11 May 1870, Wednesday
There has been much bustling about. Wooster, with Caine's able assistance has taken over Command quite smoothly. The League is nearly settled for the night at last Events have proved that we are not in as dire straights as first appeared after our accident. In fact, we are closer than ever to discovering the saboteur among us.
Mrs Cuthbert is getting ready for bed and the lights will need go out soon. Earlier in the day she worked to restore Mr Pym to his right mind, and then, this afternoon, Mr Ramsey and I helped her mend the injuries to the Captain Roger’s damaged skull. He looked ever so much better once we were finished. Dr Siannaig and Mr Muirhead confirmed the improvement. The Doctor feels that the Captain may well wake from his injuries as early as tomorrow morning.
I’m afraid I was quite short with Miss Chigwidgeon earlier. During all the commotion she tried to get up to help and I told her, quite sharply to stay seated. I did not want her slipping on the shot that was still rolling around on the deck and I was very distracted by the captain’s injuries.
Once the captain was seen too, Sir Cosmo was invited to a meeting of the officers to allow Lieutenant Wooster, as acting captain, to receive their reports. It was implied that the officers would feel better if Sir Cosmo showed his support for the chain-of-command. Also, as I noted in a previous entry, Sir Cosmo himself is in the chain-of-command as the head of the Scientific Expedition.
While the officers were in the meeting Miss Sinclair, Miss Chigwidgeon, and I overheard five men impugning Wooster. I recognized Misters Yeardsly, Hargood, and Brinkley. Brinkley was quite obviously drunk and claimed that he was soon to go on duty. I mentioned the incident to Mr Caine and Sir Cosmo. Mr Caine said that he would have Mr Kirati, who is senior amongst the batmen, deal with Mr Brinkley in private.
Edward was given over the task of finding all the ammunition scattered about the deck by Miss Chigwidgeon's unfortunate fall. He returned with a sackful of shot and one rivet. The shot was returned to the ammunition storage. Edward then set off to search the ship, claiming that ther rivet must have come from some where.
He did not find a hole to match his rivet, however he did find a batch of tools hidden in an airshaft. They had not been used. Using Mystic Means, Mr Ramsey was able to get an image of the man who placed them on the ship. A quick consultation with Sir Cosmo and the Chief Engineer gave us information as to how the tools could be used to damage the ship and a small slice of time allowed us to sabotage the saboteur where upon we returned the bag to its hiding place. It is chemically marked and mystically warded so we will be warned should anyone attempt to use it. Now we wait and see what happens next.
12 May 1870, Thursday
Mrs Cuthbert, Mr Ramsey, and I nipped down to the infirmary before breakfast. Mr Muirhead, the surgeon, reported that the Captain had been briefly awake but was not yet oriented to his surroundings. Dr Siannaig opines that it may be as much as a week before full recovery. (The Doctor's exact words were 'You never can tell with head injuries.' Not in the least reassuring.) Mrs Cuthbert plans to call upon the Captain again this evening to see if she may be of any further assistance.
Later
It has been a productive morning. First off, Wooster gave a poorly executed, but quite sincere, speech to the men. I did enjoy the singing he led, however. All those deep voices joined in song were quite beautiful to hear.
Having the men assembled also served Mr Ramsey’s purpose. He was able to identify the saboteur from his vision. Vanderlay is his name and we are resolved to keep watch on the man and his tools.
We met for our usual classes. Once Hindi class concluded, Sir Cosmo joined us and we learned that Jimmy had passed the letter with the false information about Miss Chigwidgeon’s stipend to Dawkins as planned. Dawkins seemed pleased with its contents. Not the effect I had hoped for, though, perhaps the letter will succeed in its purpose and lead us to Dawkins employer.
Dawkins had also commanded Jimmy to report on the contents of Sir Cosmo, Mr Cuthbert, and Dr Wilson’s cabins. After some discussion it became apparent that there were two factors held in common by the three men. One is apparent wealth. The other is level of weapons proficiency (and likelihood of finding weapons in their cabins). Attempts will be made to secure both from prying eyes. Dr Wilson will put his plans in Sir Cosmo’s safe while Edward draws up few false documents to leave about for verisimilitude.
Now it is time for lunch, after which I will be meeting with Mr Ramsey for further instruction in the Mystic Arts.
~Later~
Mr Ramsey and I found our class to be interrupted by an all-crew fire drill. Since part of the drill involved getting the civilians out of the way, we wound up near one of the lifeboats watching the men practice. Our group really should identify a boat or two to rendezvous at should a real emergency occur.
While we were waiting to return to our lessons, Mr Ramsey suggested that, in addition to practising Hindi, I might enjoy learning Gaelic, especially as some of the older entries in my Family Book are in that language. I agreed and we plan to meet after tea. I hope Sir Cosmo is not too put out by the use we are making of his suite. I do not wish to be underfoot but I have so much to learn. It is so difficult, so many of my former skills are next to useless in my new situation while the one skill I do possess I can only make minimal use of at this time. I feel in over my head most of the time.
I wonder how Tattvik is doing? I wish I had gone to the school she is attending when I was a girl. I would understand so much more.
That is enough ink wasted. I must go or be late for tea.
~Later~
I really must insist that our League determine a rendezvous point in case of emergency. There was a fire in the galley just before diner that sent an alarming amount of smoke rolling over the deck. The fire drill earlier in the day proved very helpful and the fire was out in short order. Dinner was very plain but filling.
Almost anything can be made palatable if one has enough Tea.
I later found out that Miss Sinclair and Miss Chigwidgeon were the cause of the fire. That explains why they chose to take dinner in their cabin.
I have spent some time in meditation this evening practising the things that Mr Ramsey and I reviewed earlier today.
Sir Cosmo has invited the ladies to his suite to play cards. Dr Wilson and Edward are busy elsewhere on various devices, Mr Cuthbert joined us for cards, while Salmalin returned to watch for any movement by our saboteur.
13 May 1870, Friday
The card game was a pleasant way to spend the evening yesterday. Edward did get in to some trouble with Miss Sinclair for wandering away from his cabin after she had expressly asked that he stay in. His wanderings did serve our purpose as both he and Miss Sinclair overheard Vanderlay selling contraband in exchange for information that would allow him to track the movements of the officers of the Griffin and the members of the League. He was also interested in plans that Dr Wilson might have in his cabin. We may have found Dawkins employer. Though wether Vanderlay is a middle man or the final link in the chain we do not know yet. We will have to wait and see.
I took a brief tour of the ship, in the company of Mr Ramsey, and checked on the wards I had set yesterday. They were undisturbed. I renewed them and we continued on to breakfast.
It was reported at breakfast that the Captain continues to heal but has yet to return to full consciousness. Mrs Cuthbert has checked in on him and there is nothing more her Art can do. We must wait for time to aid his healing.
We met on deck for our exercise. We draw a smaller and smaller audience each day, which does make it easier to concentrate on the instructions Mr Salmalin gives us. After class, the French aerofrigate, la Victoire, was spotted to the East while a storm was spotted moving in from the West. It looked as though the storm might seriously slow the progress of the areofrigate by forcing it to return to the ironclad that it uses as a base in the open sea.
We retired to our cabins to wait out the storm. It felt to me as if someone aboard the areofrigate was manipulating the storm. Mr Ramsey felt so also and we enlisted Mrs Cuthbert and her crystal ball to reveal more information about the caster. Mr Ramsey felt certain that Admiral Le Coq would be involved as the Watchers have long suspected that Le Coq is not fully human and that he is a skilled sorcerer. Ramsey also claims that Le Coq may be the product of a mating between a human and a demon. I take that with grain of salt.
We were able to watch the storm move around the French areofrigate and it seemed to be a storm identical to the one that struck us only four days ago. Unfortunately the forces aboard la Victoire overmatched the storm and the ship continues to close on our position.
We met in Sir Cosmo’s cabin for cards again in the afternoon. Since the entire League was present, he took the opportunity to reveal to us that the area of the ocean near St. Damian Island is suspected of being both a former base of operations for the infamous Captain Nemo and, possibly, the site of the lost city of Atlantis.
Sir Cosmo took Edward and Dr Wilson off to learn how to use the salvage suits that the ship carries on board. That is Sir Cosmo will teach Dr Wilson how to use a salvage suit and Edward will work on ways that his sinkable boat may be of assistance. Fortunately for Miss Sinclair’s nerves, the suits are too large for Edward to use, and cannot be safely modified in the short time we have before reaching the island. Unfortunately for Miss Chigwidgeon’s nerves, Sir Cosmo appears to be planning on making the dive with Dr Wilson when the time comes.
14 May 1870, Saturday
I awoke to the sound of a gunshot.
I was up on deck before I was fully aware of what I was doing. Miss Sinclair and Mr Kirati had saved Captain Rogers from being shot by Mr Vanderlay! Miss Sinclair was in a bit of shock when I got to her, having stabbed Vanderlay with the only weapon she had on her, her hatpin. It was quite hopelessly bent out of shape. Yet another thing to bill Our Employer for, I suppose.
There was much rushing about, as Vanderlay had been in the process of messaging the French aerofrigate, which was drawing quite close. It was decided not to attempt to send a false message. Rather, the Captain had the semaphore operator in the crow’s nest send the Captain’s Compliments to the Admiral. After a short stand-off the French ship veered away from us. Wooster was happily back in the gun turrets by then and whatever nefarious plan the Admiral had was foiled by Miss Sinclair’s insomnia (and quick thinking), the Captain’s quick response, and Wooster’s unwavering aim.
Once things had settled down we got the whole story from the Captain. He had taken advantage of his injury, and the rapid healing provided by our League, to pretend to be out of commission so as to allow him to spy upon the men of the ship and find the saboteur amongst us. He had been gathering information each night and passing it on to Sir Cosmo and Lieutenant Cooper each morning.
Early this morning the Captain found Vanderlay using semaphore to signal to the French aerofrigate and confronted him. Vanderlay pulled a gun but Miss Sinclair stabbed him with her hat pin, giving Mr Kirati just enough time to sneak up on Vanderlay and save the Captain. The gun went off, waking many of our Party.
The Captain is back in charge, Wooster is back commanding the gun crew, and Vanderlay and Dawkins are now in the brig.
We are making all haste to St Damian Island, two French warships right behind us.
Proceed to St. Damian Island, at last
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