(sessio 15)
I return to my journal, again writing on a ship, traveling around the globe. Our hopeless quest continues, with more misery and grief. Our friend, benefactor and colleague, Mr. Matthew Griswold VI, has deceased. We’re traveling towards Darwin, Australia now, hoping to find some new leads. We really are grasping at straws here – almost all our leads lead to Kenya, where the Carlyle Expedition was decimated. The travels of Jackson Elias did reach Asia, but I’m not sure if we can find anything there. I can only hope. Now I’m rambling. I should start over.
In Kenya, when poor Mr. Griswold had lost his mind, and gouged his own eyes out, we sped him to a hospital. William Moore spent most of his waking hours there. On wednesday, Dr. Jusupov disappeared. He did not join us for breakfast, and his room was empty – he had taken his suitcase and all of his licquor with him. I fear for him, but we all we can do is search for him, and ask the local police to do the same. Paynesworth is being cared for by Troxler, and the police wants to interview him – just him! – in his room, behind locked doors. In the evening, Moore returns from the hospital, telling us that Mr. Griswold’s state is stable, but not that good.
While I’m drinking my morning tea in the lobby of the hotel, a car arrives from, and William Moore enters it, and it drives away quickly. He returns after an hour and a half, with grievous news. Mr. Matthew Griswold has passed.
The funeral was on friday, June 19th 1925. Mr. Griswold was buried in the Kenyan soil, and Mr. Moore took the opportunity to have a speech. He told us about his special and long relationship with Mr. Griswold, and about his hatred for this whole continent, which has so far taken his friend and employer, as well as his friend, Mr. Barrington, from him.
Since our employer is deceased, our work contracts have practically been terminated. In his will, Mr. Griswold left a sizeable sum of money for Mr. Borel, which is to be collected from a bank in New York. Mr. Moore tells us that as the caretaker of Mr. Griswold, he will continue to continue our contracts as they were, as long as we have reached the bitter end. He gives a few days to think about it, and to my surprise, nobody wants to leave the expedition. The expedition is joined by Mr. Wolfgang Stahl, a german mercenary, and Mr. Carlo Revelli, a ship cook, who feel that they are still owed money for their services, and have the will to continue with us.
We think about our next leads. Most of our leads end in Kenya, including Elias and Carlyle. We don’t have many clues left, only Darwin, Australia; Shanghai, China; and Hong Kong. In any case, we need to hire new seamen to our boat to be able to continue our journey. We start packing, even while we have not heard a thing from Dr. Jusupov. I only hope he is safe. Revelli and Stahl meet Mr. Nels Nelson, who had told Jackson Elias that he had seen Mr. Brady in Hong Kong. Mr. Nelson is a sad, old alcoholic, who spends most of his time drinking in a shady bar. Mr. Revelli & Stahl hear that he did have seen Mr. Brady, who didn’t want to talk about his past and his “death”, and while Mr. Nelson insisted, he was physically attacked. Mr. Brady is a mover, we’re told, and his work takes him around the world. I don’t think we’ll find him in Hong Kong.
We have tickets to a morning train on sunday June 21th, to Mombasa. We arrive in the evening, and spend the night in a hotel, the last night in a decent bed for a while, before our ship leaves harbour. Next morning, Mr. Moore goes to the bank to retrieve some funds for the journey, and returns shortly afterwards. The father of Mr. Griswold had frozen all his accounts, and we’re practically on our own now. After this point on, we need to make do with whatever we have now. After talking about the situation, we agree on the following.
Me and Dr. Paynesworth will get no more pay from this moment forward. Mr. Troxler and Dr. Descours are paid $60 monthly, and the rest of the men $50 each month, and a portion of licquor daily. Our next leg of the journey leads to Darwin, Australia, and the ship, Ineluctable, will leave in 8 days. Our own ship will be left here, since we have no means of paying its rent or hiring new seamen to sail it.
Since we have no money left, Mr. Moore rents a house from the edges of the town. It’s in bad shape and is infested with roaches and dirt. Revelli, the cook, is in charge of our dinners, and burns our food. After a day, me and Dr. Paynesworth check in to a hotel, until we board our ship.
