“Let’s get on with it then,” said Elena.
They moved out, with Sergeant Kane in the lead with his two Argonauts, the others following. It wasn’t long before they saw a figure ahead, and the noise of their coming roused his attention.
“Who goes there?” came a hard voice. “Come on, show yourself, unless you want a musket ball in your gut.” The man was a British soldier, a private from the lack of stripes on his sleeves.
“No need for that,” said MacRae, striding up past the Argonauts and out of the shadows. “Thank God, we’ve found the way out at last. Been in that dank cave for hours.”
“Wot’s that? Been mucking about in the cave? Folks aren’t supposed to be in there, and for just that reason. Too damn easy to get lost, or trip and fall.”
“That’s a fact,” said MacRae. Now Elena came forward, and the man seemed very surprised to see her.
“Wot? I can see your lot diggin’ about, but with a lady?”
“Forgive me, sir,” said Elena. “I pressed this adventure upon these gentlemen, and they were kind enough to escort me. It’s all my doing.”
The soldier nodded, giving her a half smile. “You must be off a ship,” he said. “Come to have a look about the Rock, are you? Well it’s not the time for it, what with the plague an all.”
“Plague?” Elena covered her mouth, looking frightened.
“You haven’t heard? Lots of folks are down with it, and better that dank cave in there than town center. If I were you, I’d get right back aboard the ship that brought you here, and stay there. Otherwise you’re likely to catch your death here.”
“Aye,” said MacRae. “We were warned, but the lady wanted to see the caves, and so…” he nodded, giving the man a wink.
“Look here,” said the soldier. “On your way now, but don’t say nothin’ to my officer if he comes upon you. He’ll berate me for an hour if he thinks I was slack in me watch.”
“Don’t worry,” said Elena. “You are too kind. Our touring being done, we’ve business with the Naval Officer and Storekeeper. Where might we find him?”
“Offices in town,” said the man. “But remember what I said. It’s no place for a lady there with all that suffering. There be bodies in the streets, Mum. You’d be better off back aboard ship.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Elena. “I’ll send these gentlemen in my place.” Seeing his advice well heeded, the soldier nodded, giving her a friendly smile.
They were on their way, and later learned that the man they wanted to see was in the Garrison Library that morning, off Gunner’s Parade, and down a lane past the Boyd Building. That place had been named for Lieutenant General Sir Robert Boyd, the late Governor of Gibraltar, who had died in 1794, his remains embedded in the concrete and stone beneath the King’s Bastion on the western shore near the harbor.
“A mister Edward Pownall?” MacRae inquired when they finally reached the library, past scenes of distress and squalor that they had been warned about by the soldier.
“Mister Pownall? Yes, he’s here, retrieving some records. Might I help you gentlemen?”
“Gordon MacRae,” said the Captain. “We’re looking to book passage to Malta.”
“James Cutworth,” said the man. “I’m an Agent Victualler with business there on occasion. Why on earth are you headed there?”
“Her Ladyship will be touring the Greek Islands, and we thought to find passage from there once we arrive.”
The man eyed Elena, who smiled. “May I have the pleasure,” he said, extending his hand with a bow, which Elena took briefly, smiling. “James Cutworth.”
“Miss Elena Fairchild, house of Fairchild out of England. Mister Cutworth, do say you can be of assistance. Might I find passage to Malta for myself and these gentlemen at a convenient time?”
“Passage to Malta… Well now.” Cutworth seemed to be thinking, his head inclined. “What have we at hand that might fill the bill. A number of transports are in port this morning, Thetis, Latona, Nestor, Lady Shaw Stewart. Those last two will be bound for Malta later today, as soon as the Sophie returns from Lisbon, with some hemp and rope they must convey along with other stores for the Navy. I suppose you might get passage on one or the other. Then there’s the Portuguese merchantman, the Lassa. That came in with HMS Medusa this morning as well. You’ll want to see Mister Wilkie down at the Harbor. Those transports I mentioned have goods under his charge.”
“Why, thank you, sir,” said Elena. “You are most gracious. Then I expect we shan’t need the services of Mister Pownall after all. Do you think Mister Wilkie can accommodate my party? It’s rather dreadful here at the moment, and the sooner I get out to sea, the better.”
“I understand, M’lady. Yes, dreadful business here with the fever on so many folks and all. That would be wise. Were you off a ship this morning?”
“We came from landward, after touring Spain,” said MacRae. They had determined that would be a safer story, as most ships would have records of travelers booked, and there was no need to leave questions in their wake.
“Well Mister Wilkie can be most accommodating,” said Cutworth.
And he was.
Elena knew that one of the transports Cutworth had mentioned, The Lady Shaw Stewart, was the ship they wanted. That had been the transport Lord Nelson sent to the very island they needed to reach, to pick up the Marbles for Lord Elgin and bring them first back to Malta before arranging further passage to England.
As they made their way to the harbor to find Mister Wilkie, Elena began to think they were very late. She had asked Mister Cutworth what day it was. “My, I’ve simply lost track of the time with all the sightseeing. But Gibraltar was not at all what I expected,” she said. “Pray tell… What day is this?”
“The 28th of August, M’lady. And thank God, the fever seems to be abating here now, but we’ve had a fearful loss. Over 800 died, and that was just in the Army garrison. The civilians took far worse. Nearly a third of the 15,000 or so have perished. You certainly won’t want to linger on here. A pity you had to see this.”
“All the more reason for us to be on our way.”
They were very late. Elena knew from her research on these events that the divers contracted to recover the lost cases of marbles had returned in April of 1804 to begin looking for those that were still unrecovered. On June 9th, they would locate and retrieve the 16th case, and then continue searching for the “marble chair” that was the Throne of Prytanis. Lady Shaw Stewart would be sent to the island, but the marbles would not be loaded until the 16th of February 1805.
Elena had also dug up the dispatches of Lord Nelson, scouring them to determine when he might have given orders for that ship to proceed to the island. She found the very letter that Nelson had dictated to Captain Charles Marsh Schomberg, HMS Madras, instructing him to see that a transport was sent to the island for Lord Elgin. That letter would be written in just a few days, on the 2nd of September 1804. That transport would be #99, Lady Shaw Stewart, which would sail with the schooner Renard to complete the task of retrieving the Marbles of Lord Elgin.
What would take place in that interval, between September of 1804 and February of 1805 when the Marbles were finally loaded on the Lady Shaw Stewart ? It was one of those grey zones that make up so very much of the history, for 99.9% of everything that really happened remained unrecorded.
That was where they were headed, on the very ship that they needed to board, the Lady Shaw Stewart. It would sail off that very day, and with six new passengers aboard bound for Malta—off into the grey mist that no eyes in modern times had ever penetrated. No one really knew what had happened with the ship in that five-month interval, but they were about to find out.