Chapter 26: Performance on the River
Chapter 26 The River Gig
Early morning in the harbor of London was foggy and misty everywhere.
Arthur stood on London Bridge in his civilian clothes, an onion ring loaf of bread cupped in his hand as he ate it and admired the view of the Thames over the water.
Although the sun had only just risen, the Thames was already busy, with countless boats blocking the estuary waiting to enter the docks, and the shouting and cursing of sailors and boatmen rising and falling.
Some of them were speaking English with different local accents, while others were communicating in a language that Arthur could not understand.
But even though Arthur couldn’t understand, it still didn’t stop him from deciphering from the sailors’ reddened and rough faces and splattered spit what kind of heated exchanges they were actually having.
“Fuck! What the hell are those sons of bitches doing up front? I waited here when the stars were still in the sky, now the sun’s out and I’m still stuck here, didn’t they say the docks in London were expanding? Where the fuck has it gone? Have those bastards in Parliament swallowed all the money?”
“You think you’re the only one in a hurry? If you’ve got the guts, take the boat and overturn all the boats in front of you, if you don’t have the guts, shut your fucking mouth, asshole!”
“You think I don’t dare?”
“You dare, if you dare why don’t you crash into it? Take a look at that medieval antique boat of yours, anyone who doesn’t know would think you just fished it out from under the water. The bottom of the boat is full of barnacles, you’re not afraid that one day you’ll go out to sea and meet a big wave that will break the boat apart and leave you a son of a bitch to drown in the water.”
“Well, well, sailors like you who run offshore just don’t have any patience, old me’s ship sailed back from South America and waited for months, can’t you even stand it for a morning?”
“What kind of bullshit are you talking about? Your ocean-going shipments are all storage-resistant things, but I’m shipping seafood, and if I don’t come into the harbor to unload, my fish will all be fucking rotten! Besides, it’s none of your business if I argue, just because someone else is wrong doesn’t mean you’re right, asshole!”
“What the fuck are you going to say?”
“Fuck you!”
Arthur, leaning against the stone piers of London Bridge and finishing his onion rings, pulled out his pipe and held it in his mouth, striking it sharply with a match as he inhaled deeply and exclaimed.
“The daily ‘stage play’ on the Thames is still as good as ever. It’s much more energetic than the plays performed at the Old Vic.”
“Arthur.”
Agareth was crookedly propped up on his elbow at the end of the bridge, his fist against his head, and a million dissatisfactions could be heard in his tone.
“You’re watching the show, but could you go ahead and get a refund on the ship’s ticket. It’s been two days, and there’s not a peep from Scotland Yard about Willox, so you can finally trust me this time, right?”
Arthur didn’t take Agareth’s words to heart at all, his attention was still focused on the battle on the Thames.
In response to Agareth’s question, he just waved his hand, “It’s still early, the ticket office hasn’t even opened yet, I’m not even in a hurry, what are you in a hurry for?”
“Hey! Arthur, fuck you!”
Agares was possessed by the sailor in an instant, he was about to curse Arthur, but before his words could leave his mouth, a man suddenly walked towards Arthur and patted his back.
“Yo, Arthur! How’s the matter of your two coworkers resolved last time, do you need my help?”
Arthur twisted his head to see that the one talking to him was none other than his old classmate Elder.
“Not too bad. I helped them with some family connections and finally got the people out.”
“Family connections?”
Elder raised an eyebrow and grinned as he hooked up with him, “Didn’t see that coming! Arthur! You turned out to be a deep-pocketed cockney! What’s the matter? Are you connected to one of your family’s bigwigs?”
Arthur sipped his cigarette, “Arthur Hastings’ connections, of course.”
“Arthur Hastings?” Elder mused, “Do you have any other elders in your family with the same name as you?”
“What do you think, Elder, it’s my own relation.”
“You’ve gone back to Scotland Yard to do it again?” Arthur removed his pipe with some reluctance, “Eldad, don’t you usually read the papers? I’ve not only gone back, I’ve been promoted.”
Elder said disdainfully, “What do I read that for? Only people who need to study read newspapers, and I’m already a senior in classics.
Besides, that stuff isn’t much use for sailing, and I’ve been too busy improving my drafting skills to be distracted by all the shit going on around London.
Besides, what’s your promotion got to do with whether I read the papers or not? They don’t report that sort of thing!
I do buy a newspaper once in a while, but it’s full of little life stories, like the duke’s mistress, the lawyer’s maid, the tutor for the kids, and so on.”
Arthur’s brow furrowed the more he listened, “What kind of newspaper do you usually read? How come I can’t get one of these?”
Elder smugly said, “That’s because you didn’t look hard enough, you can definitely find it if you look hard enough.”
He pulled Arthur in front of him, covered his hand next to his ear and lowered his voice.
“Listen to me, in the Greenwich neighborhood where you live, take the north entrance onto Christmas Road, go about two hundred feet and then turn left, there’s a little alley with two chimneys standing in it, and every Wednesday afternoon from three to five, as long as there’s not a rainstorm, there’s a fifty-something guy in a gray hat and a black coat… …”
Arthur rushed to cover his mouth when he heard this.
He looked at him with a serious face, “Elder, you can’t say any more. This kind of newspaper, as soon as I hear it, I know it’s not stamped. It’s against the law not to put on the stamp duty, and this case still happened in my district.
I don’t care if I don’t know about it, or if I know about it and can’t find out about it, but your information is too detailed. If you say any more, I’ll have to take care of it.”
Only then did Elder cover his forehead in shock and exclaimed, “My God! I almost forgot you’re a cop.”
Arthur looked at his unhinged friend and didn’t know what to say, so he just turned to the question.
“Elder, what brings you here today?”
“Our ship was recently overhauled nearby, so I made it a point to stop by and, incidentally, fulfill a task given to me by Colonel Fitzroy, who asked me to connect with the museum man who replaced you.
By the way, I haven’t asked you yet. If you’re back at Scotland Yard, why are you traveling in civilian clothes? Have you changed the rules there?”
“Nope. Scotland Yard gave me a few days off, said I’d been overworked lately, and told me to take a week off to recuperate.”
Elder exclaimed, “Fuck! How much of a leader are you? Scotland Yard can even give you a vacation?”
Arthur smiled, “Not much, just a police inspector.”
“I don’t know much about you Scotland Yard, what rank would a police inspector probably be if analogized to the Royal Navy?”
Arthur lit his pipe, “What rank was your uncle again?”
Elder thought for sure, “Rear Admiral! How could you forget that?”
“That would be the equivalent of Rear Admiral.”
Elder smiled at that and punched Arthur in the face, “Fuck you! Come on, since you’re on vacation, let’s go get a drink to celebrate!”
“Don’t you have a meeting with that museum man?”
Elder waved his hand as if he didn’t care, “Sorry, just let him hang out for a while, who let him graduate from Cambridge. I still value the friendship of our classmates at the University of London.”
(End of chapter)