Chapter 2: New Opportunities?

Chapter 2 New Opportunities?

London in the 19th century is still at the crossroads of light and darkness.

The dawn sun has risen, but the sun shines on the dark surface of the Thames River, but did not bring half a light, the white fog almost swallowed the entire river, only vaguely visible in the small boats moored near the docks of the red light.

In front of the city chimneys, although the time is still early, but they have already been eager to spew out a thick smoke with a foul smell, to indulge in its pride and joy of poisonous air, blocking out the already little daylight, so that the already gloomy weather has become even more depressing.

The narrow streets on both sides of the river are lined with hungover drunks, homeless peasants, and unemployed laborers wandering around, breathing in the polluted and poisoned air, their unhealthy, waxy complexions already indicating their poor health.

In the shadows of the streets and alleys, pickpockets with a glint in the corner of their eyes began to look for their new targets.

The prostitutes in their garbage and sewage-strewn rented houses are soliciting customers, and because of the recent economic downturn, they have had to extend their hours in exchange for some bread and sugar.

The well-dressed Arthur looked out of place, and the stares and scorn he received along the way spoke volumes about the image of the newly formed Greater London Constabulary in the eyes of the poor.

In the chaotic, noisy and dirty East End of London, people usually preferred to use another name to refer to people like Arthur.

They called him ‘the peeler’, and they felt that the London police were like a peeler for apples, little by little peeling off their already not-so-plentiful ‘skin’, stirring up their business, interfering in their lives, and squeezing the space for their existence.

If he had just joined the force, Arthur might have reacted somewhat to their scorn.

But more than half a year had passed, and now he just felt numb.

Just a short distance ahead, two drunken men in tattered clothes were writhing in a heap.

As a skilled police officer, Arthur had long been familiar with responding to such situations.

If you want to reason with drunks, you’d better give them a stick to sober them up. This sounds simple, but it’s a valuable lesson that Arthur and his colleagues have learned after being attacked by drunks many times.

Without hesitation, Arthur drew the civilized staff on his waist and gave a stick towards both of their heads one by one.

Arthur roared, “If you two assholes don’t want to be thrown in jail, you’d better stop right now!”

The two drunks burst into a rage at the beating they received, and they rolled up their sleeves just as they were about to teach Arthur a lesson, but before they could turn around, Arthur’s officer’s knife was already at their throats.

“I repeat, if you two don’t want any trouble, you’d better get the hell out of here right now!”

The cold touch of the officer’s knife instantly sobered up the drunks.

One of the drunks raised his hand to wipe off the blood on his nose, and apologized repeatedly towards Arthur: “It’s just a small fight between friends, we’re from Salford, Manchester, and that’s how we show cordiality and friendship there, it’s not something you need to get into trouble for.”

Another drunk who had half his teeth knocked out chimed in, “No, that’s right, Mr. Officer, we didn’t intend to cause any trouble, we’ll be on our way.”

After saying that, the two men hurriedly picked up the felt hats that were thrown on the ground and helped each other to wobble away.

Arthur had just finished cleaning up these two drunks when he saw a number of street vendors pushing fish fry carts and carrying woven bags to sell food appear on the street corner.

They likewise spotted Arthur in uniform, but each had not made the same choice.

A small number of them chose to leave the area in good humor, while the vast majority of them would rather die than give up on this heavily trafficked street.

It was the perfect time to sell breakfast at sunrise, and leaving now would mean losing more than half of their day’s income, a weight they could not afford to lose.

So even in the face of Officer Arthur, who was fully equipped and had just made a huge impact, they didn’t intend to take a step back.

Agareth’s illusory figure hovered around Arthur and laughed maliciously, “Arthur, look at their eyes, they are fierce, vicious, they can’t help but drown you in the cold, stinking Thames. In their eyes, perhaps you are more of a devil than I am.”

“Yes! Perhaps I have lived more like a devil than you have these past six months or so. The street vendors think I’m a lackey of the authorities, the authorities suspect that I may have Jacobin tendencies, the Jacobin supporters think I’ve been sent to spy on them, while the uniformed police who are really spying on them think I’ll be tipping them off, the magistrates think I’m in cahoots with the criminals, and the criminals think that I’m trying to send them all to the gallows. It’s a ridiculous world, really.”

Arthur took off his bowler hat, looked at the Greater London Constabulary cap badge on it, and murmured, “Agareth, I’ve been thinking that maybe it’s time for a change of pace.”

Agareth’s eyes glazed over at the words, and he even brought out his seldom-used meaty vocal relief, “Wow! My dear Arthur, you’ve finally figured it out. If you had cooperated with me earlier, you might have become the Prime Minister by now. You’ll kill anyone who goes against you and put them all in my belly, just like you did to Professor Dempsey. Come on, let’s start planning our next target. How about we start with that sheriff’s boss who’s been giving you a hard time at every turn?”

“I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your eagerness to help.” Arthur said, “But that’s not what I meant by living differently.”

“Not what I meant?” Agareth was stunned, “Then what do you mean?”

Instead of answering his question, Arthur waved his hat in his hand and shouted at the top of his voice at a trench-coated man in front of him who was haggling with a vendor, “Elder, this way!”

When Elder heard Arthur’s shout, he only cursed and grumbled with the peddler, and then came to Arthur’s side with a quick trot.

“Yo, Arthur. It’s a bad day and I’m in a mess, but seeing you makes me feel better.”

Arthur inquired, “What were you just arguing with the vendor about?”

Elder couldn’t help but burst out when he heard this, “Arthur, you have no idea how rude that fucker is! He sold me three out of four oysters that were already stinking, yet he wanted to charge me four pennies, that’s just robbery! If you hadn’t shouted at me, I’d have had to fight him!”

Arthur said calmly, “Elder, you’ll make it hard for me if you do fight him. I’ve only just taught two fighting drunks a lesson.”

“Whatever, the big deal is that you’ll just properly recuse yourself when I fight.”

Elder pulled the pipe out of his pocket and held it to his mouth, then pulled the tin box with the tobacco out of his chest and filled it up, finally lighting it with a match. He took a sharp sip and exhaled the smoke ring, which made him feel more comfortable.

Elder asked, “Enough about that. How have you thought about what I asked you the other day? Instead of staying in this shithole, why don’t you come aboard with me? We are in need of a knowledgeable and versatile naturalist like you to come and travel the world with me, the days will be easy and enjoyable, your salary will be doubled, and you might even meet a few exotic ladies, why not?”

He drew another pipe from his pocket, filled it with tobacco, and without asking Arthur if he wanted to, he stuffed it into the other man’s mouth, and even lit a fire for him in his own way.

Elder’s hands were busy, and his mouth was not idle; he could not stop persuading.

“Arthur, you’ve got to think about this. In the Greater London Police Department continue to do not have a future, I heard that most of the police you recruit there are some unemployed textile workers or farmers from the northeast, even the Irish can be mixed in.

We graduates from the University of London are not recognized, but that’s because the bad seeds of Oxford and Cambridge, together with the Archbishop of each diocese, behind the scenes. If it comes to learning, we are far superior to them.

And yet people of our caliber can’t get a degree simply because the university allows non-nationals to enroll. Is there anything more fucked up in the world?”

Arthur sipped his pipe and spoke, “Of course there is.”

“Like what?”

“Let’s say I know a fellow of fine and distinguished family. He is of the state religion himself and has an uncle who is high up in the Royal Navy as a Rear-Admiral, but had to run away to study at London University. He said he was going to make a name for himself, but ended up having to rely on his uncle’s connections to make a living on a ship.”

Elder laughed at that, and he punched Arthur in the shoulder, “Arthur, that’s a mean thing to say! I didn’t figure it out before then, but I’ve figured it out now. We’re all swimming in shit, and if you think you can’t see shit, it’s not because the environment is better, it’s because you’ve dived in.”

Arthur sniffed a moment of silence.

Elder asked, “Arthur, why have you stopped talking?”

“Elder, it’s really hard for me to imagine.”

“What’s wrong?”

Arthur sighed, “That you actually graduated from a classics program.”

Elder laughed out loud, “That’s going to come down to your lack of understanding of the classics.

Nero said that no one, male or female, has a chaste body, it’s just that most people make a clever cover for their ugliness.

Although he’s a son of a bitch asshole, he’s not wrong about that.

For no literary person, male or female, has a clean mouth, and most of them don’t even bother to cover it up. And I, for one, fervently wish I could be one of them.

Without further ado, what have you really considered? Coming aboard our ship or not?”

Arthur nodded, “I’ll take your word for it this time, I’m about tired of my current job, a change would be good for me, and the world.”

Agareth, who was originally bored and drifting around, was furious when he heard this, and he growled as he changed a pitchfork from somewhere and pushed it against Arthur’s back heart.

“Arthur! But that won’t do me any good! I’m the devil, the devil! Do you intend to let me spend the next few years floating at sea with you watching whales mate!”

Elder, apparently unable to hear Agareth’s complaints, was pleasantly surprised, “So you’re saying yes?”

Arthur nodded, “I can’t think of a reason to say no.”

“Great! Then we have a deal.”

Elder whistled happily, “You’ll certainly do a better job than that Cambridge graduate!”

“The Cambridge graduate guy?” Arthur asked, “You have other candidates?”

“Not really other candidates, he was supposed to come on board as an on-board chaplain. But if we can’t find a suitable museum man, the captain said that guy could fill in as well. After all, that guy had read medicine at Edinburgh University for a few years before he went to Cambridge to further his theology studies.”

Arthur asked again, “When do you plan to set sail?”

Elder said, “It has to take into account where the monsoon is going, if the Admiralty is in a hurry then we’ll leave in September, if they’re not then we’ll have to wait until winter.

But you don’t have to worry about your pay for the period from April until you set sail, as long as you’re confirmed in, you’ll get half your usual pay for even the time you’re on shore, and that pay is still more than you’d get at the Greater London Police.”

Arthur laughed to himself, “I’m certainly not worried about the salary issue, even skilled workers in factories get more than me. It’s just that I still don’t understand why the Royal Navy is organizing an around-the-world science cruise. From what I’ve learned, the lords of the Admiralty don’t seem to be any sort of courageous characters who dedicate their lives to science.”

Elder waved his hand with little concern, “A scientific investigation? That’s certainly something to take out and fool people with!
The Admiralty doesn’t care about scientific investigations. Our main orders are to survey and chart South America, to examine the sea state and political power in the Pacific and Indies, and to provide intelligence for the future Royal Navy fleet to enter and leave the area.

But since the renegades in the North American colonies persisted in their Monroe Doctrine and refused to allow Great Britain and the other European nations to intervene in American affairs, we had to ensure that we would not come into conflict with them by giving ourselves the name of a scientific expedition.

After all, we hadn’t gotten anywhere with them in either of the two wars of independence, and it was necessary to pretend to keep the peace on the surface.

All in all, the position of museum scientist would be best if we could produce some scientific results, and it wouldn’t hurt if we couldn’t. Apart from having to endure the bumpy waves and the cramped cabin of the Beagle, there were no other disadvantages.

Arthur, you’re my best friend, I couldn’t screw you even if I screwed my uncle!”

(End of chapter)