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Title: An Ocean Tragedy
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- 5. Imperial Gullies SoilErosion and Conservation in Lesotho Ecology History 1st Edition Showers Digital Instant Download Author(s): Showers, Kate B. ISBN(s): 9780821416143, 0821416146 Edition: 1 File Details: PDF, 101.88 MB Year: 2005 Language: english
- 6.
- 7. Ohio University Press Seriesin Ecology and History James L. A. Webb, Jr., Series Editor Conrad Totman The Green Archipelago: Forestry in Preindustrial Japan Timo Myllyntaus and Mikko Saiku, eds. Encountering the Past in Nature: Essays in Environmental History James L. A. Webb, Jr. Tropical Pioneers: Human Agency and Ecological Change in the Highlands of Sri Lanka, ‒ Stephen Dovers, Ruth Edgecombe, and Bill Guest, eds. South Africa’s Environmental History: Cases and Comparisons David M. Anderson Eroding the Commons: The Politics of Ecology in Baringo, Kenya, s– William Beinart and JoAnn McGregor, eds. Social History and African Environments Michael L. Lewis Inventing Global Ecology: Tracking the Biodiversity Ideal in India, ‒ Christopher A. Conte Highland Sanctuary: Environmental History in Tanzania’s Usambara Mountains Kate B. Showers Imperial Gullies: Soil Erosion and Conservation in Lesotho
- 8. Imperial Gullies Soil Erosionand Conservation in Lesotho Kate B. Showers OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS ATHENS
- 9. Ohio University Press,Athens, Ohio © by Ohio University Press Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper ƒ ™ Cover image: Gullies in Valley Wall pediment, ha Tilo Valley, . Photo by Kate B. Showers. Portions of chapter 6 appeared in similar form in the Journal of Southern African Studies () (): ‒. Reprinted by courtesy of Taylor & Francis Group, http://www.tandf.co.uk. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Showers, Kate Barger. Imperial gullies : soil erosion and conservation in Lesotho / Kate B. Showers. p. cm.—(Ohio University Press series in ecology and history) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN --- (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN --- (pbk. : alk. paper) . Soil erosion—Lesotho—History. . Soil conservation—Lesotho—History. I. Title. II. Series. S.LS .''—dc
- 10. For sechaba, balimo,and lefate
- 12. Contents List of Figuresix List of Maps xi List of Tables xiii Preface xv Acknowledgments xix Terminology and Orthography xxiii Chronology xxv Introduction ONE: Lesotho Landscape History Chapter . A History of Lesotho from a Soil Perspective, ‒ Chapter . British Perceptions and Programs Chapter . Rain, Hail, and Drought TWO: A Point in Time Chapter . Cultural and Physical Geography of ha Tilo Valley Chapter . Erosion in ha Tilo Valley THREE: Perceptions of Erosion and Conservation Chapter . Origins of Soil Erosion and British Response, s–s
- 13. Chapter . BasothoResponses to Erosion and Conservation Chapter . Soil Conservation in Lesotho: Science or Ideology? Conclusions Appendix A: Climate Appendix B: Duplex Soils Appendix C: Methodology Notes Bibliographical Essay References Index viii | Contents
- 14. Figures .. Terraced vegetablegarden, Masite, .. Terraced vegetable garden, Morija, .. Type of site chosen before gardening operations have begun .. Same site after a vegetable garden has been laid out .. Biweekly and daily rainfall totals, Matlapaneng, ha Tilo Valley, Sept. , –Jan. , .. The late Maynard Konkol describes a duplex soil .. Soil water movement across fine-textured layer .. Ha Tilo Valley gully development, – .. View of Ha Tilo Valley showing alluvial areas and gullies in Valley Wall pediment, .. Difference in the condition of pasture inside and outside an enclosure, .. Gully growth behind a contour bank .. Diagram of interrupted contour system .. Diagram of level contour banks .. Diagram of graded banks .. Roadside anti-erosion work, .. Interrupted contour banks, Matsieng, .. Interrupted contour banks and water distribution, Lerotholi Technical School, Maseru, .. Interrupted terrace banks after a heavy rain, .. Newly constructed grass waterway and inlet system, .. The same grass waterway and inlet system handling excess water from the terrace system,
- 15. .. Grass inletsodded with kikuyu disposing of excess water from terrace system, .. Grass inlet disposing of water from a forty-acre terraced catchment, .. Terrace bank constructed with tractor, .. Terrace bank in cultivated lands, newly planted with thatching grass (Hyparrhenia), .. Badly eroded pasture area heavily terraced to slow down and spread runoff, .. Aerial photograph of a terrace system in a severely eroded area, .. Severely sheet- and gully-eroded cultivated area recently terraced, .. Ox team and elephant plow used in the construction of contour banks, .. Ditcher in operation during the construction of contour banks, .. Ditcher in operation on a nearly completed contour bank, A.. Maseru rainfall, /–/, calendar year (January–December) A.. Maseru rainfall, /–/, water year (October–September) A.. Maseru rainfall, /–/, crop year (May–April) A.. Monthly rainfall, Matlapaneng, ha Tilo Valley, Sept. , –Jan. , A.. Maseru rainfall, /–/, deviation from the calendar-year mean ( mm) A.. Maseru rainfall, /–/, deviation from the water-year mean ( mm) A.. Maseru rainfall, /–/, deviation from the crop-year mean ( mm) A.. Maseru rainfall, /–/, deviation from summer-rainfall mean ( mm) A.. Progression of September–March seasonal rainfall totals, –: Crude data, three- and five-year moving means A.. Crude summer rainfall and peak sunspot activity, – x | Figures
- 16. Maps . Basutoland’s changingboundaries, – . Southern African railroads, – . Lowland, foothill, and mountain regions of Lesotho . Geomorphic features of the research site . Soil boundaries of the research site . Qualitative moisture observations of the research site
- 18. Tables .. Soil conservationengineering activities, – .. Soil conservation engineering activities, pre-, , and .. Comparison of rainfall totals reported as calendar year, water year, and crop year .. Field crops and garden crops and their disposal .. Livestock and its uses .. Annual cycle of agricultural and livestock activities .. Gender and age of respondents .. Recollections of gully growth .. Informant profiles, Moyeni/Quthing and ha Tilo A.. Average monthly temperatures (˚C) for ten stations in Lesotho A.. First and last frost dates for Lesotho A.. Comparison of frost dates at Maseru, cm and cm above the ground, – A.. Hailstorms, Matlapaneng, ha Tilo Valley, Sept. , –Jan. , A.. Summary of weather conditions, –
- 20. Preface ONE PURPOSE OFTHIS BOOK is to invite readers from all disciplines to consider the history of human interactions with a particular landscape from the multiple vantage points provided by anthropology’s participant observation, geomorphological and soil science field study, and evidence from archival and oral historical research. Technical terms have been eliminated so that the insights from a range of disciplines might be com- fortably appreciated by nonspecialists. Along with contesting the accu- racy and appropriateness of blaming the victims of a technical failure, this book seeks to encourage further integration of environmental sci- ence, social science, and historical research methods and perspectives in the practice of environmental history. To this end, the book’s sections and chapters contain information commonly associated with several different disciplines, as it moves from general overviews to the consideration of particular places, and from regional and local history to the history of ideas. The first section (chapters –) provides a historical context for dis- cussion of soil erosion and human interventions in landscape processes. Chapter documents land use history and environmental change in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the context of a history of soil. The purpose of this chapter is to identify forces of change in the landscape at a national level. Historical materials provide information about traditional land use patterns as well as innovations in agricultural and livestock pro- duction since the Basotho’s first contact with Europeans in the early nineteenth century. The accompanying changes in land allocation, human and livestock densities, vegetation, and economic activities are exam- ined for their effects on soil properties. In chapter , pre-Independence British government programs and projects are discussed in terms of their effects on the landscape and on Basotho culture. These included livestock,
- 21. agriculture, and treeplanting campaigns. Chapter considers the nature of the Lesotho climate and its effects on land use. Tables in Appendix A (climate) present not only meteorological data for the twentieth century, but also weather descriptions for the entire period of British government recordkeeping. Discussion of these tables shows that variability was nor- mal, rather than the unusual condition described by officials in their an- nual reports. The second section of the book (chapters and ) focuses attention on land use practices and landscape processes in one central lowlands valley from through . Chapter introduces ha Tilo Valley from both cultural and physical perspectives. The annual cycle of land use ac- tivities at this time is described in detail, and the roles of men and women are discussed. The physical context of these activities is presented in maps. Geology, soils, and moisture regimes are considered in terms of their implications for agricultural use. Soil water regimes are described, particularly as they relate to water movement within the soil profile. Chapter examines the implications of water movement through soil for gully erosion and the development of the very large gullies cutting through ha Tilo. Aerial photography and oral history are used to estab- lish the time of gully initiation. Conventional explanations for erosion are discussed in light of the conditions documented in ha Tilo. The third section of the book (chapters –) addresses perceptions of erosion and conservation by nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century British officials and missionaries, by the Basotho, and by experts and offi- cials of the post-Independence international community. Chapter ex- plores European impressions and official British responses from the s through the s. The problem of the word “normal” is considered. The semiarid natural grassland was not “normal” in the eyes of people from a humid temperate landscape. A geography of erosion is presented to es- tablish the nature of erosion in the early twentieth century. The origins and implementation of the Basutoland national soil conservation pro- gram, the first national soil conservation program implemented in Africa, are described. Chapter presents Basotho understandings of the landscape, their relations with Basutoland officials, and their assessment of the soil con- servation scheme. Oral history evidence collected in provides a di- versity of perspectives on a range of topics. It documents intense obser- vation of, and discussion about, the conservation structures. The Basotho’s attempts to mitigate the structures’ many problems through design change xvi | Preface
- 22. are presented. Sophisticatedpolitical analysis informed resistance to the soil conservation program. The Basotho valued the protective interna- tional diplomatic aspects of their relations with the British government, but opposed the environmental destruction caused by soil conservation structures. Resistance was either passive (nonparticipation) or active (re- moval of structures), but was never expressed as political opposition to the British government. Chapter distinguishes between conservation as an application of the “spirit of science” and conservation as an expression of the ideology of science. In a review of post-Independence conservation activities, ide- ology is shown to have been the dominant force in Lesotho’s experience of soil conservation. Expert reports from the s through the s demonstrate that the conservation community had been operating in the absence of data, without understanding the environment (or the society) in which they intervened. The result was a decimated landscape and a disengaged population. A critique within the Basotho educated elite began to be voiced in the s. Conservation structures were recognized as having caused destruction, and alternative practices were advocated. Chapter concludes that rescuing conservation from its ideological con- text is essential. Efforts by Basotho within government agencies to pro- mote research and evaluation of alternative approaches are important first steps away from ideology toward environmental reality. In Appendix C (Methodology), field work processes and procedures are described in detail to provide the intellectual contexts for different stages of research that extended over a twenty-year period. The purpose of this presentation is to encourage first-time researchers and those who wish to venture beyond the perspectives of one academic discipline. The discussion argues that environmental history requires knowledge of land- scape processes as well as of more conventional history and social sci- ences because of the complexity of the subject. This complexity cannot be unraveled at once; problems must be considered and reconsidered from different angles.With persistence and a varied approach, unexpected questions can be answered, and new perceptions obtained. A bibliographic essay considers the research in its entirety, as a his- torical body relating to a varied and changing literature over three decades. The various phases of research are shown to have been consistent with or to have contributed to emerging ideas in a range of academic disciplines. The result is a small piece of intellectual history. Among other things, it demonstrates how ideas that were initially so new and unexpected as to Preface | xvii
- 23. be labeled “radical”can become accepted as normative, and, finally, cri- tiqued as a new orthodoxy. As the perception of these ideas changed, landscape processes and their consequences did not. Perception is less constant and predictable than earth processes. xviii | Preface
- 24. Acknowledgments WITHOUT THE HOSPITALITYand generosity of so many Basotho this book would not exist. It belongs to them. First and foremost I shall always be indebted to the residents of ha Tilo Valley. It is risky to name some, because others could feel hurt by omission. But the daily neighborli- ness, constant teaching, and long-term friendship of the late Nkhono Mamokuane Makhetha, ’Me Mamatsiliso Makhetha, ’Me Makhutlang Setipe, the late Abuti Sechache Makhetha, the late Ntate Piti Mothabeng, Ntate Fito Koeshe, Ntate Shekeshe Koeshe, ’Me Mathabo Koeshe, the late Ntate Lehodi Makhetha, Majoshua Makhetha, Ausi Acnes Makhetha, and the occasional gift of an egg from Ausi Pinkie are particularly note- worthy. Dr. L. B. B. J. Machobane encouraged my initial impulse to col- lect oral environmental histories in and introduced me to his father, Dr. James Jacob Machobane, who confirmed my suspicions that contour banks had caused erosion—and told me of resistance. A decade later Dr. L. B. B. J. Machobane provided an introduction to the late Dr. Gwendolyn M. Malahleha, who made possible the collection of proper interviews. Dr. Malahleha’s intellectual openness, dedication, and wonderful humor made work in health and in illness enjoyable and fruitful. Although she passed away while the oral history chapter in this book was being writ- ten, she is, in my mind, a coauthor because of her contribution to the col- lection of data and its initial analysis. I had so wanted her to participate in this, more complete, presentation. Chapter should serve as a perma- nent memorial to this exceptional woman. Finally, more thanks are due to Dr. L. B. B. J. Machobane for reading the oral history chapter critically and to both Dr. Machobane and Mr. Simon K. Phafane for helping me make contacts in Lesotho from far away. Mr. Phafane also graciously pro- vided proper spellings for ha Tilo informants’ names.
- 25. Throughout this almosttwenty-five-year project, help has arrived unexpectedly, and at crucial moments. This is always remembered with pleasure and gratitude. Those involved in the early years (including typ- ist Linda Bush) have been thanked elsewhere. In , five-and-a-half years after a catastrophic car accident, when doctors in three nations could offer no hope, Dr. M. Kelly Sutton and her anthroposophically extended medicine guided me back to health. I literally could not have written this book without this powerful approach to medicine and her insight, skilled care, and great kindness.Without Richard Grove’s friendly insistence, this book would not have been written. The process of finding a publisher and establishing contact with an editor is never easy. My deepest grati- tude to Jean Hay for solid advice and encouragement, and to David New- bury, who served as an intermediary at a crucial moment. Books have been written about some of the classically good editors. Gillian Berchowitz is undoubtedly one of them. Thinking doesn’t stop when one is “just editing” a manuscript. The Wasan Island Conference on World Environmental History of Soils con- vened by Verena Winiwarter, John McNeill, and Helga Breuninger, and sponsored by the Breuninger Foundation of Stuttgart, Germany, pro- vided essential stimulation. Deepest thanks to participants, facilitators, and the island. The production process provides its own possibilities for drama and need for assistance. I extend my deepest gratitude to Elaine Camroux- McLean, Library Enquiries Team, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Li- brary, London, for guidance about obtaining permissions and for prepar- ing digital copies of photographs from the library’s collection, and to Fiona Jones, Science and Engineering Library, University of Cape Town; Manil Kanniappen, the Mintek Library, Randburg, South Africa; and Sherry Smugler, Government Publications Librarian, Robarts Library, University of Toronto, for help in confirming obscure citations. Mark Barner of Niagara University’s Department of Communication Studies provided essential assistance with digital image management. Finally, on very short notice, Martha Mitchell found time in her tight schedule to produce two maps from four, and include additional information. Be- cause images provide a level of certainty beyond words, the contributions of these three people are incalculable. Ohio University Press’s production staff made the tortuous last steps pleasant, and copy editor Ed Vesneske Jr.’s attention to detail and desire for clarity and consistency were invalu- xx | Acknowledgments
- 26. Other documents randomlyhave different content
- 30. The Project GutenbergeBook of An Ocean Tragedy
- 31. This ebook isfor the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: An Ocean Tragedy Author: William Clark Russell Release date: January 12, 2018 [eBook #56363] Language: English Credits: Produced by Henry Flower and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN OCEAN TRAGEDY ***
- 33.
- 34. NOVELS, ETC., BYW. CLARK RUSSELL. Crown 8vo. cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each; post 8vo. illustrated boards, 2s. each; cloth limp, 2s. 6d. each. ROUND THE GALLEY-FIRE. IN THE MIDDLE WATCH. ON THE FO’K’SLE HEAD. A VOYAGE TO THE CAPE. A BOOK FOR THE HAMMOCK. THE MYSTERY OF THE ‘OCEAN STAR.’ THE ROMANCE OF JENNY HARLOWE. AN OCEAN TRAGEDY. MY SHIPMATE LOUISE. ALONE ON A WIDE WIDE SEA. THE GOOD SHIP ‘MOHOCK.’ THE PHANTOM DEATH. IS HE THE MAN? HEART OF OAK. THE CONVICT SHIP. THE LAST ENTRY. THE TALE OF THE TEN. Crown 8vo. cloth, 3s. 6d. each.
- 35. A TALE OFTWO TUNNELS. THE DEATH SHIP. OVERDUE. WRONG SIDE OUT. (Also an Edition at 1s. net.) THE ‘PRETTY POLLY.’ With 12 Illustrations by G. E. Robertson. Popular Editions, medium 8vo. 6d. each. THE CONVICT SHIP. IS HE THE MAN? London: CHATTO & WINDUS, 111 St. Martin’s Lane, W.C.
- 36. AN OCEAN TRAGEDY BY W.CLARK RUSSELL AUTHOR OF ‘THE FROZEN PIRATE’ ‘THE WRECK OF THE GROSVENOR’ ‘A BOOK FOR THE HAMMOCK’ ‘A VOYAGE TO THE CAPE,’ ETC. A NEW IMPRESSION LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS 1911
- 37. To HERMAN MELVILLE,Esq. My dear Herman Melville, In words of beauty and of kindness you lately wished me health and content. Health, alas! you cannot give me; but content you have filled me with. My books have done more than ever I had dared dream, by winning for me the friendship and approval of the Author of ‘Typee,’ ‘Omoo,’ ‘Moby-Dick,’ ‘Redburn,’ and other productions which top the list of sea literature in the English tongue. I beg you to accept this dedication as a further public avowal of my hearty admiration of your genius. In all faithfulness yours, W. CLARK RUSSELL.
- 38. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I.MY COUSIN1 II.THE ‘BRIDE’ 10 III.LAURA JENNINGS 17 IV.IN THE SOLENT 27 V.LONG TOM 39 VI.FINN TESTS THE CREW’S SIGHT 50 VII.SAIL HO! 58 VIII.WE SPEAK THE ‘WANDERER’ 67 IX.A SQUALL 76 X.I GO ALOFT 84 XI.THE PORTUGUESE BRIG 92 XII.A SECOND WARNING 105 XIII.I INTERPRET THE WARNING 116 XIV.MUFFIN GOES FORWARD 126 XV.I BOARD A WRECK 136 XVI.WE SIGHT A SCHOONER-YACHT 147 XVII.WE RAISE THE SCHOONER 156 XVIII.IS SHE THE ‘SHARK?’ 166 XIX.A MYSTERIOUS VOICE 178 XX.MUFFIN IS PUNISHED 188 XXI.HEAVY WEATHER 198 XXII.THE ‘LIZA ROBBINS’ 206 XXIII.THE COLONEL AND HER LADYSHIP 215 XXIV.THE DUEL 224 XXV.THE COLONEL’S FUNERAL 235
- 39. XXVI.WILFRID’S DELUSION 247 XXVII.ADEAD CALM 263 XXVIII.A TERRIBLE NIGHT 274 XXIX.A VOLCANIC ISLAND 286 XXX.WE BOARD THE GALLEON 297 XXXI.THE FIRST NIGHT 308 XXXII.THE GALLEON’S HOLD 321 XXXIII.THE SECOND NIGHT 334 XXXIV.CONCLUSION 348
- 40.
- 41. CHAPTER I. MY COUSIN. ‘SirWilfrid Monson, sir,’ exclaimed my man. It was half-past ten o’clock at night, and I was in my lodgings in Bury Street, St. James, slippers on feet, a pipe of tobacco in my hand, seltzer and brandy at my elbow, and on my knees the ‘Sun’ newspaper, the chief evening sheet of the times. ‘Sir Wilfrid Monson, sir.’ My cousin! thought I, starting, and looking round at my man with a fancy in me for a moment that he had got the wrong name. ‘Show him in.’ Sir Wilfrid entered in a sort of swift headlong way, full of nervousness and passion, as was to be seen easily enough; and then he came to a dead stop with a wild look round the room, as if to make sure that I was alone, and a frowning stare at my servant, who was lingering a moment on the threshold as though suddenly surprised out of his habits of prompt sleek attendance by a fit of astonishment. He stood about six feet high; he had a slight stoop, and was something awkward in arms and legs; yet you were sensible of the indefinable quality of breeding in him the moment your eye took in his form and face, uncommon as both were. He was forty-four years of age at this time, and looked fifty. His hair was long and plentiful, but of an iron grey streaked with soft white. He had a protruding under-lip, and a nose which might have been broken for the irregularity of its outline, with unusually high-cut nostrils. His eyes were large, short-sighted, and grey, luminous and earnest, but with
- 42. a tremulous lidthat seemed to put a quivering into their expression that was a hint in its way of cunning and mental weakness. He had a broad, intellectual forehead, brilliantly white teeth, high cheek bones, a large heavy chin, rounding into a most delicately moulded throat. He was a man, indeed, at whom, as a stranger, one might catch one’s self staring as at something sufficiently puzzling to be well worth resolving. Ill-looking he was not, and yet one seemed to seek in vain for qualities of body or mind to neutralise to the sight what was assuredly a combination of much that was uncomely, and indeed, in one or two directions, absolutely grotesque. But then I had the secret. The long and short of it was, my cousin, Sir Wilfrid Monson, was not entirely straight-headed. Everything was made clear to the mind, after a glance at his strange, weak, yet striking profile, with the hint that there had been madness in his mother’s family. He was the eighth baronet, and on his father’s side (and that was my side, I am thankful to say) all had been sound as a bell; but my uncle had fallen in love with the daughter of a Scotch peer whose family were tainted with insanity—no matter her real name: the Lady Elizabeth will suffice. He was frankly warned by the old Earl, who was not too mad to be candid, but the lovesick creature grinned in his lordship’s face with a wild shake of the head at the disclosure, as though he saw no more in it than a disposition to end the engagement. Then the honest old madman carried him to a great window that overlooked a spacious sweep of lawn, and pointed with a bitter smile and a despairful heave of the shoulders to three women walking, two of whom were soberly clad in big bonnets and veils down their back, whilst the third, who was between them, and whose arms were locked in the others’, glided forwards as though her feet travelled on clockwork rollers, whilst she kept her head fixedly bent, her chin upon her breast, and her gaze rooted upon the ground; and as the amorous baronet watched—the Earl meanwhile preserving his miserable smile as he held his gouty forefinger levelled—he saw the down-looking woman make an effort to break away from her companions, but without ever lifting her head.
- 43. ‘That’s Lady Alice,’said the Earl, ‘speechless and brainless! Guid preserve us! And the Lady Elizabeth is her seester.’ ‘Ay, that may be,’ answers the other; ‘but take two roses growing side by side: because some venomous worm is eating into the heart of one and withering up its beauty, is the other that is radiant and flawless to be left uncherished?’ ‘Guid forbid!’ answered the Earl, and then turned away with a weak hech! hech! that should have proved more terrifying to one’s matrimonial yearnings than even the desolate picture of the three figures stalking the emerald-green sward. These were dim memories, yet they flashed into my head with the swiftness of thought, along with the workings of the eager conjecture and lively wonder raised in me by Wilfrid’s visit, and by his peculiar aspect, too, during the few moments’ interval of pause that followed his entrance. My servant shut the door; Wilfrid looked to see that it was closed, then approached me with a sort of lifting of his face as of a man half choked with a hurry and passion of sentences which he wants to be quit of all at once in a breath, staggering as he moved, his right arm outstretched with a rapid vibration of the hand at the wrist; and, without delivering himself of a syllable, he fell into a chair near the table, dashing his hat to the floor as he did so, buried his face in his arms, and so lay sobbing in respirations of hysteric fierceness. This extraordinary behaviour amazed and terrified me. I will not deny that I at first suspected the madness that lurked as a poison in his blood had suddenly obtained a strong hold, and that he had come to see me whilst seized with a heavy fit. I put down my pipe and adopted a steadier posture, so to speak, in my chair, secretly hoping that the surprise his manner or appearance had excited in my valet would render the fellow curious enough to hang about outside to listen to what might pass at the start. I kept my eyes fixed upon my cousin, but without offering to speak, for, whatever might be the cause of the agitation that was convulsing his powerful form with deep sobbing breathings, the emotion was too
- 44. overwhelming to bebroken in upon by speech. Presently he looked up; his eyes were tearless, but his face was both dusky and haggard with the anguish that worked in him. ‘In the name of Heaven, Wilfrid,’ I cried, witnessing intelligence enough in his gaze to instantly relieve me from the dread that had possessed me, ‘what is wrong with you? what has happened?’ He drew a long tremulous breath and essayed to speak, but was unintelligible in the broken syllable or two he managed to utter. I poured what sailors term a ‘two-finger nip’ of brandy into a tumbler, and added a little seltzer water to the dram. He seized the glass with a hand that shook like a drunkard’s, and emptied it. But the draught steadied him, and a moment after he said in a low voice, while he clasped his hands upon the table with such a grip of each other that the veins stood out like whipcord: ‘My wife has left me.’ I stared at him stupidly. The disclosure was so unexpected, so wildly remote from any conclusion my fears had arrived at, that I could only look at him like a fool. ‘Left you!’ I faltered, ‘what d’ye mean, Wilfrid? Refused to live you?’ ‘No!’ he exclaimed with a face darkening yet to the effort it cost him to subdue his voice, ‘she has eloped—left me—left her baby for—for —’ he stopped, bringing his fist to the table with a crash that was like to have demolished everything upon it. ‘It is an abominable business,’ said I soothingly; ‘but it is not to be bettered by letting feeling overmaster you. Come, take your time; give yourself a chance. You are here, of course, to tell me the story. Let me have it quietly. It is but to let yourself be torn to pieces to suffer your passion to jockey your reason.’ ‘She has left me!’ he shrieked, rising bolt upright from his chair, and lifting his arms with his hands clenched to the ceiling. ‘Devil and beast! faithless mother! faithless wife! May God——’ I raised my hand, looking him full in the face. ‘Pray sit, Wilfrid. Lady Monson has left you, you say. With or for whom?’
- 45. ‘Hope-Kennedy,’ he answered,‘Colonel Hope-Kennedy,’ bringing out the words as though they were rooted in his throat. ‘My good friend Hope-Kennedy, Charles; the man I have entertained, have hunted with, assisted at a time when help was precious to him. Ay, Colonel Hope-Kennedy. That is the man she has left me for, the fellow that she has abandoned her baby for. It is a dream—it is a dream! I loved her so. I could have kissed her breast, where her heart lay, as a Bible for truth, sincerity, and all beautiful thought.’ He passed his hand over his forehead and seated himself again, or rather dropped into his chair, resting his chin upon the palm of his hand with the nails of his fingers at his teeth, whilst he watched me with a gaze that was rendered indescribably pathetic by the soft near-sighted look of his grey eyes under the shadow of his forehead, that had a wrinkled, twisted, even distorted aspect with the pain his soul was in. There was but one way of giving him relief, and that was by plying him with questions to enable him to let loose his thoughts. He extended his hand for the brandy and mixed himself a bumper. There was little in spirits to hurt him at such a time as this. Indeed I believe he could have carried a whole bottle in his head without exhibiting himself as in the least degree oversparred. This second dose distinctly rallied him, and now he lay back in his chair with his arms folded upon his breast. ‘When did your wife leave you, Wilfrid?’ ‘A week to-day.’ ‘You know, of course, without doubt, that Hope-Kennedy is the man she has gone off with?’ He nodded savagely, with a smile like a scowl passing over his face. ‘But how do you know for certain?’ I cried, determined to make him talk. He pulled a number of letters from his side-pocket, overhauled them, found one, glanced at it, and handed it to me with a posture of the arm that might have made one think it was some venomous snake he held.
- 46. ‘This was foundin my wife’s bedroom,’ said he, ‘read it to yourself. Every line of it seems to be written in fire here.’ He struck his breast with his fist. What I am telling happened a long time ago, as you will notice presently. The letter my cousin handed to me I read once and never saw again, and so, as you may suppose, I am unable to give it as it was written. But the substance of it was this: It was addressed to Lady Monson. The writer called her, I recollect, ‘my darling,’ ‘my adorable Henrietta.’ It was all about the proposed elopement, a complete sketch of the plan of it, and the one document Sir Wilfrid could have prayed to get hold of, had he any desire to know what had become of his wife, and on what kind of rambles she and her paramour had started. The letter was signed, boldly enough, ‘Frank Hope-Kennedy,’ and was filled with careful instructions to her how and when to leave her house. Railroads were few and far between in those days. Sir Wilfrid Monson’s estate was in Cumberland, and it was a long journey by coach and chaise to the town that was connected with the metropolis by steam. But the Colonel had made every arrangement for her ladyship, and it was apparent from his instructions that she had managed her flight first by driving to an adjacent village, where she dismissed the carriage with orders for it to return for her at such and such an hour; then, when her coachman was out of sight, she entered a postchaise that was in readiness and galloped along to a town through which the stage coach passed. By this coach she would travel some twenty or thirty miles, then post it to the terminus of the line that conveyed her to London. But all this, though it ran into a tedious bit of description, was but a part of the gallant Colonel’s programme. Her ladyship would arrive in London at such and such an hour, and the Colonel would be waiting at the station to receive her. They would then drive to a hotel out of Bond Street, and next morning proceed to Southampton, where the ‘Shark’ lay ready for them. It was manifest that Colonel Hope-Kennedy intended to sail away with Lady Monson in a vessel named the ‘Shark.’ He devoted a page of small writing to a description of this craft, which, I might take it—though not much
- 47. in that waywas to be gathered from a landsman’s statement—was a large schooner yacht owned by Lord Winterton, from whom the Colonel had apparently hired it for an indefinite period. He assured his adorable Henrietta that he had spared neither money nor pains to render the vessel as luxurious in cuisine, cabin fittings, and the like as was practicable in a sea-going fabric in those days. He added that what his darling required for the voyage must be hastily purchased at Southampton. She must be satisfied with a very slender wardrobe; time was pressing; the madman to whom the clergyman who married them had shackled her would be off in wild pursuit, helter-skelter, flying moonwards mayhap in his delirium on the instant of discovering that she was gone. Time therefore pressed, and when once the anchor of the ‘Shark’ was lifted off the ground he had no intention of letting it fall again until they had measured six thousand miles of salt water. I delivered a prolonged whistle on reading this. Six thousand miles of ocean, methought, sounded intolerably real as a condition of an elopement. My cousin never removed his eyes from my face while I read. I gave him the letter, which he folded and returned to his pocket. He was now looking somewhat collected, though the surging of the passion and grief in him would show in a momentary sparkle of the eye, in a spasmodic grin and twist of the lips, in a quick clenching of his hands as though he would drive his finger-nails into his palms. I hardly knew what to say, for the letter was as full a revelation of the vile story as he could have given me in an hour’s delivery, and the injury and misery of the thing were too recent to admit of soothing words. Yet I guessed that it would do him good to talk. ‘Have they sailed yet, do you know?’ I inquired. ‘Yes,’ he answered, letting out his breath in a sigh as though some thought in him had arrested his respiration for a bit. ‘How do you know?’
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