The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1752: Chapter 81: Fate Foreordained by Catastrophe

Nine nine forms the constellations, three three fulfills the turning wheel.

Two shoulders across the dream of life, a word to hide the civil servant’s body.

Name like moonlight without a shadow, body like a butterfly passing through the dust.

Foolishly smile and hard to speak, turning back to find each step true.

—Arthur Hastings, Preface to the Autobiography of Sir Eld Carter

Just as the Beagle was about to dock, and Eld was excitedly making heart gestures to the crowd on the pier, a sudden and untimely commotion erupted on the other end of the crowd.

”Make way! You stepped on my foot, Arthur!”

”Then don’t press such a large Alexander on me!”

”How am I a lump? A big figure deserves this weight!”

Arthur and Dickens were seen shoulder to shoulder, carrying a plump Frenchman with a top hat.

Great Dumas’ left leg straddled Arthur’s neck, while his right buttock heavily weighed on Dicken’s shoulder, holding a copper pipe telescope to his eye. At this moment, he was trying to search over the waves of people and the Thames River through the telescope, looking for the valuable animal he lost years ago.

Such a bizarre scene naturally drew a burst of exclamations from the onlooking crowd.

People couldn’t help but whisper: ”Just last year we abolished slavery completely in the homeland and overseas territories, and now these blacks are turning into masters?”

”I’ll ask one last time, Alexander, did you see clearly?” Arthur Hastings’ tone was still gentle, but the veins pulsing on his jaw betrayed him: ”Are you sure today is the day the Beagle returns?”

”What’s your hurry?” Great Dumas replied earnestly, not moving the copper pipe telescope from his eyes: ”Do you think finding a monkey on the vast Thames River is easy?”

Dickens was not as physically strong as Arthur; Arthur was already having trouble supporting him, let alone this big writer who hardly exercised.

Perhaps due to overexertion, Dickens’ face turned red: ”Then... then look for Charles, look for Mr. Charles Darwin, he should be easier to find than Eld.”

Arthur chimed in from the side: ”That’s right, find Charles! His head reflects in the sun!”

”What business is it of yours if Charles’ head reflects or not?” Great Dumas circled around with the copper telescope, searching: ”I’m looking for a monkey! The free-range one, originally from Nottingham, likes to wear a little hat. I lost it, and I’ve hardly slept well these past five years.”

”You lost a monkey; we lost our backs!” Dickens’ face turned redder than a tomato as he nearly shouted: ”Alexander, your backside is like a siege cannon, pressing down so hard I can barely breathe!”

Just as Arthur and Dickens were about to settle accounts with this plump man, Great Dumas suddenly shouted: ”Found it!”

”Where?” Arthur and Dickens shouted almost in unison.

As soon as the words fell, Great Dumas was already thrown by the two, crashing to the ground like a bag of potatoes unloaded from a cart, with his hat rolling far away.

Great Dumas held his backside, not completely risen from the ground, he was already swearing: ”You two damned British! Just as I call out, you drop me? Damn it, if you’re so good at throwing, why doesn’t the Ordnance Department hire you two to move gunpowder boxes?”

Arthur, rubbing his shoulder, glared at him: ”Stop talking nonsense, quickly say who you saw!”

Great Dumas patted his backside, pointed southwest: ”Over there! That group of people on the dock! A boat just docked, on the deck stood a respectable-looking guy next to a bald man. Although I can’t see their faces clearly, I think apart from the Beagle, other ships hardly have such a top-tier configuration.”

...

On the south bank of the Thames River docks, sunshine spilled on the red and white intertwined Royal military flag, with the military band members busy tuning brass instruments.

Under the large parasol at the forefront stood the Duchess of Kent, with the slightly chubby-cheeked Victoria growing impatient.

Since her Uncle Leopold went to Belgium in 1831 to swear in as the King of Belgium, it had been a full four years since she last saw him, nor visited her uncle’s Claymont Manor in Britain.

It must be said, Claymont Manor might be her favorite place to go, it was there she wasn’t bound by her mother’s endless requests and could have her own room, no longer having to sleep in the same bedroom with her mother.

Moreover, Victoria’s half-sister Feodora also married to Germany, becoming the wife of Prince Ernst I of Hohenzollern-Longenburg.

These years, within Kensington Palace, the only person she could trust was Lady Leisen.

Though her uncle and sister wrote to her almost every month, cold text could never compare to living people.

In her hands, she held a bouquet of fresh flowers she personally picked from Kensington Garden, restlessly watching one ship after another sail by the Thames River.

At the same time Great Dumas was toppled by Arthur and Dickens to the ground, on the south bank of Thames, the Beagle dropped its iron anchor, the ship jolted, and the dust-laden five-year journey finally reached its end.

On the ship’s bridge, Darwin tidied his clothes, nervously whispering to Eld before him: ”Eld, who do you think the Navy Department will send to greet us?”