On one hot, dry and arid
afternoon, Don Alfredo summons Hornblower to his chambers.
“You are to go into town and
buy some shaving supplies. Here is a bag of 1500 pesos.”
Hornblower curiously takes
the money from him and asks: “What sort of shaving supplies do you require,
Sir?”
“It is not for me, Mr
Hornblower. It is for you and your men.”
“Sir?”
“The Duchess tells me there
is nothing more attractive than a well-shaved man. Now go tomorrow morning; I
give you two hours leave to go to the nearest town and come back.”
So off Hornblower goes the
following morning with his bag of 1500 pesos. He purchases the supplies as
instructed and since he has some time left he decides to look around the place.
He stops by the local school where he can hear the children reciting days of
the week in English.
“Mondaaay, Tuesdaay,
Wednesdaay, Thursdaaaay…..”
He can also hear the
teacher’s voice which is very English and very familiar. Hornblower is curious
to find out who the teacher is. Could he indeed be English? And if so, what is
he doing in Cadiz?
Hornblower rounds the fence
where he can get a full view of the teacher…and stops dead in amazement. Surely
it couldn’t be!
IT IS CLAYTON!!
The teacher looks up and sees
Hornblower. He too is very surprised to see him. The two men stare at each
other across the room.
The children all turn around
to see who their teacher is looking at. After a long moment the teacher
unfreezes and introduces Mr Hornblower to the class.
“Buenos dias Senior
Hornblower,” say the children in unison, which means “Good morning Mr
Hornblower.”
“Perhaps Mr Hornblower would
like to join us for the remainder of the lesson” suggests the teacher. And so
he does.
After the lesson, when the
children are dismissed, Hornblower approaches Clayton. They give each other a
hug. Clayton thinks Hornblower is taller and even more handsome than he
remembers. Hornblower thinks Clayton is thinner and has a few wrinkles forming
around his eyes, but definitely – and this is the most important thing –
definitely looking alive and well.
Hornblower can’t stay long
because he has to get back to the prison before his two hours are up, so the
two men briefly exchange stories about where they have been.
Clayton explains why he is
not dead:
“After you left the room the
morning of the duel you thought I was dead. Believe me I should have been dead
by now if it weren’t for the amazing Dr Hepplewhite. He applied his techniques
that had been banned, in order to flush out the bullet from my body,
resuscitate me with fresh oxygen, and seal the wound. And to think his methods
were banned for being too revolutionary! If he had been granted permission to
practice medicine they way he wanted to…why…nearly half the men that have died
needlessly in battle would still be alive today.”
“Yes,” says Hornblower
knowingly. His father was also a doctor so he knew all about the controversy
surrounding Dr Hepplewhite’s attempts to revolutionise the medical profession.
A doctor of his standing could get the sack and be publicly disgraced for
practicing methods that had explicitly been banned by the government,
especially on a group as esteemed as the British Navy.
Clayton goes on: “To this day
I am eternally grateful to Dr Hepplewhite for risking his career in order to
save my life. How is the good Doctor by the way?”
Hornblower looks sad: “ I
regret to inform you that Dr Hepplewhite is dead, Sir. He was accidentally
killed in a duel between ‘Dreadnought’ Foster and his fellow Captain.”
There is silence. Then the
bell rings for the children to come back from their lunch break. It is time
also for Hornblower to head back to the prison. He promises Clayton he will try
to visit again soon. He keeps his promise.
*************
The second visit:
Hornblower visits Clayton a
second time on the morning that Kennedy alleges the Duchess is a fake.
Hornblower doesn’t care if she is fake or not, he just wants to find out from
Clayton if Kennedy was going mad. Hornblower hates himself bitterly for failing
to notice Kennedy was getting ill; he feels he has failed in his duty as an
officer to look after all his men.
Hornblower confides to
Clayton that Mr Kennedy is with him in prison and that he is verging on the
brink of death.
“Damn” says Clayton. “He’s
been starving himself again, hasn’t he?”
“How did you know?”
Hornblower asks, but Clayton just knows. Hornblower then realises just how much
Clayton knows about Kennedy, especially his fears, emotions and his weaknesses.
“What else ails Archie?” asks
Hornblower out loud, apart from fits and periods of starvation.
Clayton lowers his voice:
“When Archie gets really sick and terrified he wets his bed.”
BEDWETTING!!
A lump goes down Hornblower’s
adam’s apple as he comes to the question he fears most: is Archie going insane?
This is something Clayton doesn’t know but he knows depression is a very real
mental disorder that can lead to insanity. Clayton confides that he has
observed it happening to other bright young men in the Navy:
“I have seen men as brave as
lions suffocate themselves with the trauma of war. Men in the prime of their
youth strangling their necks like chickens, cutting their bellies open like
pigs, and trimming the walls with their brains…Kennedy is lucky, Horatio. You
have time to save him. You must help him get better. Help him stay strong both
mentally and physically. You must not let him give up. Promise me you’ll help
him.”
And Hornblower promises: “I
will.”
Back at the prison Hornblower
meditates on everything Clayton told him. He closes his eyes and tilts his head
back in deep thought. Then Don Alfredo walks by to announce to him that he had
been invited to a lavish dinner…
The third visit:
Hornblower wants Clayton to
come back with him to the Indefatigable. But Clayton doesn’t want to.
Hornblower shakes his head in
confusion: “But I don’t understand. Why not?” he asks.
“Because” says Clayton, with
a faraway dreamy look in his eye “I am happy where I am. This is where I am
supposed to be.”
Happy here? Supposed to be?
Didn’t Clayton always want to sail on the Frigate?
Hornblower tries everything
from gentle persuasion to blatant cajoling, but Clayton is adamant not to leave
Cadiz.
“Damn it!” says Hornblower at
last in sheer exasperation. “Is it your pride that is preventing you from
returning where you belong?!”
Suddenly there is a commotion
outside and the children come rushing back into the classroom in a state of
flurry. “Senior Clayton! Senior Clayton!” they chant “we have found a lizard!”
Clayton crouches down to
inspect the lizard they have caught. Their faces are flushed with excitement.
He gently takes the lizard into his hand; he engages with the children’s
innocent fascination. Hornblower observes all this and realises it is true:
Clayton really is happy where he is. Maybe he has even found a wife and is
living with her in Cadiz. Hornblower’s mind wonders for a moment as he
contemplates whether he will ever know such domestic happiness – indeed any
kind of happiness - at all.
The last visit:
Hornblower makes one last
visit to Clayton when he returns to Cadiz in order to honor his prison parole.
He discovers that what he had suspected about Clayton’s domestic happiness to
be true. Clayton indeed is married to a beautiful Spanish woman named Carmen
and together they have three adorable children; Louis, Natalie and little
Horatio.
*****