THE TWELVE ADVENTURERS AND OTHER STORIES

Transcriber’s Note:

Every attempt has been made to preserve the original formatting, along with inconsistent spelling, hyphenation, and italicization. However, footnotes have been changed to endnotes or renumbered and moved closer to their anchor, and some obvious typographical errors have been corrected; see the Errata for a complete list.

New original cover art, which features a pencil drawing by Charlotte Brontë of an unknown woman, included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.

The Twelve Adventurers and Other Stories ❦ ❦ ❦

By CHARLOTTE BRONTË

Hodder and Stoughton Limited London

Made and Printed in Great Britain T. and A. Constable Ltd., Printers, Edinburgh

NOTE

It would be quite easy to maintain that these twelve fragments which come to us from the childhood of Charlotte Brontë should not be perpetuated for the public in the printed page. They were written between the ages of twelve and twenty-one, and it was certainly never for a moment contemplated by the author that they would ever see the light. They were handed to me in a little house in Banagher in Ireland, nearly thirty years ago, by the Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls, the husband of Charlotte Brontë, who in a letter before me explains that they would have been burnt had I not come upon the scene. The ever-increasing fame of Charlotte Brontë in the intervening years has gone on side by side with an immense literature devoted to child psychology. It is as a contribution to that science that I have been frequently exhorted to publish them. A natural indolence would have prevented this had not my friend, Mr. C. W. Hatfield, come to the rescue by diligently transcribing the minute handwriting and preparing the volume with certain useful notes for publication.

CLEMENT SHORTER.

August 1925.

THE TWELVE ADVENTURERS

‘The Twelve Adventurers’ is the first of two stories in the earliest of Charlotte Brontë’s manuscripts, and was written by her when she was only twelve years of age.

Her early admiration for the hero of the story, the ‘Great Duke,’ was first noted by Mrs. Gaskell in The Life of Charlotte Brontë, 1857, vol. i. p. 94, where she says:

All that related to him (the Duke of Wellington) belonged to the heroic age. Did Charlotte want a knight-errant, or a devoted lover, the Marquis of Douro, or Lord Charles Wellesley, came ready to her hand. There is hardly one of her prose writings at this time in which…their ‘august father’ does not appear as a sort of Jupiter Tonans, or Deus ex Machinâ.

The country ‘discovered’ by the twelve adventurers became the scene of nearly all the stories written by Charlotte Brontë during the following eleven years. Originally named ‘The Country of the Genii,’ the fairies deserted it after Charlotte’s school-days at Roe Head (1831-1832), and the country was re-named ‘The Kingdom of Angria.’ The ‘great city’ became ‘The Glass Town’ or ‘Verreopolis,’ which was afterwards changed to ‘Verdopolis,’ the chief city of Angria.

C. W. H.

CHAPTER I THE COUNTRY OF THE GENII

There is a tradition that some thousands of years ago twelve men from Britain, of a most gigantic size, and twelve men from Gaul, came over to the country of the genii, and while here were continually at war with each other; and, after remaining many years, returned again to Britain and Gaul. In the inhabited parts of the genii countries there are now no vestiges of them, though it is said there have been found some colossal skeletons in that wild, barren sand, the evil desert.

I have read a book called The Travels of Captain Parnell, out of which the following is an extract:

About four in the afternoon I saw a dark red cloud arise in the east, which gradually grew larger till it covered the whole sky. As the cloud spread the wind rose and blew a tremendous hurricane. The sand of the desert began to move and rolled like the waves of the sea. As soon as I saw this I threw myself on my face and stopped my breath, for I knew that this was a tornado or whirlwind. I remained in this situation for three minutes; at the end of that time I ventured to look up. The whirlwind had passed over and had not hurt me, but close by lay my poor camel quite dead. At this sight I could not forbear weeping; but my attention was soon diverted by another object. About one hundred yards further off lay an immense skeleton. I immediately ran up to it and examined it closely. While I was gazing at the long ghastly figure which lay stretched upon the sand before me the thought came into my mind that it might be the skeleton of one of those ancient Britons who, tradition tells us, came from their own country to this evil land, and here miserably perished. While I was pursuing

this train of meditation, I observed that it was bound with a long chain of rusty iron. Suddenly the iron clanked and the bones strove to rise, but a huge mountain of sand overwhelmed the skeleton with a tremendous crash, and when the dust which had hid the sun and enveloped everything in darkness cleared away, not a mark could be distinguished to show the future traveller where the bones had lain.

Now, if this account be true—and I see no reason why we should suppose it is not—I think we may fairly conclude that these skeletons are evil genii chained in these deserts by the fairy Maimoune.*

There are several other traditions, but they are all so obscure that no reliance is to be placed on them.

CHAPTER II THE VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY

In the year 1798 the Invincible, 74 guns, set sail with a fair wind from England; her crew, twelve men, every one healthy and stout and in the best temper. Their names were as follows:—

Well, as I said before, we set sail with a fair wind from England on the 1st of March 1798. On the 15th we came in sight of Spain. On the 16th we landed, bought a supply of provisions, and set sail again on the 20th. On the 25th, about noon, Henry Clinton, who was in the shrouds, cried out that he saw the Oxeye.

In a minute we were all on deck and gazing eagerly and fearfully towards the mountain over which we saw hanging in the sky the ominous speck. Instantly the sails were furled, the ship tacked about, and the boat was made ready for launching in our last extremity.

Thus having made everything ready, we retired to the cabin, and every one looked as sheepish as possible and noway inclined to meet our fate like men. Some of us began to cry; but we waited a long time and heard no sound of the wind, and the cloud did not increase in size.

At last Marcus O’Donell exclaimed: ‘I wish it would either go backward or forward.’

At this Stewart reproved him, and Ferdinand gave him a box on the ear. O’Donell returned the compliment; but just then we heard the sound of the wind, and Ronald shouted out:

‘The cloud is as big as me!’

Brunswick pulled Ronald away from the window, and ordered him to hold his tongue. Ronald said he would not and began to sing. Felix de Rothsay put his hand over Ronald’s mouth. Harold FitzGeorge got Rothsay behind the throat. Ernest Fortescue held his fist in O’Donell’s face, and Marcus floored Ernest. Cameron kicked Clinton to the other end of the cabin; and Stewart shouted so loud for them to be quiet that he made the greatest noise of any.

But suddenly they were all silenced by a fierce flash of lightning and a loud peal of thunder. The wind rose and the planks of our ship cracked. Another flash of lightning, brighter and more terrible than the first, split our mainmast and carried away our foretop-sail; and now the flashes of lightning grew terrific and the thunder roared tremendously. The rain poured down in torrents, and the gusts of wind were most loud and terrible. The hearts of the stoutest men in our company now quailed, and even the chief doctor was afraid.

At last the storm ceased, but we found it had driven us-quite out of our course, and we knew not where we were.

On the 30th, Gustavus Dumally who was on deck cried out: ‘Land!’

At this we were all extremely rejoiced. On the 31st we reached it, and found it was the island of Trinidad.

We refitted our ship and got in a store of provisions and water, and set sail once more on the 5th of May. It would be endless to describe all our adventures in the South Atlantic Ocean. Suffice it to say that after many storms, in which we were driven quite out of our course and knew not in what part of the world we were, we at last discovered land.

We sailed along the coast for some time to find a good landing-place. We at last found one.

We landed on the 2nd of June 1793. We moored our battered ship in a small harbour and advanced up into the country. To our great surprise we found it cultivated. Grain of a peculiar sort grew in great abundance, and there were large plantations of palm-trees, and likewise an immense number of almond-trees. There were also many olives and large enclosures of rice.

We were greatly surprised at these marks of the land being inhabited. It seemed to be part of an immense continent.

After we had travelled about two miles we saw at a distance twenty men well armed. We immediately prepared for battle, having each of us a pistol, sword, and bayonet. We stood still and they came near. They seemed greatly surprised at us, and we heard one of them say: ‘What strange people!’

The Chief then said: ‘Who are you?’

Wellesley answered: ‘We were cast up on your shores by a storm and require shelter.’

They said: ‘You shall not have any.’

‘We will take it, then!’

We prepared for battle; they did the same.

It was a very fierce encounter, but we conquered: killed ten, took the Chief prisoner, wounded five, and the remaining four retreated.’

The Chief was quite black and very tall; he had a fine countenance and the finest eyes I ever saw. We asked him what his name was, but he would not speak. We asked him the name of his country, and he said: ‘Ashantee.’

Next morning a party of twelve men came to our tents bringing with them a ransom for their Chief, and likewise a proposition of peace from their King. This we accepted, as it was on terms most advantageous to ourselves.

Immediately after the treaty of peace was concluded we set about building a city. The situation was in the middle of a large plain, bounded on the north by high mountains, on the south by the sea, on the east by gloomy forests, and on the west by evil deserts.

About a month after we had begun our city the following adventure happened to us:—

One evening when all were assembled in the great tent, and most of us sitting round the fire which blazed in the middle, listening to the storm which raged without, a dead silence prevailed. None of us felt inclined to speak, still less to laugh, and the wine-cups stood upon the round table filled to the brim. In the midst of this silence we heard the sound of a trumpet which seemed to come from the desert. The next moment a peal of thunder rolled through the sky, which seemed to shake the earth to its centre.

By this time we were all on our legs, and filled with terror, which was changed to desperation by another blast of the terrible trumpet. We all rushed out of the tent with a shout, not of courage, but fear; and then we saw a sight so terribly grand that even now when I think of it, at the distance of forty years from that dismal night, my limbs tremble and my blood is chilled with fear. High up in the clouds was a tall and terrible giant. In his right hand he held a trumpet; in his left two darts pointed with fire. On a thunder cloud which rolled before him his shield rested. On his forehead was written: ‘The Genius of the Storm.’ On he strode over the black clouds which rolled beneath his feet and regardless of the fierce lightning which flashed around him.

The hoarse voice of the storm was hushed, and a gentler light than the fire of the elements spread itself over the face of the now cloudless sky. The calm moon shone forth in the midst of the firmament, and the little stars seemed rejoicing in their brightness. The giant had descended to the earth, and approaching the place where we stood trembling he made three circles in the air with his flaming scimitar, and then lifted his hand to strike. Just then we heard a loud voice saying: ‘Genius, I command thee to forbear!’

We looked round and saw a figure so tall that the Genius seemed to be but a diminutive dwarf. It cast one joyful glance on us and disappeared.

CHAPTER III THE DESERT

The building of our city went on prosperously. The Hall of Justice was finished, the fortifications were completed, the Grand Inn was begun, the Great Tower was ended.

One night when we were assembled in the Hall of Justice, Arthur Wellesley, at that time a common trumpeter, suddenly exclaimed, while we were talking of our happiness:

‘Does not the King of the Blacks view our prosperity with other eyes than ours? Would not the best way be to send immediately to England, tell them of the new world we have discovered and of the riches that are in it; and do you not think they would send us an army?’

Francis Stewart immediately rose and said: ‘Young man, think before you speak! How could we send to England? Who would be found hardy enough to traverse again the Atlantic? Do you not remember the storm which drove us on the shores of Trinidad?’

Arthur Wellesley answered: ‘It is with all due deference that I venture to contradict the opinions of older and more experienced men than I am; and it is after much consideration that I have ventured to say what I have said. Well do I remember that storm which forced us to seek refuge amongst foreigners. I am not so rash as to suppose that we of ourselves could cross the ocean on the damaged and leaky vessel we possess, or that we could build another in time to avert the danger which I fear is coming. But in what a short time have we built the city we are now in! How long has it taken to rear the Grand Hall where we now are? Have not those marble pillars and that solemn dome been built by supernatural power? If you view the city from this Gothic window and see the beams of the morn gilding the battlements of the mighty towers, and the pillars of the splendid palaces which have been reared in a few months, can you doubt that magic has been used in their construction?’

Here he paused. We were all convinced that the genii had helped us to build our town. He went on:

‘Now, if the genii have built us our city, will they not likewise help us to call our countrymen to defend what they have built against the assaults of the enemy?’

He stopped again, for the roof shook and the hall was filled with smoke. The ground opened, and we heard a voice saying:

‘When the sun appears above the forests of the east be ye all on the border of the evil desert, for if ye fail I will crush you to atoms.’

The voice ceased, the ground closed, and the smoke cleared away. There was no time for us to consult; the desert lay ten miles off, and it was now midnight. We immediately set off with the Duke of York at our head. We reached the desert about 4 A.M., and there we stopped. Far off to the east the long black line of gloomy forests skirted the horizon. To the north the Mountains of the Moon seemed a misty girdle to the plain of Dahomey; to the south the ocean guarded the coasts of Africa; before us to the west lay the desert.

In a few minutes we saw a dense vapour rise from the sands, which gradually collecting took the form of a Genius larger than any of the giants. It advanced towards us and cried with a loud voice: ‘Follow me!’

We obeyed and entered the desert.

After we had travelled a long time, about noon the Genius told us to look around. We were now about the middle of the desert. Nothing was to be seen far or near but vast plains of sand under a burning sun and cloudless sky. We were dreadfully fatigued and begged the Genius to allow us to stop a little, but he immediately ordered us to proceed. We therefore began our march again and travelled a long way, till the sun went down and the pale moon was rising in the east. Also a few stars might now be dimly seen, but still the sands were burning hot, and our feet were very much swollen.

At last the Genius ordered us to halt and lie down. We soon fell asleep. We had slept about an hour when the Genius awoke us and ordered us to proceed.

The moon had now risen and shone brightly in the midst of the sky—brighter far than it ever does in our country. The night-wind had somewhat cooled the sands of the desert, so that we walked with more ease than before; but now a mist arose which covered the whole plain. Through it we thought we could discern a dim light. We now likewise heard sounds of music at a great distance.

As the mist cleared away the light grew more distinct till it burst upon us in almost insufferable splendour. Out of the barren desert arose a palace of diamonds, the pillars of which were ruby and emerald illuminated with lamps too bright to look upon. The Genius led us into a hall of sapphire in which were thrones of gold. On the thrones sat the Princes of the Genii. In the midst of the hall hung a lamp like the sun. Around it stood genii and fairies whose robes were of beaten gold sparkling with diamonds. As soon as their chiefs saw us they sprang up from their thrones, one of them seizing Arthur Wellesley and exclaiming: ‘This is the Duke of Wellington!’

Arthur Wellesley asked her why she called him the Duke of Wellington.

The Genius answered: ‘A prince will arise who shall be as a thorn in the side of England, and the desolator of Europe. Terrible shall be the struggle between that chieftain and you! It will last many years, and the conqueror shall gain eternal honour and glory. So likewise shall the vanquished; and though he shall die in exile his name shall never be remembered by his countrymen but with feelings of enthusiasm. The renown of the victory shall reach the ends of the earth; Kings and Emperors shall honour him; Europe shall rejoice in its deliverer; and though in his lifetime fools will envy him, he shall overcome. At his death renown shall cover him, and his name shall be everlasting!’

When the Genius finished speaking we heard the sound of music far off, which drew nearer and nearer till it seemed within the hall. Then all the fairies and genii joined in one grand chorus which rose rolling to the mighty dome and pillars of the genii palace, and reached among the vaults and dungeons beneath; then gradually dying away it at last ceased entirely.

As the music went off the palace slowly disappeared, and we found ourselves alone in the midst of the desert. The sun had just begun to enlighten the world, and the moon might be dimly seen; but all below there was sand as far as our eyes could reach. We knew not which way to go, and we were ready to faint with hunger; but on once more looking round we saw lying on the sands some dates and palm-wine. Of this we made our breakfast, and then began again to think of our journey, when suddenly there appeared a beaten track in the desert, which we followed.

About noon, when the sun was at its meridian, and we felt weary and faint with the heat, a grove of palm-trees appeared in sight towards which we ran; and after we had rested awhile under its shade, and refreshed ourselves with its fruit, we resumed our march; and that same night to our inexpressible joy we entered the gates of our beautiful city and slept beneath the shadow of its roofs.

CHAPTER IV NEWS FROM HOME

The next morning we were awakened by the sound of trumpets and great war-drums, and on looking towards the mountains we saw descending to the plain an immense army of Ashantees. We were all thrown into the utmost consternation except Arthur Wellesley, who advised us to look to the great guns and man the walls, never doubting that genii would come to our help if we ourselves could not beat them off by the help of the cannon and rockets.