08 May 1870, Sunday
We are underway.
After the mad scramble to pack and get loaded, we caught the night train to Harwich and were met by Captain Moriarty upon our arrival at the coast. We were introduced to Captain Rogers of the H.M.S Griffin during the briefing conducted by Captain Moriarty prior to boarding the ship.
In the briefing we learned that Sir Cosmo has been appointed Commissioner for Scientific Expeditions Abroad, an Ambassadorial post. The appointment is a precaution by Her Majesty to allow Sir Cosmo to deal with any diplomatic entanglements and is to remain secret until or unless it is needed.
From my own research, I know that the Cape Verde Islands are a Portuguese Possession, though from the reports I have read they have been derelict in their duty to these islands for nearly 200 years now. The Americans and the French have both been ignoring Portuguese attempts to regulate trade and impose taxes. I was distressed to learn that one of the major goods traded in the islands were African Slaves. Fortunately, with the end of the American Civil War much of that trade has died out. However, I stray from the briefing we were given.
Sir Cosmo is in the official chain of command, with Captain Rogers in charge of the ship, its crew, and the safety of all, and Sir Cosmo in charge of the expedition itself. Our assignment, as the scientific investigators, is to determine what happened to the archeological expedition to St Damion Island. The ship the “Sirius” visited them on March 3rd of this year and found nothing amiss. Since then, several things have come to light.
First, Mr Pym was found alone in a lifeboat, apparently the sole survivor of some great catastrophe. He was returned to England and put in the care of Dr Crvan Siannaig. Mr Pym is a retired naval officer and he and a Professor Gordon were the originators of the expedition. Mr Pym and his doctor are travelling with us.
Second, an officer at the East India Docks in London noticed that an unusual lifeboat was being sold for salvage. He recognized it’s rigging as the type used on Areofrigates, acquired the salvage, and had it analysed and traced back to the seller. The seller turned out to be the Captain of the ship that rescued Mr. Pym. The salvage came from the French Areofrigate “la Majeste” which has been missing for some time. This is the piece of information that enabled Our Employer to make the link between Mr Pym and the strange events we are being sent to investigate.
Third, Mr Rupert Price, brother of Andrew Price began having strange dreams about his brother being ‘trapped’ in some way. Andrew Price was a member of the Watchers. The Watchers have been trying to locate the expedition by Mystic means for some time but have been unsuccessful. Mr Ramsey suggested calling in Mrs Cuthbert. She was not able to locate Andrew’s spirit but the father of the two men appeared and told her that Andrew was trapped and needed help. Mr Rupert Price is also with us (though somewhat reluctantly).
Fourth, Captain Rogers reported that the French ships, “la Victoire,” an Areofrigate and “la Regeneree”, an Ironclad usually accompanies her, both set out on a course for the Cape Verde Islands at the same time that an Admiral La Coque left Paris suddenly. It is the conclusion of Our Employer that La Coque is commanding a French mission to discover what happened to “la Majeste.”
After the extensive briefing concluded, we were reintroduced to the senior crew. The sailors were given the broad out line of our mission. I was surprised to learn that our Lieutenant Wooster, due to his long service as a lieutenant, ranks as first lieutenant aboard the Griffin and is now second in rank only to the captain.
I do not know if I should be pleased or dismayed by this turn of events. On one hand Wooster does not appear to be the most competent of men. He is not, shall I say, detail oriented, except when it comes to noticing unattached women. On the other hand, the one time I have observed him in a combat situation was when he commandeered a boat on the Thames to allow us to assist in rescuing Edward from the Cobb. In that instance he acquitted himself admirably. It was later discovered that his quick action in sinking the boat attached to the barge eliminated a possible escape route in addition to trapping several confederates so they could not come to the Cobb’s aid or interfere in Edward’s rescue. It is possible that having Wooster in such a high position aboard the ship will be helpful to us as our assignment progresses. Especially given the fact that Sir Cosmo and Captain Rogers have just enough authority to get in each other’s way if the right (or wrong) circumstances come into play. As a former military spouse I know exactly how confused things can become when a civilian chain of command intersects with a military one.
I know whose orders I would follow in a crisis!
Once the briefing concluded we were welcomed aboard the H.M.S. Griffin and shown to our quarters.
Mrs Cuthbert, Miss Sinclair, Miss Chigwidgeon, and I consulted and determined that it would be best if Mrs Cuthbert and I shared a room. That way Miss Sinclair’s odd nullifying power would not affect any spells or summonsing we might need to cast. I am sorry too lose the opportunity to spend more time with Miss Chigwidgeon. I have become quite fond of my role as her chaperone.
An incredibly odious man named Dawkins accosted Miss Chigwidgeon as our luggage was being shifted to the correct rooms. He claimed to know her father and seemed to be hoping for some positive reaction from her. I did not see all of what happened but, as it seemed that Miss Sinclair and Salmalin had things in hand, I dealt with my own unpacking.
My resolve to keep Edward’s secret was tested when I learned that he was to room with Salmalin. Unfortunately there is no way to remove Edward to my company without either breaking my promise or creating a situation that would be quite difficult to deal within the small confines of the ship. I will trust to Edward’s proven ability to defend himself and his secrets and the protectiveness I have seen Salmalin demonstrate toward both Edward and Miss Namaste.
09 May 1870, Monday
To have a hope of keeping all these men, their titles, ranks, and batmen organized I will endeavour to list them all here:
Captain Rogers, his batman Mr Kirati (an Indian so I must not assume that conversations in Hindi are private).
First Lieutenant Wooster, his batman the inestimable Mr Caine. Wooster is in charge of the gunnery and has spent much of the day getting to know the ships guns and the men who have charge of them.
Second Lieutenant Mister Cooper, his batman ?. Cooper is the executive officer of the ship. We do not expect to see much of him as he is on the night watch. Though today, he made himself available to give tours of the ship. Mrs Cuthbert and I took him up on his offer. He was quite knowledgeable about the ship and its workings and seemed quite a competent man.
Third Lieutenant Pellew, his batman Mr Hargood. Pellew is in charge of navigation and tactics and has the most wonderful map room. Miss Sinclair and I spent much of the afternoon in the map room today. Lt Pellew has the most up-to-date set of charts and maps I have ever seen. He buys his own because the ones provided by the Service are not as through as he would like.
Fourth Lieutenant Lord Richard Lochsley, his batman Mr Wren. Lochsley is in charge of drilling the men in armed combat. He is also a terrible bore who is quite taken with Miss Chigwidgeon. She seems to have him in hand and Miss Sinclair and Salmalin chaperoned Miss Chigwidgeon on her tour of the ship. He seems to have no notion of what anything on the ship does except as it relates to his work in drilling the men in small arms use.
Fifth Lieutenant Feathergill, his batman?. Feathergill is also a gunnery man and seems quite taken with Wooster as the two of them share a passion for big guns. They are sharing the gunnery post.
Sixth Lieutenant Nottle, his batman ?. Nottle is the Chief Engineer. I was sorry that my sea sickness did not permit me a longer tour of the engine room. The engines designed by Sir Cosmo were wonderful to see in action and Nottle seems to be quite taken with them and with Sir Cosmo.
Seventh Lieutenant Lord Cornelius Spode, his batman Mr Brinkley. Spode is also a navigator and is on the night watch with Lieutenant Cooper. I caught Spode glaring at Wooster as if Wooster caused him great pain. Mr Brinkley likewise looked at Caine with great loathing. I do not know the cause of their displeasure. I can understand disliking Wooster for he is not always attentive to the niceties of any given situation, but Brinkley’s eye upon Caine seemed most uncalled for.
The Captain’s batman, Mr Kirati, has just rapped at our door saying that breakfast is ready. The crew eats in shifts so we must not be tardy (regardless of how little we plan to eat). I am suffering from an unusual bout of seasickness which I hope will pass off shortly.
Later
It has been a rather full day made longer by my uncharacteristic illness. I have never been seasick before in all my travels. It is terrible. However, I determined that I would put on an outward appearance of health and hope that would help it pass more quickly. I do know that I would have been even more miserable had I stayed in bed and stared at the swaying walls of our cabin.
I spent much of the day avoiding food, or the smell of it, and forcing myself to do all the things that interested me regardless of what my stomach was saying about it. I hope tomorrow I will have gained my sea-legs once again. It is lovely to be travelling again regardless of the circumstances.
10 May 1870, Tuesday
Last night, as Mrs Cuthbert and I were preparing to retire, we were visited by Mr. Kirati, the Captain’s batman. He had noticed that we were both unwell and had brought us a mixture of his own that, he said, should help us sleep and, hopefully, wake refreshed and well. We thanked him kindly and took advantage of his offer. Both of us having suffered more than we showed during the day. I slept through the night and woke ready for breakfast.
I do not know wether to ascribe the vivid dreams I had to Mr Kirati’s recipe or to my own barely understood gifts. Mrs Cuthbert had very similar dreams, differing in only a few details. It has already proven useful to have the two of us share a cabin. We can have our strange conversations about visits from the dead and visions of the past before breakfast and without disturbing the crew or our own colleagues.
Oh, drat! I am reminded that I forgot to set the wards last night. I was so tired and unwell most of the day that it completely slipped my mind. I will have to check in with Mr Ramsey to see if he remembered, or, if you can even set wards on a ship.
I have only a few more minutes before we are called for breakfast so I will attempt to set down the details of my dream.
I dreamt that I was on board an Areofrigate. There was panic all around. Sailors were running around desperately putting out fires and gathering weapons. Some were running for lifeboats and there was fierce fighting going on at one of the lifeboats.
We were very high up in the air, and I was not sure what to do. At some point I realized that the shouting and yelling were all in French. By the time I reached the embattled lifeboat there was a cluster of eight men trying to simultaneously escape in the lifeboat and fend off officers and sailors that were attacking them. It seemed absurd to me that the two groups would be fighting as the Areofrigate burned around them. After fierce fighting (which I tried to interrupt) there remained only one man of the eight fighters. He had sole possession of the lifeboat as the cables were released and the small boat plummeted to the ocean below. Halfway down he vanished from the boat, leaving me floating alone on the ocean.
While I was drifting on the water in the little boat, dead sailors, and pieces of sailors drifted up to me and tried to give me messages to give to their loved ones. Unfortunately they could not give me much detail about who they had been or where their loved ones might be found. I fear I shall not be able to take any action on that information. Upon waking, I did make a note of the names I could remember in case they should be of some help in the future.
As the dream progressed, the sailors faded away and Great-Aunt Hethalyn appeared in the boat. I stated to ask her if this was the past I was seeing or the future. She said that the goddess was spying upon us and she moved us to her cottage where she felt we could speak in private. I asked her if she knew what had been going on in the dream and she was cryptic in her responses. I also asked her if there was a way to keep gods away since it seemed like they might make trouble for us. She suggested that it would not be wise. Such an action might anger the god or goddess further and also might keep any helpful gods or goddesses away just when you need them. Of course I know that there is only the One God but I do not have any other name for the power that Aunt Hethalyn sensed. We talked for a bit more and then I awoke in my own cabin refreshed and, as I mentioned above, hungry.
It is time for our breakfast. After breakfast we are to meet for our Exercises with Salmalin and then I will try to round everyone up for our conversation in Hindi. I would like to keep up my practice and continue to improve in my use of the language.
Later
It is mid-afternoon of an eventful day. You’d think that we could manage to stay out of trouble when we are floating on a boat in the middle of the ocean but we do not seem to be destined for a quiet voyage. After breakfast the ladies assembled on deck for our Exercises. Just as yesterday we drew a crowd. Miss Sinclair and I have forgone dresses for the duration of this assignment. Miss Sinclair made the excellent point that women have drowned in the past dragged down by the weight of their crinoline. This information has emboldened me. I will wear the clothes that I need to in order to complete the assignments given to us by Our Employer. At times that will be ball-gowns and at times like this it is Turkish Trousers!
Mr Salmalin was able to keep us focussed on our exercises. At that, having people stare at us was very good practise. We must learn not to be shy in using all the tools at our disposal in defending ourselves and our comrades. However, I would also like to learn some of the more subtle skills Salmalin has demonstrated and be able to prevent trouble in the first place.
Once released from our tutorial I returned to my room to clean up. I then gathered with my fellow students for our Hindi conversation. Edward is a very quick study. It is very nice to have the quiet time together with much of the League. Once we had finished, Sir Cosmo joined us and, with the rest of the League, presented our latest problem.
Sir Cosmo just came from a briefing with Captain Rogers and Lieutenant Wooster. The Captain’s Clock was stolen last night and mysteriously appeared in Wooster’s quarters. Wooster was quite concerned that there would be personal consequences should we not find the culprit. Sir Cosmo pointed out that in addition to the Clock, one of the other Lieutenants had reported a silver brush set stolen and that the Captain had suggested that these small thefts might be the work of spies as a way of diverting our attention away from their actions. The “Griffin” is an advance in the development of Ironclads and it is very possible that the French or Prussians or both have planted spies or suborned some of the crew to gather information and perform acts of subtle sabotage as opportunities present themselves. It was decided that we would try to be alert to both the possibility of a petty thief and/or spies among us. I left Miss Sinclair, Owen, Mr Salmalin, Miss Chigwidgeon, and Edward planning ways to discover the thief or thieves.
The matter occupying my primary attention, however, is how to discover more about the vivid dreams that Mrs Cuthbert and I experienced. Once we arrive at St Damion Island we will have to deal with whatever we find. I would like to have as much information as possible before then.
During our morning classes, Mrs Cuthbert suggested that one way to confirm information from our dreams would be to question Mr Pym. We talked to his doctor and he raised no objection. Though he did warn us that we might not be able to get much of sense from his patient. Mr Pym has lost much of his ability to follow a conversation and if distracted will forget that he has met you or what he was just talking about. Mrs Cuthbert plans to mesmerize Mr Pym in hopes of allowing him to relax and tell us his story.
Once I finish with this entry I must spend some time finalizing the list of questions we would like Mr Pym to answer. I am hoping that if we are methodical in our approach it will assist Mr Pym in his responses. Also, since he is easily distracted, a list of questions will help me remember what we intend to learn.
Later
It is late afternoon. Mrs Cuthbert, Dr Siannaig, and I spent the balance of the afternoon working with Mr Pym. The Memzmerizeing did not have any discernible effect upon Mr Pym.
Regardless, he was able to respond to quiet and persistent questions and I was able to gather quite a lot of information, much of which corroborated our Dreams. It is clear now that we both dreamed of the past events. And now that I have met Mr Pym in person I can confirm that he was the lone man in the lifeboat from my dream. I have spent much of the afternoon writing out a report in clear English (as opposed to the code I use for this diary). I hope to have Mrs Cuthbert and Dr Siannaig review it to ensure that I do not leave out anything of import. Once completed I will submit it to my colleagues.
I did hear that the missing brush set had turned up on Miss Chigwidgeon’s bed with an odd bit of ragged ribbon tied about it, as if it were a gift. No other progress was reported on that front, though I have every confidence that they will sort though that mystery in short order. We are to meet after tea to provide the entire League with updates as to our activities.
Later
It is after midnight. I am astonished when I look over this record to see how much has happened in such a short time. It feels like several days have passed rather than just the one.
After our meeting with the rest of the League concluded we all attended dinner and Mrs Cuthbert and I retired to our quarters. I to make suggested corrections to my report while she spent some time in meditation.
We were both overcome with a strong sense of danger and a compulsion to go topside. It was evening and the sun had set. As we reached the deck the stars to the South were blotted out by a Great Force. Electrical sparks were jumping from ship to sailor, from deck to tower, rolling all over the ship. Miss Namaste, Miss Sinclair, Sir Cosmo, and Edward were standing on the deck.
Edward was frantically trying to ground the sinkable boat so as not to be electrocuted when he jumped to the deck. Miss Sinclair had a tight hold on Miss Namaste, as if she would blow away, though the air was calm. As we rounded on the tableau I saw Miss Namaste’s eyes and realized the source of Miss Sinclair’s concern.
Miss Namaste’s eyes were glowing. Some magik or mystic force was at work. Mrs Cuthbert cast a spell of protection on the entire ship and crew while I worked to determine what kind of force we were dealing with. The storm came upon us quickly and I heard several shots fired from the cannon above as the prow of the vessel entered into green fire– sparks jumped and crackled about us.
There was powerful weather magic being worked. I could sense the power behind the storm and it was like nothing I had ever encountered.
Suddenly Salmalin leapt forward and broke the hold Miss Sinclair had on Miss Namaste. There was a tremendous shock of electricity and Miss Sinclair cried out. Then, in a voice louder than the storm, Miss Namaste spoke these words in Hindi:
“I am the power of time.
I am the night of eternity.
Clad only in space,
who dare look me in the face?
Out of fear me fire burns.
Out of fear of me the sun shines.
By my light the world is illuminated.
I am the star, the power of hunger,
the night of anger."
And the storm stopped. Suddenly the ocean was quiet again. It was as if the storm had never been.
Miss Namaste fainted. Salmalin saved her from crashing to the deck. We took her to the infirmary, however, she was coming around by the time we reached the stairs, insisting she was fine, and there were two sailors with bad burns being brought in from the gun turrets. The Ship’s Surgeon had his hands full. As did Dr Siannaig, the power had apparently affected Mr Pym as well. Siannaig gabbled something about Pym floating through the air with glowing eyes. It was enough for me, I encouraged him to join our council.
Once the medical emergencies had been seen to, we met in Sir Cosmo’s quarters. None of our party was seriously hurt. Miss Sinclair’s hands are stinging from the shock she got when Salmalin pulled her away from Miss Chigwidgeon and Dr Siannaig’s hands were. I do not know what he was more astonished by, Mr Pym, or our calm acceptance of the strange events he reported. He did not draw any comfort from the reassurances I provided.
Dr Siannaig’s experience was no less bizarre that what we witnessed above decks. He was summoned to the infirmary by the ship’s surgeon. When he arrived Mr Pym was floating above his bed. Unsure of what to do the doctor tried to sedate Mr Pym with an injection. A massive shock jumped from Pym to the syringe, burning Siannaig’s hand in the process. Pym then rotated upright, as if he were standing on air and began floating out of the room. The restraints he had been held by lay in heaps of ash at the side of the bed.
The ship’s surgeon had summoned men to act as guards but there was no practical way to stop the floating Mr Pym. Suddenly he cried out in a language Siannaig did not recognize (possibly Arabic, as Pym knows that language but as Siannaig knows neither Arabic nor Hindi we cannot be certain). Then Pym switched to English, said, “There is no such thing as death. There is a thing called change.” With that, Pym fell to the deck and all was quiet again.
After our discussion it was felt very strongly that some aspect of Kali had visited us and foiled some sort of massive attack on the H.M.S. Griffin. Mrs Cuthbert and I are to continue gathering information through Mystic means. Mr Ramsey will do some more research. Miss Sinclair, Miss Chigwidgeon, Salmalin, Edward and Owen will continue their search for the thief or thieves aboard the ship while Wilson and Mr Cuthbert will be on the alert for sabotage, or other, more normal, threats to the crew or ourselves. Sir Cosmo will coordinate all of our efforts
Once the meeting broke up, Mr Ramsey escorted me about the ship to enable the setting of protective wards around the entire ship. Hopefully they will alert me should anything else of a Mystic nature impinge upon us.
Mrs Cuthbert and I are retiring for the night. She has shown me the way she requests guidance in her dreams and I will attempt to get a more detailed vision of what happened on the Island leading up to the destruction of la “Majeste” and her support ship. Hopefully Great-Aunt Hethalyn will aid me in this.
11 May 1870, Wednesday
Mrs Cuthbert and I just returned from breakfast. She is preparing to visit Mr Pym and see if her healing spells might be of some use to the poor man. I am off to check that the wards I set last night are undisturbed. I can easily check the ones near to our rooms but must round up an escort to visit the portions of the ship where my presence might be remarked on.
Our Exercises went well today. After the chaos and uncertainly of the events last night, very few sailors were interested in watching our efforts, that, or the novelty is wearing off. Each day we do many of the same stretches and movements and it is probably quite boring to watch. I find the movement invigorating and feel more alert afterwards. However, that effect is not visible to the casual observer and is of not interest to anyone but myself.
Despite the disruptions to our routine I hope to gather everyone together for Hindi conversation. If we allow visits from unknown powers to disrupt our meetings we will be forever running about and never accomplishing anything. Besides, the classes give us an excellent reason to gather in Sir Cosmo’s cabin without making it look like a meeting. If we do it at the same time everyday the sailors will get used to it and ignore us.
It is hard to believe that this is only our third day at sea!
Later
Well, my wards, as far as I can tell, are intact about the ship. Lieutenant Lochsley was willing to take me on another tour of the ship and I was able to, discreetly, check each location. I heard much more than I needed to about his wager with Wilson, apparently they are planning a shooting match on deck later today.
Class went well and provided a natural segue into what is becoming our normal briefing. Many of our group reported having strange dreams about the Island last night. I, myself, had a very detailed dream in which Pym’s party was rounded up at gunpoint and removed to “la Majeste” by the French. Many of the details I saw conformed to the account given by Pym, however, once I realised that I could move at will in the dream, I removed myself from participation and became and observer. I was able to view the events from several different perspectives and this is what appeared to happen:
Pym and several other men were rounded up and taken to the boat to be lifted to “la Majeste.” Pym struggled and was hit on the head. They were loaded aboard and locked in a room onboard. I followed the captain around. There were reports that the support ship was under attack so I went and watched that. Instead of a ‘leviathan’ I saw several small underwater boats, very similar to Edward’s sinkable boat, but scaled up somewhat. There were many explosions and the ship began to founder. “La Majeste” fired on the city. I do not know if the support boat had fired on the mountain first or if the people of the mountain felt that the attack on the party at the dig was sufficient provocation.
If Pym was indeed married to one of the inhabitants of the city they may not have taken kindly to his capture. Despite all my confusion about this, I came away with the sense that the French were the aggressors in this matter.
As with my other dream, the mountain brought fourth lightening to attack the Areofrigate, Pym and the others broke out in the confusion, Pym made it to the lifeboats and disappeared as we plummeted into the sea.
I was again left alone with the dead. It was Aunt Hethalyn that pointed out that Pym keeps disappearing because he is still alive. The sailors and officers that spoke to me were all ones that perished in the attack. I can’t help but feel sorry for them. It is as if they tried to take on a Housecat and found themselves facing a Tiger. Perhaps this warning is one I should take to heart as well. There is clearly a lot of raw power in the City on the Island and things may get more dangerous as we approach.
Several people, including Dr Siannaig, reported similar dreams, each with a different focus. Mrs Cuthbert and Miss Chigwidgeon both reported visiting the City in their dreams. Mrs Cuthbert got a sense of people living out ordinary lives. They were Working, Playing, Eating, Praying, all the things that happen in any regular city. Miss Chigwidgeon’s dream focussed on a temple where several young women worked with some sort of goddess-queen to aid in the defence of the City. She saw much of the damage inflicted by the French warships. Damage that may make our job that much more difficult. Mrs Cuthbert got the sense that the Woman (perhaps the “Her” that Pym referred to?) was sealing the Island off from the world in some way.
We are talking a short break for lunch and will meet again in the afternoon to continue our discussions.
Later
Edward has caught one of the thieves!
At this afternoon’s meeting we learned that Edward and Owen had caught one of the cabin boys leaving another stolen gift for Miss Namaste. Edward had Owen fetch Sir Cosmo and they soon had the whole story from him. He was smitten by Miss Namaste and had consulted with the man Dawkins as to what he should do. Dawkins said girls like pretty and expensive gifts and he apparently encouraged the boy to steal from his shipmates. Sir Cosmo returned the items and he and the Captain agreed that no public punishment would be needed. Sir Cosmo had the boy apologise to Miss Namaste and also found out that Dawkins had offered to pay the boy for any papers the boy found that related to Miss Namaste’s inheritance. That man is showing altogether too much interest in Miss Namaste. It is unfortunate that he was about when Miss Namaste and Edward were introduced as Sir Cosmo’s wards. There is no help for it now.
I have volunteered to draft a letter endowing Miss Chigwidgeon with a modest income. We would then plant this document with the cabin boy and see how the information comes back to us. Edward and I are working on a chemical solution we can use on the paper to help us trace who handles it.
Mrs Cuthbert is planning to hold a seance to see if Mr Chigwidgeon is indeed dead or if that is mis-direction on the part of Dawkins to put Miss Chigwidgeon in a more vulnerable position where she might listen to some of what he had to say. In addition to the seance, Mrs Cuthbert will research tracking spells that would allow us to follow the path of our document. I am nervous about using such a thing as we do not know who or what might be behind Dawkins and any Mystic force we apply to the paper may alert the culprit to our suspicions, of course, this is true also of whatever Edward and I come up with in the realm of Chemistry, so I’m not sure why I am so concerned. I just wish I knew more about the forces we are using and how they act and react in different situations.
Mrs Cuthbert plans to use our cabin for the summoning of Mr. Chigwidgeon so I must finish this and help her prepare. I have asked if I may sit in again and watch her at work and she has kindly agreed.
Later
Well the summoning was quite interesting. Mrs Cuthbert allowed me to assist her in calling the spirits and we got something quite unexpected. As far as we can tell Mr Chigwidgeon is not dead but he has caused the demise of a great many people. Miss Chigwidgeon did not seem to be surprised by what we found but I feel for her. There are many spirits waiting in the between for a chance to even the score with her Father. That can’t be a pleasant thing to face. However, it does seem that Mr Chigwidgeon was alive as late as three days ago and, since he did not answer our call, he is probably still alive and well. So much for Dawkins story!
Now we are preparing to go on deck and watch the shooting match. Miss Chigwidgeon has managed to join the competition and so will shoot with Mr Cuthbert, Dr Wilson and Lieutenant Lochsley. All of them are quite the marksman so it will be interesting to see how she does. I have seen her be very effective the times she has handled a firearm. I do not forget that she wounded Salmalin in our first encounter with him (when he was working for the Opposition) and now that I know more about his particular skills I am even more impressed with her feat.
I plan to take advantage of this time to have Lieutenant Lochsley introduce me to the beastly things. I do not like firearms but it seems that, if I am to be constantly exposed to them, I should learn to handle one properly and Lieutenant Lochsley volunteered to show any of the ladies the basics of shooting.
Later
Everything is in an uproar! There has been a terrible accident. The Captain slipped on some loose ammunition and has lost consciousness.
Wooster is in charge!
Proceed to A report and a letter
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