Of the Beast's Return, and Amin's Stratagem
The following account is reconstructed from several hands, and concerns the events aboard the SS Verona on the day following the boiler incident, and the night thereafter.
The Editor notes that the papers from this period employ familiar name forms throughout — C.C.C. denotes Professor Caractacus Clarke; Archie, Sergeant Archibald Tomlinson; and Sandy, for Lord Arbuthnott. The Editor maintains the original nomenclature.
After the boiler incident, the party de-briefed and decided to wait and see what fallout there would be after their involvement. The rest of the night passed uneventfully, despite the party setting watches in case of another attack.
On being awoken by the cabin steward, Archie received a request from Miss Birdie Robinson to join her for a stroll around the promenade deck after breakfast. He responded that he would be delighted to.
At breakfast the Captain of the ship announced there had been an incident with the boiler but that the structural integrity of the ship was sound. Unfortunately one of the engineers had been lost during the episode, and there would be a funeral at 3pm. He also reminded passengers with pets to restrict them to cabins and the promenade deck.
His Lordship and Captain Leighton learned that Doctor Bertrand Langhorne of Lord Pembleton's expedition signed the death certificate of Oiler Pravarasena Prabhu and was clearly disconcerted by the episode. Despite overtures from Pembleton to Lord Arbuthnott and the Captain to become involved in the Pembleton Expedition, both politely declined.
After breakfast, Archie joined Miss Robinson on deck, who had heard rumours of a wild beast on board and wanted to quiz Archie about it. Archie decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and denied all knowledge — perhaps foregoing an opportunity to reinforce his heroic stature in the eyes of the exceptionally engaging actress, whose dance card is never empty. They bumped into the venerable C.C.C. on deck, and Miss Robinson was enchanted by Samson, and charming to the Professor. Archie was a little alarmed at Miss Robinson's behaviour towards Caractacus, as mere moments before she said she had found him, and his lecture, terribly dull — although she agreed to attend the next one with Archie as he seemed very excited by the prospect.
On returning to his cabin, Sandy found a note from the First Officer requesting his presence in the Captain's cabin at his earliest convenience. Sandy went immediately. The Captain politely asked what he knew of the boiler incident, and Sandy gave a good account of his, and his associates', involvement. The Captain then asked his Lordship if the Professor's dog could be considered dangerous, and his Lordship assured him it was not. The Captain told his Lordship that his dinner jacket would be returned before dinner and they parted on good terms.
The entire party felt it only fit and proper for them to attend the funeral of Oiler Pravarasena Prabhu. An appropriate tribute was made to the man. The Professor and Amin could not help but notice the defensive possibilities of the poop deck.
The Second Night
As night approached, the Professor insisted that Captain Leighton warn him if anything strange happened to the amulet, or if it changed in any way — the Captain promised to do so. Caractacus decided to take a deckchair on the stern deck near the poop, with his shotgun and book. Sergeant Tomlinson stayed below decks, enjoying the night-time buffet with the company of the ladies. Captain Leighton appeared to get increasingly agitated as the day wore on, and after a discussion with Amin in the smoking room regarding the defensive possibilities of the ship, marched Amin to his Lordship to translate — as he couldn't understand a bloody word Amin was saying. It was clear that Amin felt the poop deck to be the best place to mount a defence, and the Captain decided to build a redoubt there with whatever material he could find on deck, and commanded Amin to assist him, which Amin immediately set to.
The men then waited. To the horror of the waiting men, Leighton said the amulet had begun to pulse. They all then heard a deep, rumbling boom, before the ship heaved about four feet downward and back up again. There was the overbearing feeling of oppression that accompanied the Beast. The Beast was spotted on the funnel of the ship, too far away for the Professor to take a shot. It slithered down the funnel and began watching them, pacing along the boat deck. Amin was struck with the idea that the Beast was after the amulet, and not the bearer of it, and after agreement with the Captain, took the amulet from his pocket and threw it toward the Beast, which flung itself toward the amulet, snatching it in its great jaws before flying, with preternatural speed, directly up into the sky — where it disappeared with the deep booming sound that had signalled its arrival.
Although there was relief at the ingenuity of Amin, there was also some consternation regarding the nature of the amulet. Rather than a target-marker as originally conceived by the party, perhaps it was a powerful artefact that only reinforced the unfathomable motives of the dark conspiracy. In spite of that, the party felt their immediate safety was more assured, even if the Empire's possibly not.
These papers extend to late upon the night of Thursday, the twenty-sixth of October, 1893.
— The Editor