The House of Hardie Read Free

useless fourteen-year-old who was his cabin boy. Gordon too understood now that any search should have a purpose: there must be something to be found.
    Sir Desmond had not only taught him that lesson but had provided the goal. Gordon had been engaged as a personal servant, not as a member of the ship’s crew, and so all his time was at his employer’s disposal. No doubt it was the prospect of tedium on the long journey out which prompted the naturalist to become a tutor as well as a master. Drawing on the ship’s stores for examples, he had taught Gordon how to dissect a botanical specimen andhow to describe it scientifically and to categorize it according to the Linnaean classifications. He lectured him on the composition of soils and the properties of light and water. He lent him books to read and a candle by which to read them; and on the following day interrogated the boy on what he had discovered.
    Perhaps in the beginning Gordon’s eagerness to learn had something to do with the unromantic nature of the tasks for which he had primarily been employed. But he was still expected to scrub and polish and slop out and darn and carry meals and messages, so that the diligence with which he applied himself to his new studies must soon have been fostered by a dislike of idleness and a genuine fascination with what he was learning.
    On the voyage home, which was just ending, there had been no pretence that he was merely a cabin boy. Sir Desmond, declaring that he deserved a reward for two years of vigorous and dangerous field work, promoted him to the post of scientific assistant. There was much to do, for thousands of specimens had been collected. Some had to be kept alive, whilst many were to be carefully dried for preservation. Seeds must be sorted and packaged and labelled, and all must be painstakingly catalogued. It was, after all, just as well that Sir Desmond had employed a schoolboy and not a bootboy: for hours at a time Gordon sat at the cabin table, pausing in the task of taking dictation only during some unusually severe battering of the ship.
    Today, though, all the records as well as the specimens were roped away in wooden chests. As the
Periwinkle
glided through the calm estuary water, Sir Desmond’s eyes were seeking out familiar landmarks whilst Gordon, beside him, wondered how best to broach the subjectwhich had filled his mind for the past few days. In the end it seemed best to come straight out with it.
    â€˜Sir Desmond. Should you have any new expedition in mind, I would very much like to serve with you again. If you would have me.’
    Sir Desmond sighed. ‘I fear this may prove to be my last expedition,’ he said. ‘I’ve five years’ work here with the seeds we’ve brought back. Not just germinating them and growing them on true, but doing a little cross-pollinating and grafting to find out whether man can improve on nature. By the time all that’s under way, I may well be growing too old to leap in and out of small boats or wade across raging torrents up to my waist. Besides, I promised my wife … You’ll discover one day for yourself, my boy, that wives don’t always take kindly to being left alone for two or three years.’
    â€˜Perhaps I could help you with your experiments for a year or two. And then organize an expedition of my own. To China, perhaps,’ Gordon added hopefully. His boyhood fascination with that country was as strong as ever.
    â€˜China!’ Sir Desmond, who had explored so many parts of the world, had never been to China, but his sigh of regret recognized that he was unlikely now ever to make the journey. ‘You could look for Merlot’s lily in China.’
    â€˜Merlot’s lily?’ For three years Gordon had listened spellbound to his master’s stories of exotic places and treasures, but this was a name new to him.
    â€˜Merlot was a missionary who travelled in China and tried to get into