A Flower for the Queen: A Historical Novel
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“He had it all planned out. I would go on ahead to Madeira disguised as a young botanist called Burnette. From Madeira I would proceed to the Cape Verde Islands, where I would await the Resolution’s arrival and join Joseph as his assistant. He said that the disguise would only be to get me aboard the ship and that once I was on board, he would be able to convince Captain Cook to let me stay.
“In order to avoid an argument with my family, and knowing that they would try to stop me, I said that I was visiting an aunt in Kent. I then sent them a letter explaining everything before disembarking from Portsmouth. So as not to arouse suspicions, I took very little money of my own to supplement that which Joseph had given me for the voyage to Cape Verde.
“After enduring two sea voyages alone and two weeks cosseted away in the sweltering heat at Cape Verde, you can imagine my surprise when a much smaller Resolution arrived without so much as a note of explanation from the great Sir Joseph Banks, who was nowhere to be seen.
“With little money left and no ships due back to England for months, I had no means of sustaining myself or of returning home. I was left with no choice but to keep to a version of the original plan, and even though I believe he suspected the truth right away, Captain Cook was good enough to agree to take me to the Cape. My mother is Dutch, and I know the language well, so I thought that I would have more chance of getting by in the Cape than at Cape Verde and anyway, the two-month voyage meant two months that I would have my board and lodging paid for. Cook even gave me your cabin so that my true identity had the best possible chance of being protected and if he told anyone of my disguise, I never found out.
“I discovered the sketch in the cabin and recognised it instantly. Joseph had told me that after we brought it back, he would have it named after me.
“Up until then I had clung foolishly to some vain hope that something beyond his control must have happened that forced him to abandon his plans, and that I was just an unintentional casualty.
“When you burst into my cabin, I was, shall we say, out of disguise, and my first thought was that you would reveal my secret to the ship. But it was soon clear that you were in no fit state to reveal anything and when you kept mumbling about the flower, I knew what it was that you were after.
“Fortunately, you fainted and I was able to get dressed before calling for help and getting you back to your hammock. After that, I don’t think I left the cabin for the rest of the voyage until we reached Cape Town.
“I met Mr Schelling on the evening of the party in the Company Gardens. I decided that with the Resolution still in port, it would be wiser to keep to the guise of Burnette while I looked for some way of gaining passage back to England. I had heard Captain Cook mention Schelling as someone who could facilitate these things, so I arranged to meet with him. I explained that there had been a mix-up in the planning of the expedition and that a botanist was no longer needed. I told him that if he could arrange for my passage back to England, Sir Joseph would see to it that he was properly reimbursed.”
She paused and bit her lip. “But he refused.”
“He said that without a letter of credit signed by Sir Joseph himself, he could not make me a loan, but that he might be able to give me passage in exchange for my botanical services. He said that he was very keen to find a flower that had been requested by the King himself and asked if I knew anything about it.
“When I pressed him, he explained that he had heard a Scottish gardener sent by Sir Joseph Banks let slip that he was here to find a flower, and that the King wished to have it named after the Queen. Schelling said that he could think of no reason why, if someone else were to find the flower first, there shouldn’t be something in it by way of reward.
“It was then that I knew exactly what had happened. It was clear that my abandonment was no accident, and I could no longer deceive myself about the truth: that I meant no more to Joseph Banks, and probably less, than the ‘flowers’ he had left behind on Tahiti.
“Schelling already had a partner — Reinhold Forster — who would use his Royal Society connections to act as Schelling’s agent in London. But Schelling needed someone who could ensure that the flower would make it back alive. None of the gardeners in the Cape were suitable because they were all employees of the VOC.
“But it was Eulaeus that held the key. Willmer had tracked down Eulaeus the morning after he left you at False Bay and showed him the drawing. Eulaeus told Willmer that he knew the general area but that he would only tell them if Schelling agreed to make a gift of guns to the local chief and then grant him his freedom. He hoped to be accepted back into the tribe after securing the weapons for them.
“Willmer explained that this was not an insignificant cost, as a number of years still remained on his contract, and only if he could be given them the precise location of the flower, would he agree to the terms.
“Eulaeus insisted on being the one to take us there, but Willmer knew that Schelling had no intention of granting him his freedom and said all he wanted was the location, or else Eulaeus would get nothing. Eulaeus had no choice, so he told Schelling about Two Rivers and then Willmer’s burghers were supposed to take care of the rest, but you know all about that.”
Masson stayed silent, waiting for the rest.
“I didn’t see him again until we got to Two Rivers, but a lot had happened by then.
“On board the Resolution, I had managed to keep mostly to myself, but it was a very different story on the wagon trail. There was no cabin to hide in this time. I insisted on having my own tent, but although I have a better knowledge of the botanical sciences than most men — it was no problem to maintain that part of the disguise — it was only a matter of time before the rest unravelled.”
She paused, and for the first time since she began her tale, her tough exterior seemed to falter just a little. But a moment later her back straightened, her intense gaze returned and she continued with her story.
“After only a few days, Schelling cornered me one evening and made it clear that he doubted my story. With very little room in which to manoeuvre, I was left with no option but to confess. When he asked whether I was a real botanist, I explained that I had received some botanical training under the same circumstances that I had come to know of how Sir Joseph had failed to propagate the flower from seed: because I was his mistress.
“Schelling was angry at first, but soon he realised that other than having a woman on his expedition in place of a man, nothing had really changed. I was still the only one who knew how to get the flower back alive.
“Thereafter, there was no point in keeping up the charade, and I was surprised at how little any of the people we met along the way seemed to take notice of me. Be they farmers, Trekboers, Xhosa or Khoikhoi, all of them found it completely natural that a woman should be part of a wagon party.
“But soon it became clear that Schelling thought he should be getting more than just a flower in return for granting me passage back to England. I managed to fend him off by saying that only after we found the flower would I concede to his requests. I also said that I would not reveal the secret of how to keep the flower alive unless he first promised to cut Forster out of the equation so that I could be the one to deliver the flower to the King.”
“But there is no secret; any decent gardener could do it,” said Masson.
“I know that, but Schelling didn’t, and it was all I could do to keep him from pawing at me. He agreed and made all kinds of promises, but I think he suspected the ruse and I couldn’t afford to take the risk. I needed a new plan. Escape was the best one I could come up with.
“Soon after leaving the Cape, Willmer came back from scouting the trail and said that we were being followed. The next day, while we moved on, he circled around and saw you three. Schelling said that there was nothing that could be done other than to get to Two Rivers first. He decided that Willmer would ride back and check on your progress every so often to make sure that you had not tried to outflank us.
“When we arrived at Two Rivers, Eulaeus was already there and had explained the terms of the agreement to the chief. With the flower within reach, there was no way that Schelling could renege, so there and then, albeit grudgingly, he granted Eulaeus’s freedom.
“He asked Eulaeus what had happened to you, but Eulaeus simply said that your carthorses had become lame and that when you decided to turn back, he had run away and come to Two Rivers on foot.
“When Willmer found your drawing floating in the stream and went off to get you, I knew that would be my chance. I thought the fires would be the perfect cover under which to get away, only I didn’t count on having you two as passengers.”
“But,” interrupted Masson, “it’s a full month’s journey across a terrain that is treacherous, to say the least!”
“And I suppose you’ll be telling me next that a man does not survive alone in Africa?” The last part she said in a fairly recognizable impression of Schelling before huffing with disdain. “Please don’t tell me that you honestly believe that claptrap?” But the look on his face told her that he did.
“And I suppose you really think that your Doctor Thunberg is actually going to risk his life to come back for us?”
Masson became angry. Not because she had besmirched the name of his good friend, but because he knew that deep down he had suspected the same thing.
“And what about lions or buffalo? Or are you on special terms with them, too?” asked Masson acidly.
She gestured at the rifle that Masson had left leaning against the trunk of one of the assegai trees. “I think I can manage.”
Masson just shook his head in disbelief.
“Well, I got this far, didn’t I?” she retorted. “From being penniless and abandoned in Cape Verde, without even so much as ‘Dear Jane, awfully sorry about how things turned out! Yours sincerely, Sir Joseph-the-bastard-Banks’. I think I’ve managed rather well so far. It was only when you and your buffoon doctor friend showed up that things started to go pear-shaped!”
“Well, at least I know your name now. That’s handy, because if my ‘buffoon’ doctor and I hadn’t happened to come along, your epitaph would now be reading, ‘Here, in the middle of nowhere, lie the sorry remains of Mr Burnette, part-time botanist, part-time lunatic and a sad testament to the fact that even a woman cannot survive alone in Africa!’”
The look that Jane then gave Masson was worse than any blow she might have levelled at him with her fists. With her eyes burning black with rage, she turned and stormed off into the bush, her fury breaking a path through the foliage.
CHAPTER 41
“Masson! Where are you?” Thunberg shouted while standing in the midst of the empty campsite.
It was not yet noon and Thunberg had been riding most of the night and was in no mood to be charitable. After looking around and finding the tent empty, he saw a path of trodden grass leading beyond the trees.
Cursing Masson for not having followed his instructions to remain at the camp until he returned, he followed the trail until he found Masson alone, looking up towards the horizon.
“There you are. I thought maybe you had decided to go back to the Cape without me,” Thunberg joked.
Masson spun round at the sound of Thunberg’s voice. “I was beginning to think you had deserted us.”
“Desert you?” Thunberg asked defensively. “Did you think I would just leave you alone with the most beautiful woman this side of the eastern frontier? I couldn’t have lived with myself knowing I had left her in such dull company.” Thunberg winked and the two of them shook hands.
“It’s good to see you,” Masson said, a little too earnestly. Thunberg sensed trouble.
“What’s happened? Did she thump you again?”
“Worse — she’s run off.”
“Run off? But where to?” Thunberg asked, completely floored.
“Oh, not far. She’s sitting up there. I’m afraid we fought, and I may have offended her.” Masson pointed to a lone figure seated on a slab of rock that was shaded by a pair of euphorbia as it projected out over the slope below, giving a panoramic view of the valley that lay beyond.
“Oh, trés galant, Mr Masson. Well, we’ve no time for lover’s quarrels; we’ve got work to do.”
“You found the horses?”
“Better than that. I may just have saved the day!” Thunberg beamed from ear to ear. “I’ll explain everything once I’ve talked Miss High-and-Mighty down from her ivory tower. But before I do, I have something that I believe belongs to you. I found it amongst the wreckage of the wagons.” Thunberg handed across a small package that had been wrapped in oilskin. “Try to take better care of it this time.”
Masson unwrapped the folds of oilskin to find his journal which, like its owner, it was battered and scratched on the outside. When Masson opened it and leafed through its pages, he found that only the sketches he had made for his garden and the notes he had scribbled on board the Resolution remained. The pages containing his imagined versions of the Queen’s flower, as well as the notes and maps he had made at False Bay, had all been torn from the bindings. He searched for Cook’s report, but found its hiding place within the back cover empty.
“I don’t know how to thank you.”
“You can thank me by filling it with more drawings of the plants that I plan to discover on the way back to Cape Town. And there is one in particular that you might be interested in!”
But this last comment was muffled by the wind as Thunberg strode out to meet Jane who had not moved from her perch.
Masson watched him go and then, feeling as if he was somehow intruding, he turned and walked back to the camp, flipping back through the remaining pages of the journal.
As he sat by the dead grey ashes of the fire, he felt disappointed that his early sketches of the flower had been lost, but relieved that the pages which could have damned him were gone. They would be almost impossible to trace back to him, even if they were found. Without the complete journal, it would now be a matter of his word against Schelling’s.
He heard footsteps behind him and without looking up, he started in on the apology that he had been preparing in his mind for most of the morning. “Before we go any further, Lady Sommerton, I just wanted to say that I am deeply sorry.” Masson looked up, expecting to see Thunberg and Jane, but instead found himself face to face with the scowling visage of Eulaeus, whose burned clothes and soot-stained face gave him the look of a spectre just released from the gates of hell.
Masson stood very still, his eyes seeking out the rifle that leaned against the tree. He was closer to it than Eulaeus, but as his mind tried to work out the probability of successfully getting to the gun and firing it off before Eulaeus could reach him, he heard Thunberg and Jane walking towards the campsite, their animated chatter filling the air.
“Thunberg!” Masson shouted, dropping the journal and sprinting for the rifle.
As he reached the tree, he grabbed for the rifle and in one fluid movement brought it up to his shoulder and spun around to take aim at Eulaeus, who he expected to be almost on top of him. But Eulaeus had not moved; he was still standing in the same place with the same dark scowl creasing his brow. Masson adjusted his aim, levelled the barrel at the man’s chest and began to squeeze the trigger.
“Masson, no, wait!” Thunberg ran into the clearing and held both hands up as he jumped in between Masson and Eulaeus.
“Put down the rifle, Masson, please.”
Masson slowly lowered the rifle, and Thunberg took the gun from him.
“Ah, just as I thought, it was only on half-cock anyway,” Thunberg tut-tutted as he inspected the rif
le. “I thought that you had paid closer attention to your lessons, Masson. After all, you could have been in a life-threatening situation!”
“Enough, Thunberg! Would you please be so good as to explain what the hell is going on? Why have you stopped me from putting a bullet through the very person who left us to be trampled to death by a herd of buffalo before selling us out just to save his own skin?”
“Yes, well. I suppose some explanation is in order, but before we get to that, can I just confirm that a truce has been declared between all warring parties?”
Both Masson and Jane seemed completely dazed, and Eulaeus still bore a scowl that seemed to have been etched on his face.
“I’ll take your silence as a response in the affirmative, excellent!” chirruped Thunberg.
“What about him?” asked Masson petulantly.
“Eulaeus has asked me to convey to you on his behalf his most sincere apologies for having abandoned us and leaving us for dead. He admits that whilst it was a grievous error of judgement, he does feel that there were mitigating circumstances, which, if you would allow, I will set before you now.”
Thunberg turned to Eulaeus as if seeking his approval to continue, and Eulaeus nodded, still scowling. With expectation thickening the air, Thunberg cleared his throat and began.
“The first thing that you need to know is that we will shortly find ourselves in the middle of a war between the Xhosa tribes and all European settlers in the Cape.”
Masson’s jaw fell open. “And you call this saving the day?”
But Thunberg’s smile only grew wider as he raised a hand to cut off Masson’s interruption. “But thanks to the help of Eulaeus, not only will we be able to sidestep the maelstrom that is set to engulf the frontier at any moment, but we will be able to do so having achieved all that your heart desires.”