Wednesday, 6 April 1870 -Later-
The master, Mr. Cuthbert, Mrs. Cuthbert, Miss Namaste, Lady Ottoline and Miss Vicky were most successful in their endeavors near the St. Catherine's docks. Not only did the find the missing Canadian harpooner, but they foiled a kidnapping attempt.
It seems that an agent of the French government had hired two ruffians to kidnap Mr. Land and deliver him to a ship docked nearby. The two young men were in the process of bundling their victim into their ice wagon when the search party came upon them. The young men were completely unprepared to deal with someone as skilled with firearms as Mr. Cuthbert, let alone the other members of the party.
Having rescued Mr. Land, it was decided that the harpooner and the ruffians could be used as bait to capture the French agent. By the end of the evening the members of our household were able to deliver both the agent and the grateful Mr. Land to Sir Anthony's eager subordinates at the foreign office.
In other news the mid-day mail brought pleasant news for nearly everyone. Miss Namaste received a letter which I happened to notice bore the return address of young Nigel Graham. Before embarking on the search and rescue mission, she had an envelope ready for me to mail in the return post in reply. One couldn't help but notice the improvement in her mood after the arrival of the missive.
Miss Whitnell received a letter from her solicitor. Later in the evening, while the others were still out, Mr. Rodenhurst himself arrived to discuss matters pertaining to Miss Whitnell's inheritance. I gather that Miss Whitnell learned some valuable information from the meeting.
And I received an answer from my neice's daughter, Patsy. She is very interested in the employment offer from the master. I have set up an interview this weekend.
Thursday, 7 April 1870
Last evening, after I locked up the silver, I checked on Edward in the carriage house and asked him, again, to refrain from any more loud hammering. I then retired to my room, finished recording the day in my diary, and prepared for bed. By which time Edward's noises had subsided. I should have gone out one more time to look in on him instead of foolishly assuming that he had finally gone to sleep.
This morning we discovered that Edward was missing. He had apparently gone out in search of larvae to feed the salamanders late last night. Since he did not return, we could only assume that he had been waylaid somewhere, possibly by agents of the Young Cobb.
Miss Sinclair immediately organized a direct search while the master began making inquiries. I was somewhat surprised to see Miss Sinclair emerge from her room dressed in riding breeches and hiking boots, and even more surprised to see how easily she could scale the walls of the neighbor's house. Somehow she found Edward's trail on the roof and followed in (accompanied by Mr. Cuthbert and Mr. Caine) nearly halfway across the city. On the grounds of the old church they found evidence of a scuffle between Edward and another person. It was apparent that Edward had been subdued, bound and gagged and taken away.
Meanwhile Mrs. Cuthbert attempted to learn Edward's whereabouts by gazing into her crystal and consulting with the spirits. Apparently some veil of black magic prevented her from learning much more than that Edward was alive and locked in a cage somewhere.
The noon post brought us an answer, of sorts. In a letter addressed to the master, the late and notorious Jerrold Moriarty explained that he had Edward, and would be willing to trade the child for the two prisoners, the strange gun, and all drawings which have been made of the gun's mechanisms. The master was instructed to present himself at a particular dock at 7 p.m. to be taken under a flag of truce to the meeting place. The letter contained assurances that Edward was unharmed and would remain so if the household cooperated. I think it is safe to say that none of us, even the credulous lieutenant, found the assurances convincing.
Working on the assumption that the murderous crime master's meeting would be a trap, the household went into action. Lt. Wooster and Mr. Caine went to secure a patrol boat, to follow the party from a distance and be prepared to effect a rescue. Mr. Cuthbert and Dr. Wilson gathered guns and ammunition. Mrs. Cuthbert and Miss Whitnell attempted to enchant a small piece of jewellry to act as a talisman against curses. Miss Namaste assembled black powder cartridges for her special parasol and a cane that the master indicated he would be taking. Miss Sinclair assisted with several of the preparations, though she steadfastly stayed away from the mystical proceedings. The master locked himself inside his lab for at least two hours, though what preparation he made, I do not know.
The parties set off in two groups. The master, Miss Namaste, and Miss Sinclair are taking the prisoners and going to the docks to meet whoever it is who will transport them to the rendezvous. Dr. Wilson, Lt. Wooster, Miss Whitnell, Mrs. Cuthbert, Mr. Cuthbert, and Mr. Caine went in Mr. Cuthbert's carriage to meet the patrol boat. I have been left to guard the house. It is possible that Moriarty's agents will try to ransack the house, on the chance that the master intends to device them with a fake.
I pray that fortune smiles on our intrepid houseguests, Miss Namaste, Edward, and most especially the master.
~Later~
It is approaching dawn, now, and everyone is sleeping, having come how slightly past three exhausted but victorious. Thankfully no one on our side was grievously injured. There are some bruises and and torn clothing, but they appear to have escaped an incredible meleé nearly unscathed.
With the exception of Edward, everyone was quite battle weary. I owe most of the following account to the rather enthusiastic reporting of young Edward, who sat up with me in the kitchen after everyone else had retired. Before Edward had finished telling me the entire tale, Miss Sinclair, suffering a bout of insomnia, joined us and helped untangle Edwards linguistic labrynth.
Edward had, indeed, gone out in search of larvae for the salamanders, having noticed that the supply was getting low. He was ambushed by a person dressed in the all-black attire of a thuggee. Edward attempted to outmaneuver the thuggee, who seemed to be able to climb as well and faster than Edward. Even Edward's trusty jar of glue was of no avail against his opponent. When Edward awoke, he was surprised to find that none of his bones were broken. He was inside a very cleverly built cage, cast in solid bronze, which was suspended in the middle of a room. One guard was watching him.
Edward tried to find a weakness in the cage, to no avail. He was eventually interviewed by Moriarty. In the course of the interview, Moriarty revealed that he is Edward's grandfather. Moriarty attempted to subborn Edward into his criminal organization. Edward turned him down, but apparently politely. Edward was left alone in his cage after the unusual interview, and eventually fell into a deep sleep.
When Edward awoke, his cage had been moved onto a barge. The barge was in the Thames and night had fallen. The barge was loaded with what appeared to be a number of rockets nearly identical to those being worked on by Dr. Wilson. There were also, Edward noticed, explosives set up throughout. A large number of Moriarty's agents were on board the barge, as was Moriarty himself, who was directing his servants to set up a table, chairs, a lamp, and a full tea service in the center of the barge. There was a light cloud cover, so that few stars were visible and there was no moonlight.
Edward set his cage to swinging, with his legs dangling over one side, and managed to pull at least one fuse wire loose from one of the bundles of explosives before the boat carrying the master, Miss Namaste, and Miss Sinclair arrived.
When Miss Sinclair described the boat and its captain the words 'disreputable' and 'disrepair' came up rather often. The three of them had endured the journey out into the Thames and were not surprised to see it make for a barge moving along under the power of a paddle-wheel tug. The captain made for a section of the barge where a ladder awaited them, and tied on. The master, Miss Namaste, and Miss Sinclair climbed aboard the barge and allowed themselves to be led to the center, where Moriarty was waiting in his mockery of a genteel tea party.
Under the lieutenant's command, the patrol boat had followed the disreputable one at a discreet distance. Dr. Wilson and Miss Whitnell watched the following events through spyglasses. Mr. Cuthbert kept his elephant gun trained on Moriarty. At one point Dr. Wilson noticed the explosives. There was some discussion about whether one or two of the party from the boat could swim up to the barge and disarm the devices, but it was decided that the plan entailed far too many risks, so they waited.
The master obtained permission to take Edward a cup of tea, and thus ascertain that the boy was unharmed. He was able to pass Edward the jewelry enchanted earlier in the day by Miss Whitnell and Mrs. Cuthbert. Miss Sinclair stayed near the cage, refused to participate in Moriarty's charade.
The prisoners had already been taken into the care of Moriarty's army of thuggees. Now certain that Edward was unharmed, the master handed over the drawings and the gun. Moriarty was quick to notice that a vital component of the weapon, which Moriarty called and Etheric Pulse Gun, was missing. The master explained that he needed to keep that component in order to prove the mr. Whitnell's death had been a murder. Moriarty indicated that he would never allow Captain Hartley to be tried for the murder, and that he had no intention of releasing Edward without the most important portion of the gun. The master countered by offering to produce the article after Miss Sinclair, Miss Namaste, and Edward had safely left the barge.
While Moriarty was willing to accept this proposal, Miss Namaste refused to leave the master's side. So, the cage was unlocked, Miss Sinclair walked Edward to the stern of the barge, and they clambored down to the disreputable boat. Edward was quite certain that trouble was about to break loose above, so he went straight for the fire axe to be ready to cut the boat free at an instant's notice.
The master had the final component hidden inside the booby-trapped compartment of the brass globe cane. He handed the device over, took Miss Namaste's arm, and tried to make a quick exit. Moriary, a scroundrel to the end, had no intention of letting the master leave. Perhaps he feared that the master had already studied the Etheric Pulse Gun sufficiently to duplicate it. In any case, he assembled the gun and prepared to shoot the master in the back. Salmalin, the thuggee who had been our prisoner for the past two nights, found himself unable to stand silently by a let such a cowardly act take place. He called out a warning. Miss Namaste understood the warning, and pushed the master and herself to the deck.
Infuriated, Moriaty struck Salmalin in the face with the gun. It was at this time that the master whispered the crux of his plan to Miss Namaste: he had replaced the gun's terbenite battery with a highly explosive autinite battery.
Moriarty tried once more to shoot them. Fortunately for the master, Moriarty was struck by at least two, if not three deadly projectiles. The rocket-propelled section of Miss Namaste's parasol and a bullet from Mr. Cuthbert's elephant gun each definitely struck Moriarty. A rocket projectile from Dr. Wilson's unusual revolver may also have hit Moriarty, or it may have struck the body guard standing closest to the criminal master. Moriarty's body was lifted up by the force of the projectiles and hurled toward the bow, possibly right over the edge into the Thames.
Unfortunately, he had dropped the gun.
The master and Namaste ran as fast as they could for the stern of the boat. Several thuggees barred their path. Miss Namaste still have one the one bullet in the handle of the parasol, and the master had two shots in his cane. And very fortunately, Salmalin had not been incapacitated. He attacked at least one of the heavily armed thuggees who tried to capture the master and Miss Namaste, and was last seen locked in deadly combat, blood and torn flesh flying in a scene right out of one of Miss Namaste's shilling shockers.
The master and Miss Namaste reached the stern and jumped over, landing roughly on the boat below. Edward was chopping the ropes when the Etheric Pulse Gun exploded. Mr. Cuthbert said that he saw Captain Hartley holding the gun and aiming it at the master an instant before the master jumped overboard. Mr. Cuthbert was squeezing his trigger when the flash of the explosion temporarily blinded him. The initial blast was not just blinding, it was also deafening and of sufficient violence to set off the other explosive charges.
At the same time that Mr. Cuthbert and Dr. Wilson had been firing at Moriarty, Wooster took charge of the patrol boat's small canon. With just two shots he disabled the steam tug, causing a fire onboard which eventually sank the boat. As the explosions continued, bodies of the thuggees were thrown into the water, and the barge itself broke apart and sank in several flaming pieces. Miss Sinclair was able to find Salmalin's body among the flotsam, and dragged it into the disreputable boat. When the patrol boat pulled alongside, Miss Whitnell and Mrs. Cuthbert adminstered aid to the nearly dead thuggee, improving his condition.
Once they reached the naval dock, Salmalin was hurried off to a hospital while the more minor injuries were dealt with at the dockside naval office. Shrotly thereafter, the party was greeted first by Wooster's superior officer, Captain William Moriarty. It seems that the Captain has the misfortune to be the younger brother of the infamous criminal. As the Captain was debriefing Wooster and Caine, Sir Anthony arrived.
While our household had been engaged in capturing the french secret agent and confronting Moriarty, Sir Anthony had been leading a rescue of Mr. Frazer. Mr. Frazer had been held prisoner for several days by the head of the Prussian Royal Police, Herr Hans Bopp. This is the same man who attempted to kidnap Dr. Wilson a few nights ago.
It seems that the Etheric Pulse Gun was invented in Prussia. Moriarty's agent, Captain Hartley, stole the gun some time ago. Meanwhile, Sir Anthony's department had learned some details of the gun and had experts, including Mr. Lionel Milford and Mr. Phillip Whitnell, trying to figure out how the weapon worked.
Mr. Arthur Milford (Lionel's brother) and Mr. Clive St. John and Lord Singleford were also working for Sir Anthony's department, trying to obtain information on the new naval weapons the French government may be developing based on Captain Nemo's deadly underwater ship.
Captain Hartley murdered Miss Whitnell's father to stop his work on the gun, and took certain papers and supplies from the lab. Later, Hartley mistook Mr. A. Milford for his brother, and presumably Mr. Milford thought Hartley and McGroaty were working for agents of the French government when they confronted him in his brother's flat.
Madame Zephyrine had targetted Lord Singleford and Mr. St. John, trying to learn how much they knew about Nemo's ship and killing them afterward.
It was through these coincidents that Miss Sinclair, Miss Whitnell, Edward, Dr. Wilson, and Lt. Wooster were drawn into different parts of this bizarre affair.
Sir Anthony was very pleased with the household's performance. In addition to the thanks of the empire, the master and his companions have received a monetary award. They have also been given a name, to simplify communications. They will be known as the League of the Golden Clematis.
The house is quiet, though not silent. This morning they sleep the sleep of the just. They have earned it. Though I slept some earlier, I need to retire now. It would not do for the butler to the League of the Golden Clematis to be seen dozing at his post.
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