From the journal of Sgt. Robert A. Frazer, London Metropolitan Police (deceased):
18 April, 1875
The shame! My worst fears appear to be true. My half-brother a pirate! As far as black sheep go, you can't get much blacker than a man who leads groups of cutthroats into pillaging and plundering the innocent, can you?
Benton suggested that it may not be as bad as it sounds. Perhaps the extent of his actions have been exaggerated. Or perhaps there are extenuating circumstances. I daresay if he had been press-ganged into service by a pirate crew and had cooperated only until an opportunity to escape arose, one might be willing to ask a judge for leniency. But I saw that "Wanted" poster. I heard what Sgt. McNaughton said about his record. "Infamous captain of a notorious pirate ship for at least ten years!"
I told Benton there is only one way to restore the family honour. One of us has to arrest Tiberius and bring him to justice.
I suppose I've dwelt on that unpleasant topic overlong.
We arrived in Port Victoria, today. The Port itself seems to be about the size of Ramsgate, but twice as crowded and a good sight less law-abiding. At least if those reports Captain Craddock showed the Inspector and Benton are to be believed. Certainly some of the neighborhoods we visited are as bad as the Rookery.
We were welcomed on the dock
by Major General Cuthbert, Sir Spencer's uncle, who is a Commissioner
in the colonial government. Some of the party were escorted to
Government House, while others went to the Governor's Mansion.
Benton and Ruth were both going to the Government House, while
the children were going to the Mansion.
Since the Inspector was remaining with Benton, I offered to cut cards with the Squire as to which of us went where, but he was insistent that he should keep an eye on Helen, at least until she and the children were properly settled. So I stayed with the boys, looking in on Ruth from time to time.
First there was a meeting with the Admiral. I expected him to be taller. And there must be a story behind that limp, but we didn't remain long. Benton and the Inspector went off to meet with the Commissioner of Justice, Sir Joseph Dapplegrove, while the others remained with the Admiral to learn more about the missing ship.
The Inspector and Benton have been sent to advise the police authorities here in methods of crime prevention and criminal apprehension. The Governor of the colony (who also happens to be the Admiral), has been requesting some sort of assistance in this area since he took the job--as had his predeceasor. Sir Joseph outlined in broad detail the problems with law enforcement here. He seemed to think that if more moral Englishmen could be persuaded to settle here, the crime rate would drop right off. I suggested that in my experience Englishmen were not less likely than any other to fall afoul of the law. The way Benton glared at me, it is probably just as well Sir Joseph couldn't hear me.
Then we were sent off to meet Captain Craddock, who is actually in charge of the operations of the police force. He seemed to think the main problems were that the navy hasn't caught enough pirates and the governor won't let him hire enough constables.
Having had a look at the size of the force, I can't disagree with the last suggestion, but I suspect that it isn't just a matter of numbers. Given the sorts of questions the Inspector was asking, I think his ideas are tending in the same direction as mine.
It was while we were meeting with Sgt. McNaughton that we heard the police whistles, followed by urgent calls from constables for assistance arresting a notorious pirate.
I was not surprised to discover a member of Benton's League in the thick of things. It was a bit of a shock to learn that the constables were trying to arrest Mr O'Flaherty because they thought he was the pirate. Not just any pirate, mind you, but the First Mate serving under Captain Tiberius. Though at the time we didn't know for certain that Captain Tiberius was also Our Tiberius.
It was a case of mistaken identity, but not entirely mistaken. Quaid O'Flaherty is the First Mate of the notorious pirate ship, the Black Rock. People out in this part of the world have been under the impression that the penny dreadful adventures of Atlas O'Flaherty have been inspired by the real life crimes of Quaid O'Flaherty. In part because the physical description of Quaid O'Flaherty matches, in broad terms, the description of Atlas O'Flaherty--which happens to also match the description of Seamus O'Flaherty. Our Mr O'Flaherty has an uncle by the name of Quaid O'Flaherty, who is allegedly a whaler. When the Colonial Office decided to offer a reward for the capture of the pirate Quaid O'Flaherty, some bright lad decided to copy an illustration from one of the Atlas O'Flaherty penny dreadfuls for the posters.
You can imagine how unsettling all this news was to Our Mr O'Flaherty. He was muttering the rest of the day about his uncle and the stories he used to tell. I s'pose no one told young Seamus to take anything a sailor tells you with a pinch of salt. I suppose it was wrong of me to feel, for just a moment, some relief that I wasn't the only person in the group with such a black sheep in the family.
Benton and the Inspector sorted things out. Our Mr O'Flaherty had had a bit much to drink, so we took him to the mansion to get cleaned up and sleep a bit of it off.
Except, of course, everyone had to tell everyone else what had happened. Mr O'Flaherty admitted that he had been told about the pirate O'Flaherty earlier that day, in the pub, by a very elderly sailor who claimed to be a former crewmate. Lady Cowperthwaite and Mrs Salmalin were extremely curious about this former pirate. They were certain he would know something useful to their current investigation. Obviously no one told Lady Cowperthwaite to take anything a sailor tells her with a pinch of salt. The ladies convinced Our Mr O'Flaherty to take them back to the pub to interrogate him.
Benton and I followed along at a discreet distance, of course. Until Mr Salmalin caught up to us and suggested that someone should tell Sir Cosmo where his wife was going. Benton went to do that. I took a moment to tell the Squire what was happening. He was follow the Inspector and Mrs MacGregor, who by chance were strolling down the same road the ladies had gone with Mr O'Flaherty.
Sir Cosmo, Miss Moriarty, and
Ruth were still busy trying to decipher the maps and notes of
Lt Pellew. The younger footman, George, was guarding them. Pellew
is Miss Moriarty's father. He believed these strange stories about
a phantom island where a pirate by the name of Sparrow supposedly
kept a secret harbour. He amassed enough evidence to convince
the Admiral it was worth a look. He was given a schooner and sent
to look for the island. He and his crew have been missing for
a couple months, now. There is some evidence that a rival pirate
has captured this Captain Sparrow and taken control of the harbour.
There has certainly been increased pirate activity of late.
Benton explained what the ladies and Mr O'Flaherty had set out to do. Sir Cosmo rounded up a carriage, and we all went off in search of the pub. A bit of questioning confirmed that Mr O'Flaherty and the ladies had been there, and they were more than happy to point us in the direction of the sailor's boarding house.
When we arrived there was an argument brewing between the Inspector and the ladies. The Squire explained it to me, but I either didn't follow the explanation correctly, or he didn't really understand it, either. The sailor was unconcious, and apparently ill. Someone thought he should be taken to a doctor. Someone thought he should be taken to jail (since he had admitted to being a pirate). Someone thought he should be left alone.
Oddly enough, the Inspector did not seem to be the person who wanted the sailor arrested. Nor did he seem to want him taken to a hospital. And I don't think he was the one who thought he should be left alone, either. Benton never gave me a straight answer later as to his opinion on the matter. I suspect that he's as confused about it as I.
Ruth was able to get the smelling salts under his nose. He was quite surprised to find such a large group of people crammed into his very tiny room. He was taking it all in stride until he got a good look at Lady Cowperthwaite. He clearly thought she was someone he knew, and it was someone he was quite frightened of. He became even more agitated when he saw Benton. He feinted.
Mrs MacGregor said that he was suffering from malaria, that it was likely a chronic infection, but he should receive medical treatment soon. Sir Cosmo suggested we take him in the carriage to the hospital. Off we all went.
I had to point out to the Squire, halfway to the hospital, that his son had stayed behind. The Squire then reminded me of Mrs MacGregor's Condition, and expressed his firm conviction that she shouldn't be allowed into a building full of sick people.
I started to say that there were likely a number of sick people in the boarding house we had just vacated, then decided that he was already upset enough. Instead I offered to see if I could keep an eye on the Inspector, but the Squire thought if I was going to go check anything, I should look in on the children, as the Inspector was more able to look after himself than they were. That turned out to be a less than accurate assessment, but we couldn't have foreseen that.
The children were fine. Mrs Cuthbert and Mrs Wooster were there looking after them. So I returned to Benton and Ruth.
They, along with Turgenov, were out of the hospital, having a bit of a walk where the air was less objectionable. I tried to draw their attention to the night sky, making a little conversation that might, perhaps, encourage their romantic natures a bit. After all, while I'm two ahead of the Squire in the grandchildren department, Helen is likely to narrow the gap soon&
Then I heard the music. The most beautiful bells I can ever recall. Sweet and welcoming. And the lights were so lovely. Like fireflies and rainbows. I could have watched them for years.
And I might have, too. Mrs Cuthbert, when she and Mrs Salmalin pulled me out later, said that I'd been trapped in some sort of sorcerous snare. So I hadn't warned Benton and Ruth about the men sneaking up on them. Nor was I able to alert anyone that Benton and Ruth had been kidnapped. Nor could I answer any of Mrs Cuthbert's questions about where they were. She was just sending me off to look for them when the warehouse exploded.
"That'll be them," I said. And I was right. Though the explosion was technically caused by the young fellow rescuing them--a boy from Australia by the name of MacGyver. He'd set up some sort of smoke bomb as a distraction. Setting any kind of bomb off in a fireworks factory is likely to lead to bigger things, and it did. But he did get both Benton and Ruth out before we arrived in a number of carriages. With the police not far behind.
Many of the criminals were heavily armed and willing to fight rather than be arrested, so the League joined in. I even saw the Admiral's wife with a Beaumont Adams revolver. Shouldn't have surprised me, the Beaumont having been a favorite of the Navy since the Crimean.
Once the dust had settled a number of the ruffians had been captured, and Mrs Cuthbert was seeing to the wounded. The leader of the gang, improbably named The Dragon Lady, had escaped.
When I asked Benton why she'd kidnapped him, he said he didn't know, having not regained consciousness while the miscreant had been questioning Ruth. When I tried to talk to Ruth, she was too busy easedropping on the conversation between MacGyver, Miss Wilhelmina, and Lady Cowperthwaite. MacGyver is some relation of Miss Wilhelmina's, who had been looking after Wilhelmina's mother in Melbourne. Except the mother has been kidnapped--or at least tricked into travelling with some people that she oughtn't.
Once that interview was over,
Ruth then had to be questioned by one of the constables. Which
didn't exactly answer my questions. Fortunately, once she and
Benton were alone they were a bit more forthcoming. This Dragon
Lady is involved in various criminal activities in Port Victoria,
and has some sort of grudge against Captain Tiberius. Her men
mistook Benton for Tiberius. When an opportunity to snatch came
along, they took it. And since Ruth was there, they grabbed her
as well. She kept them prisoner as long as she did because she
believes the coincidence of a Tiberis look-a-like arriving in
Port Victoria at nearly the same time that another rival, Captain
Sparrow, has vanished, and yet another pirate leader, Captain
Wu Chang is solidifying his control of the South China Sea.
I think we'd need more than
a pinch of salt to swallow the notion that all these strange happenings
are unrelated.
The one detail no one seemed
to think important was that they knew about me, and took measures
to remove me from the scene. Mrs Cuthbert seemed to think it was
just because the Dragon Lady was a sorceress and she saw me. Except
that Ruth was under the impression that the Dragon Lady did not
know her ruffians were stalking a Tiberius look-a-like until after
Benton and Ruth had been captured.
Mrs Cuthbert is going to try
one of her spells to find Miss Moriarty's missing Mother. She
hasn't had a great deal of success pinning down the location of
the Father, so I don't hold out much hope it will be this easy.
At least the gardens at both the Government House and the Governor's Mansion are lovely, if you like that sort of thing.
Proceed to A life so easy
Contents this page copyright 2005 by Gene Breshears. All Rights Reserved.