Erewhon Revisited

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"I see you have not brought your knapsack back, sir," said Mr. Baker.

"No," said I, "and very thankful was I when I had handed it over to those
for whom it was intended."

"I have no doubt you were, sir, for I could see it was a desperate heavy
load for you."

"Indeed it was." But at this point I brought the discussion to a close.

Two days later I sailed, and reached home early in February 1892. I was
married three weeks later, and when the honeymoon was over, set about
making the necessary, and some, I fear, unnecessary additions to this
book--by far the greater part of which had been written, as I have
already said, many months earlier. I now leave it, at any rate for the
present, April 22, 1892.

* * * * *

Postscript.--On the last day of November 1900, I received a letter
addressed in Mr. Alfred Cathie's familiar handwriting, and on opening it
found that it contained another, addressed to me in my own, and
unstamped. For the moment I was puzzled, but immediately knew that it
must be from George. I tore it open, and found eight closely written
pages, which I devoured as I have seldom indeed devoured so long a
letter. It was dated XXIX. vii. 1, and, as nearly as I can translate it
was as follows;-

"Twice, my dearest brother, have I written to you, and twice in
successive days in successive years, have I been up to the statues on the
chance that you could meet me, as I proposed in my letters. Do not think
I went all the way back to Sunch'ston--there is a ranger's shelter now
only an hour and a half below the statues, and here I passed the night. I
knew you had got neither of my letters, for if you had got them and could
not come yourself, you would have sent some one whom you could trust with
a letter. I know you would, though I do not know how you would have
contrived to do it.

"I sent both letters through Bishop Kahabuka (or, as his inferior clergy
call him, 'Chowbok'), head of the Christian Mission to Erewhemos, which,
as your father has doubtless told you, is the country adjoining Erewhon,
but inhabited by a coloured race having no affinity with our own. Bishop
Kahabuka has penetrated at times into Erewhon, and the King, wishing to
be on good terms with his neighbours, has permitted him to establish two
or three mission stations in the western parts of Erewhon. Among the
missionaries are some few of your own countrymen. None of us like them,
but one of them is teaching me English, which I find quite easy.

"As I wrote in the letters that have never reached you, I am no longer
Ranger. The King, after some few years (in the course of which I told
him of your visit, and what you had brought me), declared that I was the
only one of his servants whom he could trust, and found high office for
me, which kept me in close confidential communication with himself.

"About three years ago, on the death of his Prime Minister, he appointed
me to fill his place; and it was on this, that so many possibilities
occurred to me concerning which I dearly longed for your opinion, that I
wrote and asked you, if you could, to meet me personally or by proxy at
the statues, which I could reach on the occasion of my annual visit to my
mother--yes--and father--at Sunch'ston.

"I sent both letters by way of Erewhemos, confiding them to Bishop
Kahabuka, who is just such another as St. Hanky. He tells me that our
father was a very old and dear friend of his--but of course I did not say
anything about his being my own father. I only inquired about a Mr.
Higgs, who was now worshipped in Erewhon as a supernatural being. The
Bishop said it was, "Oh, so very dreadful," and he felt it all the more
keenly, for the reason that he had himself been the means of my father's
going to Erewhon, by giving him the information that enabled him to find
the pass over the range that bounded the country.

"I did not like the man, but I thought I could trust him with a letter,
which it now seems I could not do. This third letter I have given him
with a promise of a hundred pounds in silver for his new Cathedral, to be
paid as soon as I get an answer from you.

"We are all well at Sunch'ston; so are my wife and eight children--five
sons and three daughters--but the country is at sixes and sevens. St.
Panky is dead, but his son Pocus is worse. Dr. Downie has become very
lethargic. I can do less against St. Hankyism than when I was a private
man. A little indiscretion on my part would plunge the country in civil
war. Our engineers and so-called men of science are sturdily begging for
endowments, and steadily claiming to have a hand in every pie that is
baked from one end of the country to the other. The missionaries are
buying up all our silver, and a change in the relative values of gold and
silver is in progress of which none of us foresee the end.

"The King and I both think that annexation by England, or a British
Protectorate, would be the saving of us, for we have no army worth the
name, and if you do not take us over some one else soon will. The King
has urged me to send for you. If you come (do! do! do!) you had better
come by way of Erewhemos, which is now in monthly communication with
Southampton. If you will write me that you are coming I will meet you at
the port, and bring you with me to our own capital, where the King will
be overjoyed to see you."

* * * * *

The rest of the letter was filled with all sorts of news which interested
me, but would require chapters of explanation before they could become
interesting to the reader.

The letter wound up:-

"You may publish now whatever you like, whenever you like.

"Write to me by way of Erewhemos, care of the Right Reverend the Lord
Bishop, and say which way you will come. If you prefer the old road,
we are bound to be in the neighbourhood of the statues by the
beginning of March. My next brother is now Ranger, and could meet you
at the statues with permit and luncheon, and more of that white wine
than ever you will be able to drink. Only let me know what you will
do.

"I should tell you that the old railway which used to run from
Clearwater to the capital, and which, as you know, was allowed to go
to ruin, has been reconstructed at an outlay far less than might have
been expected--for the bridges had been maintained for ordinary
carriage traffic. The journey, therefore, from Sunch'ston to the
capital can now be done in less than forty hours. On the whole,
however, I recommend you to come by way of Erewhemos. If you start,
as I think possible, without writing from England, Bishop Kahabuka's
palace is only eight miles from the port, and he will give you every
information about your further journey--a distance of less than a
couple of hundred miles. But I should prefer to meet you myself.

"My dearest brother, I charge you by the memory of our common father,
and even more by that of those three hours that linked you to me for
ever, and which I would fain hope linked me also to yourself--come
over, if by any means you can do so--come over and help us.

"GEORGE STRONG."

"My dear," said I to my wife who was at the other end of the breakfast
table, "I shall have to translate this letter to you, and then you will
have to help me to begin packing; for I have none too much time. I must
see Alfred, and give him a power of attorney. He will arrange with some
publisher about my book, and you can correct the press. Break the news
gently to the children; and get along without me, my dear, for six months
as well as you can."

* * * * *

I write this at Southampton, from which port I sail to-morrow--i.e.
November 15, 1900--for Erewhemos.




Footnotes


{1} See Chapter X.