India -- History -- Sepoy Rebellion, 1857-1858 -- Fiction
Sir Lexicon had never yet seen any one who came up to his idea of a
handsome woman, until he encountered Mrs. Grenville that morning; her
curling dark hair, superb neck and shoulders, stately figure and
sparkling black eyes, and well modulated voice fascinated him, as no
woman as yet ever had done. She was not young, it is true; but this he
regarded as fortunate. She was still some years younger than Sir
Lexicon; but as to who or what she was he was a stranger; but this he
was determined to ascertain if possible, and betook himself on deck for
the purpose. As the professional duties of the Captain called him for a
time away, he took his place beside the lady and endeavoured to interest
her in his conversation. He found her charmingly condescending, and
apparently frank and friendly in her remarks, and after about an hour's
chit chat allowed him to conduct her to her state room.
Poor Captain Costigan had been killed by a falling spar and knocked
overboard. The remainder of the crew and passengers that had been
rescued from their precarious situation on the wreck had been on board
the "Great Mogul" about a couple of weeks, when she let go her anchor in
Table Bay. These, with the exception of Mrs. Grenville, went on shore in
the first boat that came off to the ship. She, that morning, had an
interview with Captain Hanstein, and some hours after the others had
left, the obliging Captain took her ashore in his own boat, in which
also sat Sir Lexicon Chutny. He put up at the same hotel as Mrs.
Grenville, and was seen escorting her about Cape Town.
The "Mogul" remained only two days at the Cape, then resumed her voyage,
and Mrs. Grenville, the Captain, and Sir Lexicon Chutny, could be seen
pacing her quarterdeck as she sailed out of the bay, unquestionably
enjoying, with much pleasure, the clear, balmy, and exhilarating breeze
of the early day, which, with the assistance of the sun's rays, was
lifting from the table land on the summit of the great mountain, called
occasionally Table Rock. A large, heavy, white cloud that frequently
spread itself over the whole surface, resembling very much in appearance
an enormous table cloth, hence the origin of the name. This remarkable
mountain is steep, rugged and precipitous, and towers up hundreds of
feet towards the clear, blue vault of heaven. Very little brushwood or
vegetation is to be found thereon. At its base, snugly ensconced under
its protecting shade, is situated Cape Town, looking quite pretty and
picturesque as the day dawns and the rising sun appears. There are two
other smaller elevations in close proximity to the Table Rock, not
without interest, and called respectively the Lion's Head and Lion's
Rump, possibly because they are connected together by a ridge of rock,
which, to the imaginative mind, gives it the appearance of an enormous
lion, sleeping. The other objects of interest and the shipping in the
harbor were soon left far astern.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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