a heavy fall." " Yes, his leg has been smashed to pieces." "I fear, gentlemen, that we shall all be tossed about in this broad ocean until it finishes us all..." "Nonsense, Brocklebank." "We shall reach the Antipodes in no time at all." "I have it on good authority from Lt Summers." "Devil take it, men!" "Would I be this... happy if... we was going to sink?" "I have given much thought to the situation, sir." "I had ample time to consider the future." "It was a question, you see, I've been able to formulate - the great question." "We know how ships are lost:" "they run on the rocks or they are sunk in action." "You would have seen in a dozen pictures the battle smoke conveniently placed" "And in the foreground - smashed stump of a mast with three small figures clinging to it." "'HMS Whatnot' ablaze." "It's all been seen." "All recorded" " I'm not sure, sir, quite what it is that" " Ah, the question." "It is this:" "How does the ship sink when it is not recorded?" "Huh?" "Every year ships will disappear." "They pass over a horizon and they enter a mystery, gentlemen." "The water may be fair;" "the water -stealthy." "It creeps on them." "Over them." "They pump until they are exhausted." "And the water wins!" "No one paints a picture of them disappearing into the sea... swallowed up by..." " Damn it, Brocklebank, we will not sink!" "You cannot think away of painting the event if..." "No, you mistake me, sir." "It is not a question of paint." "But a question of conduct." "By Jove, Talbot, he's put his finger on it!" "Mr Oldmeadow understands." "How does a man drown when he sees it coming?" "Huh?" "It is a question of dignity, Mr Talbot." "I must have my dignity." "How must I drown?" "Oblige me, someone, by calling the servant Wheeler." " Wheeler!" " Wheeler!" "I beg your pardon, sir." "You called for me?" "We are interested, you see, Wheeler." "You're about the only man alive who had what must have been a deuced unpleasant experience." "You'd oblige us by describing..." "Brocklebank!" "Don't!" "Stop!" "No" " Wheeler..." "I don't believe the man's recovered - if he ever will." "No, no Wheeler." "Mr Brocklebank spoke in jest." "It would be like asking some poor devil what had happened after he'd been turned off." "No matter, my man." "I am a minority." "That will be all, sir?" "Yes, Wheeler." "That will be all." "I am at a loss to understand you, sir." "We had what might well be a unique opportunity to understand life." "And what is even more important:" "understand death!" "Unlike you, Mr Brocklebank, I intend to wait on the event." "Ah, Wheeler." "I... feel it is my duty to apologize on Mr Brocklebank's behalf." "The man's clearly not been well and I..." "Good Heavens, man." "You're as white as a..." "Ghost, sir?" "I can't drown, sir." "I can't drown!" "For goodness sakes man, pull yourself together!" "You'll just have to put up with what happens like the rest of us!" "Steady the course, Mr Smiles!" "Nicholas!" "Boatswain!" "That was part of the keel." "It was flotsam." "Nothing more." "How could it be flotsam, Mr Talbot?" "It has sank!" "Ladies and gentleman!" "You are in no immediate danger!" "The ship has lost her false keel and that is all." "Would you all please return to the lower deck." "Charles!" "What's happening?" "We were dragging a whole coral reef halfway around the world." "I saw a wood." "One through bolt has been torn." "Mr Gibbs is plugging the hole." " Then we are not drowning?" " No, Mr Talbot." "We are not." "Not today." "Let me through!" "Wheeler!" "Wheeler!" "Wheeler!" "Poor boy." "He has more sensibility than he knows." "You must lie still for a while, sir." "You must lie still, sir!" "Thank you, Mrs Brocklebank." "Believe me, I think I'm now able to rise." "Better, Mr Talbot?" " I'm fully recovered, thank you." " He's not, Mr Summers." "Believe me, ma'am, I regret the necessity, but I require a moment alone with Mr Talbot." "Your fiancé has also been asking for you, ma'am." "Fiancé?" "Have you not heard, Mr Talbot?" "Why, it is the only good news to grace our ship in weeks." "Mr Prettiman has proposed marriage and Miss Granham has accepted." " It's a love story." " Is this true, Miss Granham?" "It is customary to offer your congratulations at such news, sir..." "Of course." "I mean - congratulations." "I shall pass on your kind words to Mr Prettiman." "Now, excuse me, sir." "I have been in a faint." "But now I'm ready to return, Mr Summers." " Return, sir?" " Why, to my own..." "The sooner you answer my questions, Mr Talbot, the sooner Colley's..." "that is, your cabin- is able to be tidied." "Tidied?" "That is..." "landsman's talk." " You should've said 'made all shipshape'" " You were the only witness, Mr Talbot." "Who did it?" "Good God man!" "You know already he did it himself!" " You saw it happen?" " Yes." "And I wish to talk no more on the subject." "Only one more question, Mr Talbot." "Have you any knowledge why the wretched man did it?" "To the best of my knowledge, he was afraid of drowning." "Men, like cables, each have their breaking strain." "I cannot help but feel there is death on my hands." "Like the ghost of Colley, the spirit of Wheeler is still aboard." "Perhaps it was a young man in the grip of a fever who dreamed of a meal on board a neighbouring ship." "And all that followed..." "A young person will always remember the time  when two ships were side by side in the middle of the sea" "And hopes that one day they may put down their anchors in the same harbour." "EPISODE 3 Fire down below" "Five more!" "Come on, men!" "Give it another go!" "We have escaped the Doldrums once more." "Since Mr Benét's success in removing our weed, we now travel at a much improved five and a half knots." "But we are fragile." "We are held together by ropes and cables in a -it seems- broken ship." "They will not be satisfied, sir, until they have drowned every last one of us." "I do not think it is time for such exaggerations, sir." "I trust you are more the thing, Mr Talbot." "I'm feeling perfectly recovered, thank you." "I took the liberty of inspecting your old cabin." "What a ghastly mess your servant left behind!" "A coward of a man, if ever I met one." "I do not wish to discuss the matter, gentlemen." "Now you are here, sir, you'd better be co-opted at once." "The motion before the committee is this..." "Committee?" "How are we a committee?" "Mr Bowles was elected chairman of this meeting, sir." "Do you wish it adjourned or will you leave it?" "Allow me, Mr Brocklebank." "Mr Talbot may be forgiven for supposing this is no more than a social gathering." "We have constituted ourselves an ad-hoc committee." "And have come to certain conclusions:" "our motion is intolerable." "But we believe there may be a remedy." " Which is..." " We suppose that relief may be found by an alteration of course away from the wind and towards a South American port where the ship might be repaired and our health restored." "If such an alteration were necessary, surely our officers would have made it." "They may think of the ship but we may go whistle for consideration." "We are taking in water faster than they can pump it out." "The decision to change course is not mine or yours, but the captain's." "All we plan at the moment is to make our wishes known." "I wish you the best of luck." "In fact, Mr Talbot," "I must break it to you that, 'in absentia', you have been elected to ...how shall I say?" "...bell the cat." "Devil take it!" "There was no one more able, Mr Talbot." "You may take poor little Phoebe with you, and pull up her smock and show Captain Anderson her rash." "Pike, for the love of God!" "No one else is so likely to have influence with the captain." " Your godfather being who he is..." " Let me think!" "If we go to him then we go with great care." "The position of a passenger on a matter of war is..." "The power of the captain may well be absolute." " But we are no longer at war, sir." " And we are not about to start a mutiny." "If you are to approach the captain, it must be your last resort." "I will try to persuade the first lieutenant that he should carry your wishes forward" "And if the captain refuses to listen to Mr Summers?" "Yes." "I shall go myself." "I will not jeopardize the lives of all passengers on this ship, sir." "That is enough!" " What might you want down here, sir?" " I was hoping to find Lt Summers." "Don't mind Mr Davies, sir." "He won't trouble you, now." "Not feeling quite the thing, are you Mr Talbot?" "Not so much the lord these days..." "I may not be a peer, Mr Askew." "But I'm commissioned to serve His Majesty in ways you've probably never heard of and would never understand." "You will oblige me by paying my position the respect due to it from a warrant officer of the Navy, however senior." " 'ardly lovable, is it?" " Lovable?" "To carry on this... walking about." "The hoity-toity." "I liked the way you took those blows on the head and come up again all set to be a hero." "'He'll be a man one day', I said to myself." "'If someone don't kill him first.'" "Only... you don't know nothing, do you?" "Make a private conversation of this, sir, and I shall know how to answer you." "Davies is no trouble." "He's not gonna bother us." "Martin!" "Give us a song!" "He's a real bottom of the barrel, isn't he?" "He might have made a lieutenant if he'd been lucky." "Or had a shove up the bum from an admiral." "It's living and dying in ships, you see." "Something we all have to get accustomed to." "I have more experience than you with this ship!" "It is not madness!" "If you were to take time to look at what we are planning on doing then you'd not think that it's madness" " Mr Benét!" "It is more madness to simply drift around idly in the seas going nowhere!" "Mr Talbot..." "This way, sir!" "I must say, gentlemen." "I find your choice of meeting place somewhat clandestine." "What are you doing here, Mr Talbot?" "The passengers have formed a committee and they... rather we... wish to make our opinion known that for the sake of women and children the ship's course should be redirected to South America." " Impossible!" " Mr Benét!" "I am still first lieutenant of this ship." "It is not a question of whether we will or will not stand towards South America." "We cannot proceed in that direction." "Nor can we touch anywhere near the Cape of Good Hope." "We have got ourselves too far south." "Ships go further south than this..." "The ship's problem goes back to when she was built." "They say of these ships that they were built by the mile." "And sawn off as required." "Building defects are way too common in warships." "They say the copper to lie in someone's pocket." " Can men do such things?" " We feel she moves too much." "We cannot use the foremast and, as a consequence, we cannot use the mizzenmast either." "All is lost, then?" "By obedience to the forces of nature we may just... outwit them." "It will be a long voyage, Mr Talbot." "And we may sink?" "I can trust you?" "Then yes." "We may sink." "Now... are you willing to - I will not say 'to lie' - but to... play down the seriousness of our situation as far as the passengers are concerned?" "Devil take it, man!" "What am I to say to them?" "If I say to them we will not reach the coast of South America or Africa they will rightfully fear the worst!" " It is a difficulty..." "What the First Lieutenant means, Mr Talbot, is that you should darken counsel a little and rely only on assuring them that all will be well and that we do the best in the circumstances." "Come, Mr Talbot." "We may not sink today and we may not sink tomorrow." "God willing, we may never sink at all." "Where's the committee?" "The movement is too much for them." "I'm small and light." "I do not get flung about so much." "You have spoken with Mr Summers?" "The ship is in no danger." "The wind, as you know, Mr Pike, has a habit of changing." "I'm sure, before long, we will find ourselves riding as easy as in a post chase." "Do you mind if I call you Ed?" "Or Eddie?" "You may address me as Edmund in this em.." "situation in which we find ourselves." "You know, Edmund," "I prefer sitting here talking with you, than being with my own family." "This is quite, quite dreadful, I know, but... after a while I simply cannot stand it!" "No matter how anxious I am." "How much I love them..." "Anxious?" "What on earth for?" "Mrs Pike seems to think I can do something." "Which, to tell you the truth, is why I'm here." " Ah..." " I cannot!" "That hurts more than anything." "You should find her faith in you flattering, Mr ..." "Dick." "You said our children were too young for the French, but they are not too young for our Lord." "If they should slip through my hands... in... in this devilish place this desert..." "Come, Dick, pull yourself together!" "I'm sorry." "I couldn't leave them to sink." "Not here!" "Stop blobbering, man!" "Anyone would think you was a girl!" "Curse it!" "I mean..." "I..." "Mr Talbot." "Mr Prettiman has requested to speak with you." " Me, ma'am?" "What..." " He says it is a private matter." " Is the time convenient?" " Of course, ma'am." "Whatever you wish." "Aloysius?" "It is Mr Talbot, come to see you." " Letitia?" " It is I, Edmund Talbot, sir." "Miss Granham has stepped outside." "She seems to think you wish to talk to me, though what have I done to deserve such an unexpected honour?" "Sit down, boy." "Sit down." "You're aware than Miss Granham and I..." "Argh!" "I am aware, as is everybody, that the lady has consented to make you the happiest of men." "Don't smother the thing with nonsense." "She agreed to marry me!" " That is what I said" " Now, I mean, before we reach the promise land, if by some small miracle we ever do." "We have no clergyman." "Captain Anderson will perform the ceremony." "Can I fetch you a drink?" "I am dying, Mr Talbot." "Oh, come now, Mr Prettiman, a mere fracture isn't..." "Will you abstain from this foolish habit of contradiction?" "If I say" "'I am dying', I mean I am dying and I'm going to die!" "Mr Talbot..." "I wish you to be a witness at the ceremony." " I?" " You and Oldmeadow." "But we have no official standing on this ship." "I will be happy to give the bride away." " Mr East will give her away." " Mr East the printer?" "Will you listen?" "!" "Or do you wish to prolong this interview indefinitely?" "The officers of this ship will be distributed around the world." "But you and Oldmeadow will remain at Sydney Cove" "Modest as it may be, Miss Granham will inherit my fortune." "But without unimpeachable witnesses and at a distance of 18,000 miles from our courts - corrupt as they are..." "That is outrageous, sir!" "British justice..." "If I say they are corrupt, then they are corrupt!" "Oh, in respect of money you may rely on them, but in all else they are corrupt by privilege, land tenure, by a viciously inadequate system of representation." "I do not care to ask for favours, but I find that I must." "Do you believe in justice, sir?" "I am an Englishman." "I believe in fair play." "May I not move you to a more comfortable position, sir?" " This mass of bedclothes round your waist." " It is not a mass of clothes, it is a gross swelling of the upper abdomen and the upper part of the lower limbs." "Good God." "Good God!" "Must every second sentence begin with an imprecation?" "You cannot move me, sir." "To move me is a torture." "Come closer, Mr Talbot." "I have searched my conscience." "I believe, what I'm about to do is right." " I have a paper for you." " Oh?" "It is a paper signed by me." "People will contest my will." "They might well bring the case that the marriage was not - could not be consummated." "I do not follow what I'm supposed to do, Mr Prettiman." "I've written a plain declaration that I have had... carnal knowledge of the lady." "During the voyage, before the marriage." " Good..." " You're about to say something?" "Nothing..." "You will find in my possessions a green leather case." "Take charge of the letter, if you please." "I... agree to guard this letter and produce it under the circumstances which you envisage." "Good." " Oh, Talbot!" " Sir?" "Miss Granham is unaware of the existence of this paper and I wish her to remain so as long as possible." "That is a lady's cabin..." "Excuse me my lad!" "Miss Granham!" "Mr Summers was kind enough to provide me with dry clothing." "Your business with Mr Prettiman is concluded?" "Indeed it is." "My apologies if I startled you, ma'am." "You must be glad for time of leisure what with your many activities, Mr Benét." "Work enables me to forget my sorrow, Mr Talbot." "I do not envy you, given 24 idle hours a day, in which to fill the pangs of separation from Miss Chumley." "We are companions in sorrow, sir." "I have no solace but my art." " Art, Mr Benét?" " My muse - my poetry." "The parting from Lady Somerset struck verses from me as quickly as the sparks from the flint." "'The salutation which she cast From ship to ship had been our last!" "'" "'Her eye had dropped a winking tear...'" "Yes, I'm sure the verses will be very pretty, Mr Benét, once properly written down and corrected." "Do you find some fault?" "I could detect a little 'enjambment', but that is by the by." "She was with Miss Chumley." "Did Miss Chumley not speak?" "She came to the rail as Alcyone moved away and looked woebegone..." "I daresay she was feeling seasick." "I doubt you have the sensibility to understand the completeness of separation." "I believe I have as much sensibility as the next man, sir!" "The instant I saw Miss Chumley, I was struck by... no, no - destroyed by lightning." "It was, if you are familiar with the phrase, 'coup de foudre'." " Say that again." " 'Coup de foudre'." "Yes, the phrase is familiar." "Before we parted she did declare that she held me in higher regard than any gentleman on either ship." "Later still, I received a 'billet doux'." " A 'billet doux'!" "For God's sake!" " Was that not encouragement?" "Well how can I tell unless I know what is in it?" "The words are chiselled in my heart, sir." "'A young person will always remember the time when two ships were side by side' 'in the middle of the sea and hopes that one day they may put down their anchors' 'in the same harbour.'" "I find no encouragement for you there, sir." "I do not believe it." "A determination that the affair should end as painlessly as possible." " No!" " Be a man, Mr Talbot." "Do I whine or repent?" "Because I have no hope whatever of seeing the Beloved Object again." "All that consoles me is my genius." "She felt as I do!" " Go away." " Sir, wake up, sir." "You are required." " What for?" " The wedding, sir." "It's today." "Wedding?" "Oh, be careful!" "It's alright, now." "We are witnesses." "Oblige us by letting us through." "'Man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live and is full of misery'" "God, man!" "'Dearly beloved.'" "'We are gathered together here, in the sight of God' 'in the face of this congregation to join together this man and this woman' 'in holy matrimony.' 'which is an honourable estate, instituted by God in the time of man's innocence'" "'Signifying onto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church:' 'which holy estate Christ adorned and beautified with his presence' 'and first miracle that he wrought in Cana of Galilee,'" "'Therefore, if any man can show just cause why they may not lawfully be joined together' 'let him now speak, or else hereafter for ever hold his peace.'" "I have the ring!" "Now Mr Prettiman." "If you could repeat after me:" "'With this ring, I thee wed.'" "'With this ring, I thee wed.'" "'What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.'" "Mr Benét." "What brings you down here?" " I came to assist Mr Prettiman." " Ah, there's no need." "I'm on my way to help the fellow right now." "You may return to your duties." "All the same, I think I should call on the gentleman." "I believe he may benefit from having his position changed." " That was my idea." " Really, sir?" "We're all capable of ideas and not all of them will endanger the safety of this ship, you fool!" " I'm not a fool!" " I'm saying that you are." "What is worse, you are a French fool!" "Ah, the English." "When one first meets them, one dislikes them." "But when one gets to know them, the dislike turns to genuine loathing." "Gentlemen, please!" " Mr Prettiman, I am here to help you." " As am I, sir." " Sir, I believe..." " My idea is to change..." "Anything to relieve this agony." "Move me if you will!" " This way." " No, this way!" "Oh gently." "Gently with him!" "You've killed him." "I kill people without knowing it." "Colley, Wheeler..." "Now Mr Prettiman." "During the voyage I've received a few shocks and found out a few things about myself I did not much like." "But this new event was like falling into the darkness of a measureless pit." "Is something wrong, Mr Talbot, sir?" "No, Phillips." " Why, should there be?" " You were calling out, sir." "You could have saved us." "Have you a spare moment?" "I have volunteered to stand the middle of the watch which by now you must know is..." " Midnight until four." "An officer of the watch has a doggie." "Would you care to stand that watch with me as a midship?" "You're serious?" "I know that you're a passenger, sir, but it occurred to me that..." "Should you leave me in charge of the ship?" "During the day I recommend you get at least four hours of sleep to make up for what you will loose during the night." "In fact, I believe I shall make that an order." "Aye aye, sir." " 'Night, Mr Summers." " Thank you, Mr Cumbershum." "Mr Speaker, to those of us who have actually stood the middle in one of His Majesty's ships of the line." "It is good to have you here, Mr Talbot." "Please, Mr Summers" "As your... 'doggie'  -as I believe you called it" "I'm Edmund." "Then I am Charles." "You might read by this light, don't you think?" " Where are we?" " You mean our position?" "I wish I could tell you." "We know our latitude, if that is any comfort." "It's all Columbus ever knew." "An Italian who left Spain looking for India and found America?" "Charles, when am I to learn celestial navigation?" "That will have to wait, I'm afraid, Edmund." " What is Mr Gibbs doing?" " The foremast has broken its shoe." " You knew that, surely." " When we were taken aback." "It is why we have spread no sail on it." " And the mizzenmast?" " Balance, Edmund." " We cannot rig one without the other." " Forgive me." "I'm still learning." "Mr Gibbs is securing the mast the best he can." "If we do not make progress soon, we may all starve out here, that is a fact." "And there's nothing we can do?" "Mr Benét believes he can reduce the movement so we can rig a sail." "By scientific means he wishes to secure the foremast using the forcing contraction of red-hot iron." "Shrinking metal on wood?" "!" "The model he showed Captain Anderson and myself worked, I will allow him that." "On a larger scale... he could indeed pull the foremast back into position." "You do not sound convinced, Charles." "We are at sea." "Any mistake and the mast may slip and go through the bottom of the ship." "Then he is insane to even suggest such an idea." "The captain is yet to make his decision." "How may the captain even consider such..." "Mr Benét is a most persuasive young man." "He will go far." "If he lives..." "Back, Mr Talbot!" "Carry on, Mr Benét." "More water." "Roundly now!" "Keep watching this side." " More water, she's on fire!" " Mind your station, Mr Gibbs!" "Still, I say!" "Still !" " Sir, I fear that..." " Quiet!" "She's moving, sir." "Congratulations, Mr Benét." " I believe you were the originator, here" "Thank you, sir." " You too, Mr Coombes." " Thank you, sir." "Mr Summers." "Come with me." "Good God." "Do you understand what you see, Mr Talbot?" " The wood must be on fire within." " For a little while, no more." "Do you mean to burn us all before any of our other dangers finish us?" "!" "Be easy, Mr Talbot." "The channels are much larger than the bolts." "Air cannot enter." "When the air is depleted of its oxygen it will start to cool and there will be no more than a layer of charcoal inside the channels." "But you see the degree of force we have at our disposal?" "It is terrifying." "The mast was moved upright in a matter of seconds." "We may now rig it with sail." "And our speed will increase?" " What was that?" " Something taking up." "It does not matter." "'Thy face is veiled, thou mighty form The dry, the chill, the moist, the warm'" "It is nothing personal against Mr Benét." "The plan itself is flawed." "You've done nothing but obstruct the man since he came aboard, sir." "Obstruct, sir?" "You could learn a lot from Mr Benét, Mr Summers." "He is a fine officer and has a bright future - whereas you, sir..." "Captain, sir." "The plates are red-hot." "There will still be fire within which might endanger the safety of the ship." "I'm aware of your opinion, sir." "Be aware of mine." "And cease this constant sniping!" "Charles." "What has happened?" " Are you hurt?" " He was lucky, wasn't he?" "Benét?" "Flat calm for the work now the wind again." "An extra two knots, Anderson said." "And for that he has stuck red hot irons into wood - and left them there." "Benét is a kind of meteor." "A passing flash." "Meteors always fall." "He will nigh on double our speed." "The man's a fool." "He's below decks as we speak composing an ode to Nature." "Is he so?" "Well, tell him Nature never gives something for nothing." "Every knot he adds will double the intake of water." "I am not to obstruct him!" "He, a brilliant young officer and I... dull." " Superannuated." " Who said that?" "!" "Anderson?" "I swear to you he should be brought down." "I will raise the entire government of the Colony against him!" "Hold your tongue, Edmund." " It is mutiny." " It is justice." " I did not desire justice." " You are worth a hundred Benéts." "Two hundred Andersons." "If only this wind would have come a couple of hours ago..." "I find myself wishing..." "No." "No, the mast is repaired." "Our speed will increase and I'm glad of it." "We must all be glad." "Why are we such creatures that a few sentences of an angry man should matter more than the prospect of death?" "The first ship returning from Sydney Cove will carry not only my journals in which you are mentioned with much admiration but also contain a letter to my Godfather declaring that you deserve to be made 'post' on the spot." "Can you do so?" "Exactly as I've said." "I am... desperately sorry, ma'am." "Can I see him?" "For God's sakes, ma'am, is he..." " He is breathing." " Oh, thank God!" "Thank God!" "But the emigrants?" "Mr East has taken the news through the ship." "What news, ma'am?" "Mr Prettiman is dying!" " I don't know what to say, ma'am." " You never have, Mr Talbot." "This voyage will be famous in history not for you but for him." "You thought it was a comedy but it is a tragedy." "a tragedy for the world we are approaching and hope to reach." " Ma'am..." " I saw you come aboard with your privileges about you like cloud of of pinchbeck glory!" "Now you have trodden with your clumsy feet into a place which you do not understand and where you are not welcome!" "He will regard you indifferently." "Not as a man, but as an agent of his death." "He will be above forgiving you" "But I am not above it, sir." "And I will never, never forgive you." "Family, Mr Eddie." "I hate families." "I think..." "Mr Pike, if you are not feeling yourself." "You should not say things you shall come later to regret." " Bates, a beer!" " I hate her." "Sod her!" " Please, Mr Pike..." " Sod her!" "Pardon my French." " Please refrain." " I don't hate them." "I don't hate them - they hate me." " Because she said - she..." " Pike..." "Pike, will you shut up?" "!" "Shut up, you despicable little orange toad!" "You arse on the boil of man!" "[Mr Talbot is being quite unintelligible]" "Mr Pike, you are a disgusting little man!" "That's exactly what she said." "Oh, yes, well you see, that's what I said, Mr Bowles." "Quite right, Oldmeadow." "There you are, sir." " Is this fellow dead?" " Dead drunk." " Two more beers, Bates." " Yes, sir." "Good God." "Your hands!" "I suppose you expect the ship to be run to your convenience, Mr Talbot." " Oh, was that intended as an insult?" " Pumping did that." "And no matter how hard we worked, the water kept on rising on us." " Soon they will need us too." " Well why not?" "He took my men without so much as a 'by your leave'!" " Mr Summers?" " Yes." "Lt fucking Summers." "I said 'Why don't you take the passengers?" "Bowles, Pike, Talbot," "Brocklebank' - even that sodding old wreck will last a minute or two!" "We're told that danger brings men together." "I see little evidence of it here, gentlemen." "We are civilians, you and I. Why should we get involved?" "I am no longer a civilian, sir." "Lord Talbot has been promoted to midshipman." "Every middle watch I attend with Mr Summers." "So, in answer to your question, no, sir." "I do not expect the ship to be run to my convenience." "God have mercy!" "Soldiers turned into sailors and now passengers in charge of the ship." "Frankly, I ask myself whether I should give up hope." "Crawl away and huddle into my bunk." "Perhaps you should ask Mr Brocklebank to join us." "Gentlemen." "Let's drink a final toast to Mr Prettiman." "The silly old fool spends half the day in the wind and the rain with the sea water washing around his knees." "Waiting for his morning fart to develop." "So that's what he does out there." "Well the girls will not allow him back into his cabin until he's fired off a blank charge like a saluting gun!" "Did somebody mention my name?" " You are soaked through, sir." " I could not stand up there any longer!" "Is it still not safe to go back to your cabin?" "The fact is, I need the company of men." " Bates, more beer!" " Good heaven." "Surely anyone privileged enough to have the companionship of Mrs Brocklebank..." " Not to mention the lovely daughter..." " Oh, Celia endeavours to cheer me." "But the truth is she already regards me with a widow's eye." "Surely not!" "I see Mrs Brocklebank around the ship and she is never less than merry." "They look merrily on you, Mr Talbot, but not on me." "I do not like widows, sir." "I've taken care to avoid them in the only truly logical way." "But in the privacy of our cabin, Celia has just that air of sad triumph" "That almost holy smile with which a widow contemplates a job well done." "An account paid in full." "An account, I must confide, that she is not entitled to!" "Do you... you mean to tell me that Mrs..." "Celia and you are not..." "I hate families!" "Haa, my good man!" "Have you put the brandy in it?" "Just a lick, sir." "There she blows!" " Bates, more beer!" " More beer!" "A!" "Mr Benét, you Frog!" " I wish to have some plain answers." " You are drunk, sir." "That is by the by." "I wish to understand more clearly your relationship with a certain lady." "You mean Miss Chumley, I suppose." "I'm more concerned with a lady of maturer years." " So you have found me out." " Mm..." "She is..." "O, she is...." "Since thou didst doff thy woman's weeds And loose the glories of thy hair" "The eye that weeps, the heart that bleeds..." "So you did have a criminal connection with her!" "And Miss Chumley was witness to it." " What connection?" " Lady Somerset." "The heart grows with understanding..." "Did you have her and did Miss Chumley see it?" "I might resent your words, Mr Talbot, on her behalf and my own." "Your mind evidently cannot rise above the farmyard level." " Don't talk to me about farmyards!" " You're passionately moved, sir." "And hardly responsible for what you say." "I knelt before the lady." "She offered me her right hand." "I turned it over, dropped a kiss in the dewy palm and closed the slender fingers over it." " That was all?" " That was all." "Then why did she take off her clothes?" "Since thou did doff thy woman's weeds" "The crudeness of your mind has deceived you." "Had you let me finish..." "The eye that weeps, the heart that bleeds Has found a refuge in your care, Letitia," "Though thy hand be given to another." "Miss Granh... you were writing poetry to Mrs Prettiman?" "!" "Can you think of a worthier aim?" "She is all that the ages have looked forward to." "You wish to kiss her hand..." "Well, I mean, no doubt she will oblige." "Let us tap on her door..." "Well, I you asked nicely, she might let you kiss her inside and outside for a full watch by a sandglass." " You are nauseous, sir." "I believe I am, sir." "But at least I do not drool around the oceans, dropping kisses into the palms of women old enough to be my mother." "You would best stick to schoolgirls, Mr Talbot." "I resent the plural, sir!" "For me there is only one school..." "lady." "You're loveless, Mr Talbot." "It is your main defect." "I?" "Loveless?" "I am saying 'ha ha', sir!" "Do you hear?" "Sir?" "We will continue this conversation when you are sober, sir." "I bid you good day." "Mr Phillips, d'you hear?" "We are in love with our mothers." "Come." "Ma'am." "This is unexpected." "I...uh..." "I bring news of Mr Prettiman." " Is he..." " ... improved." "It seems your well meant but clumsy actions stretched his torn leg." "The swelling has subsided." " Then he is not going to die." " He's not out of danger." "But the pain is becoming bearable." " Perhaps he will not walk again." " One request, ma'am." "May I visit the patient?" "I should be less than human if I did not wish to congratulate him on his recovery," "Commiserate him on his disability and... offer my profound apologies for the agony I caused him." "Pindar?" "Good God." "Had to move, didn't ya, had to speak." "Had to wake me up." "The word was involuntary." " You said Pindar." " There, by your hand." "A quotation when I drifted off." "Somewhere in the sixth Olympian." "'Grey hairs flourish even among young men'" " That is not in the sixth Olympian, sir." "It is at the end of the fourth." "Here, at the end." " So you know." " We're all having rough time of it, sir." "I daresay I could find a few grey hairs of my own." "No, not that, boy." "Greek." "You've kept it up." "Why?" "Just liked it, I suppose." "No boy of your age who has kept up his Greek can be entirely witless." "Silly perhaps, but... with some inkling of a wider view." " I'm not precisely a boy, sir." " Yeah." "You're not precisely a man either." "I know fear, I know friendship." "And above all I know love." "I came in to say, sir, that" "I congratulate you on your recovery and apologise for my part in it." "Yes, I see what you mean." "It is rather amusing." "Or I would have thought so, having not said it myself." "Having your thigh bone rammed up into your body is no joke, I can tell you." "The swelling appears to be reduced." " You think I shall ride again?" " Can't say, sir." "Sit a while, hm?" "Been meaning to ask you for some time." "What is the purpose of your voyage?" "A few months ago I would have said it was to fit me with a position of responsibility for my country" "Now..." "Now my ambitions are somewhat different." "Well you started the voyage with the objectivity of ignorance and you are finishing it with the subjectivity of knowledge, pain and hope of indulgence." "And you sir are travelling with the vowed intention of creating trouble of troubling this antipodean society." "Which was created wholly for its own betterment." "A noble gesture which offers freedom and rehabilitation even to the criminal element of our own society at home." " Do you know our own society?" " I have lived in it!" "Ah!" "School, university." "Country house." " You ever visited the city slum?" " Good God, no!" "Then you could know nothing, sir!" "You're clearly seized of universal truths, Mr Prettiman." "Some of us do not find them so easy to come by." "It is the matter of a certain document which I... entrusted to you." " Shall I bring it to you?" " Don't bring it to the cabin." "Drop it in the ocean." "Mrs Prettiman must never know of its contents." " If that is your wish, sir." " You must know, Talbot." "The lady is like the land we are approaching." "Sir?" "Unpolluted." " I rejoice to hear it, sir." " Why should you rejoice?" "Had it not for the misfortune of this dislocated hip she would not be now unpolluted!" " All I meant to say is..." " I understand, sir." "You need not explain anymore." "I shall carry out your wishes." "I left Mr Prettiman's cabin with the most mixed feelings." "Happiness being, strangely enough, the uppermost." "It was a feeling which I was, from that day forward, to associate with him and her." "We do not pray to God." "He'll give us all we need." "And we are eternally grateful." "We have no need of priests." "We are all priests." "No matter what nonsense Mr Prettiman talks." "I listen and cannot help but to come away with a sense of well being." "Enlightenment." "South America was an entirely different country from the one that Candide discovered." "And how could it be otherwise?" "Having been devastated by the Roman Catholic Church?" "Feeling that the universe is great." "Glorious." "... I can see the promise land..." "They're quite unlike any people I have ever met." "... the country itself will be for other men..." "We talk of the Crown." "The principle of hereditary honours." "The dangers of democracy, Christianity, the family, war." "You read well, Edmund." " Thank you, sir." " So does Mrs Prettiman." "But of course, she does not read Greek." "It's too much for a woman's brain." "Indeed there were times when it seemed to me that I threw off my upbringing." "That a man might let armour drop around him and stand naked, defenceless, but free." "Imagine our caravan moving by cool night across the deserts of this new land." "Towards El Dorado." "It would be the adventure of adventures." "You could come too, you know." "There's nothing to stop you." "I have been at the foremast again, Edmund." "The plates are still hot." "There is fire down below, I'm convinced of it." "For Heaven's sake, man." "Cheer up, Charles!" "We're making seven knots to the east, we have sails on all three masts and your frapping kept us together." " All is well." " You're late for the watch." " I was reading for Mr Prettiman." " I say this as a friend, Edmund." " Be careful." " Careful of what?" "I believe your association with Mr Prettiman to be dangerous." "Dangerous to you and your future position." "Mr Prettiman has asked me to join him and Mrs Prettiman in establishing his new world." "Mr Speaker, to those of us who have so blatantly thrown away the privilege we were born into!" "I discuss philosophical matters with another gentleman, that is all!" "These are hardly conversations we  could share." "I see." "Cheer up, man." "We have the dawn." "Ha!" "That from the man who wished to become the perfect master of the sea affair." " What do you mean?" " Dawn at this hour?" "Well look it is there..." "No, it is gone." "It is covered by the clouds." " What did you see?" " I told you." "It was the dawn light." "Show me where." "There it is!" "No ghost." "Heaven help us all." "Why?" "What is the matter?" "It is ice." "How far was it, Mr Summers?" "Impossible to say, sir." "Mr Talbot saw it first." "Mr Talbot?" " What was the extent of the ice, sir?" " I could see no end to it." "Was there no call from the forrard lookout?" " No sir." " Have the man put in irons." "Aye aye, sir." "Bring her round on broad reach to the larboard." "Set every sail there is." "But the foremast, sir." " It is not secure enough." " Mr Summers!" "Sir." "I wish to represent that the mast will take no more strain." "If that goes..." "Are you able to propose a better course of action?" "You're not still trying to discredit Mr Benét's achievement, are you?" "No, sir." "Then follow my orders!" "Set every sail." "And instruct the passengers down to the orlop deck." "Set all sail!" "Bring her round on broad reach to larboard." " Talbot, what's happening?" " 'Tis nothing, Pike." "Precaution, nothing more." "Wilmot!" "Wilmot, I'm dying!" "We're all dying!" "I've heard mention of ice." "Either we shall weather it, or we shall have nothing left." "We shall have dignity left." "That is Roman, ma'am." "I prefer to think of it as British, Mr..." "Edmund." " What of Mr Prettiman?" " He's still asleep, I think." "He must be told." " You are awake, sir." " Let us not waste time." "Edmund, you will of course help Lettie." "I shall, sir." "It is impossible that I should survive in the state I find myself, but when the end is upon us you must get on deck, the two of you" "Wrapped in as much clothing as you can and make your way to the boats." "No." "Aloysius." "Edmund may do so - must do so." "He's young and we are in no way his responsibility." "I shall stay with you." "Now, now, Mrs Prettiman, I shall become testy." "You will not, sir." "Edmund will go, not I." "But, I would like him to hear this." "For I believe he is in much need of an example." "In the short span of our married life I have never disobeyed you." "And would not have done in the future, had there been one." "Not because I am your wife." "Because of who and what you are." "But we have no future, I think." "And I will stay with you, here in this cabin." "Goodbye, Edmund." "Mr Jones..." "Mr Jones, I require a firkin for my journals." "Mr Jones, I need you to procure me a watertight vessel for my..." "Mr Jones?" "Mr Jones!" "Are you leaving us, sir?" "Steer north, nothing to the east." "Brace up!" "Haul out the spanker!" "Hard to lee." "Steer north." "Nothing to the east, sir." "We are in a place for no man." "For sea gods, perhaps." "That great and ultimate power which surely must support the visible universe." "Somewhere in the darkness I have found myself articulating spontaneous prayers which" "I knew as they burst from my lips- are useless." "Keep her a good full." "Nothing off." "Hold her steady!" "What's that man doing?" "!" " Lower away James, lower away!" " Aye aye, sir!" "Lower away!" "Lower away!" " Course full and by, Mr Smiles!" " Full and by!" "Alright." "Hurrah!" "Hurrah!" "Hurrah!" "Charles?" "See for yourself, sir." "We have escaped the ice." "But what was that hideous noise?" "The purser was not so fortunate, sir." "His boat was crushed on the boom." "Three cheers for the captain!" "Hurrah!" "Hurrah!" "Hurrah!" " We shall live a little longer?" " It seems so." "Do not cry, Mrs Prettiman, it's unworthy of you." "Come sir, Mrs Prettiman has hardly been..." "Quiet!" "I just..." "I need a few moments to collect myself." "Shall I go after her?" "She will not faint." "Might cry, but she will not faint." " I think, sir, that..." " Well don't!" "I will not have you interfering in her education." "Education?" "!" "Do you suppose that if we ever contrived to lead a caravan to found the Ideal City that she can afford feminine weakness?" "Allow me to tell you, Mr Prettiman." "I have met no woman..." "No..." "Yes!" "I have met no grown woman that has so impressed me with her lack of those same female weaknesses as you are trying so hard to eradicate." "You know nothing, boy!" "I revere Mrs Prettiman, sir, and I do not mind admitting it." "I... value her highly." " O, what has that to do with anything?" "I am an educationist, sir." "And I will not have any judgement in that matter questioned." "A man who has worked on his character as long as I have may perhaps be credited with some knowledge of that of others!" "And pray sir, what work have you done on your own character to so improve it?" " Is it not obvious?" "!" " No, sir." "Frankly, it is not!" "This is unendurable to be lectured by a stubborn boy!" "Leave us, Edmund." "Please." "Damned hip!" " A hundred and ten fathom, sir." " Bear away, Mr Cumbershum!" "Two points lard." "This, then -if not the end of our voyage- is the beginning of the end." " Land ho!" " One point at larboard, sir!" "I will not subscribe to the furious rubbish of 'my country, right or wrong'." "Nevertheless, when I searched my heart, among all the prejudice of my nature and upbringing among all the new ideas, the acceptance and necessary change." "The people - writers, politicians, philosophers, even wide-eyed social philosophers..." "The deepest note of my heartstrings sounds now as it will to my dying day" "'England forever!" "'" "Hello there!" " Welcome!" " You're very welcome!" "You need to be very careful with his left hand - that's..." "Carefully." "Wait, wait, wait..." "Wait, wait, damn you all!" "Wait, damn you!" "The Governor sends his regards, sir." "Landfall, Mrs Prettiman." "Landfall." "I hope you'll be happy in our little family, Mr Talbot." "I'm certain I will, sir." "I believe your godfather spoke to you about Mr Prettiman." "Asked you to keep a close eye on him." "The man is now a cripple and married." "I am convinced that he represents no danger to the state." "The ship, sir." "What will happen to her?" "It hardly concerns you, Mr Talbot." "But she will not go to sea again." "Most likely she will serve as our guard ship." "And the officers?" "Captain Anderson has returned to England." "I was not thinking of the captain, sir." "You interest me, Mr Talbot." "Proceed." "I was hoping to find sir that you would be able to use your vast experience of things naval to promote a man who is not only my friend, but a fine seaman." "I have already offered the command of the ship to Lt Benét." "I see." "As I expected, he declined it." "He did however press the claims of Lt Summers - as Captain Anderson had already done so." "Then Charles Summers will be a captain?" "He will, indeed." "I'll leave you to get settled in, sir." "Is anybody still aboard?" "Mr Summers was seeing the off loading, sir." "Out of the way!" "Charles!" "Charles!" "Edmund!" " What set her alight?" " Benét's repairs to the foremast." "I told you there was fire down below." "Run!" "Jump you silly bugger!" "...your beloved godfather has become weaker over the months and his gout..." "Mr Talbot." "I... came to visit the patient." "and read to him, if he wishes." "We are no longer at sea, sir." "It would do your position no good to be seen with Mr Prettiman." "My godfather is dead." "I no longer know what my position is." "I'm sorry for your loss." "Have you seen anything of..." "Mrs Brocklebank?" "Pike, Oldmeadow?" " They seem to have vanished." " They all had lives to get on with, sir." "The voyage has been a considerable part of your life, sir, but... do not refine upon it's nature." "It was not an Odyssey." "It is no type,emblem, metaphor of the human condition." "It is, or" "rather was- what it was." "And what was that, ma'am?" "A series of events." "So must end this account of Edmund Talbot's journey to the ends of the earth." "But something is missing, is it not?"