Tarzan of the Apes

John Clayton viaja a África para investigar sobre los rumores de otra potencia europea reclutando británicos para recoger la goma y el marfil. Viaja con su esposa en el Fuwalda. Lo que no anticipó es que la tripulación sería demasiado agresiva… De Edgar Rice Burroughs: Tarzan of the Apes.

En vocabulario buscamos scour e investigamos sobre Freetown.

 

A month later they arrived at Freetown where they chartered a small sailing vessel, the Fuwalda, which was to bear them to their final destination…

 

Tarzan, escrita por Edgar Rice Burroughs

 Paragraphs

… From the records of the Colonial Office and from the dead man's diary we learn that a certain young English nobleman, whom we shall call John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, was commissioned to make a peculiarly delicate investigation of conditions in a British West Coast African Colony from whose simple native inhabitants another European power was known to be recruiting soldiers for its native army, which it used solely for the forcible collection of rubber and ivory from the savage tribes along the Congo and the Aruwimi.

And so the Colonial Office appointed John Clayton to a new post in British West Africa, but his confidential instructions centered on a thorough investigation of the unfair treatment of black British subjects by the officers of a friendly European power.

Clayton was the type of Englishman that one likes best to associate with the noblest monuments of historic achievement upon a thousand victorious battlefields—a strong, virile man—mentally, morally, and physically.

In stature he was above the average height; his eyes were gray, his features regular and strong; his carriage that of perfect, robust health influenced by his years of army training.

When he received this appointment he was both delighted and shocked. The preferment seemed to him in the nature of a well-merited reward for painstaking and intelligent service, and as a stepping stone to posts of greater importance and responsibility; but, on the other hand, he had been married to the Hon. Alice Rutherford for scarce a three months, and it was the thought of taking this fair young girl into the dangers and isolation of tropical Africa that shocked him.

For her sake he would have refused the appointment, but she would not have it so. Instead she insisted that he accept, and, indeed, take her with him.

We know only that on a bright May morning in 1888, John, Lord Greystoke, and Lady Alice sailed from Dover on their way to Africa.

A month later they arrived at Freetown where they chartered a small sailing vessel, the Fuwalda, which was to bear them to their final destination.

And here John, Lord Greystoke, and Lady Alice, his wife, vanished from the eyes and from the knowledge of men.

Two months after they weighed anchor and cleared from the port of Freetown a half dozen British war vessels were scouring the south Atlantic for trace of them or their little vessel, and it was almost immediately that the wreckage was found upon the shores of St. Helena which convinced the world that the Fuwalda had gone down with all on board, and hence the search was stopped before it had scarce begun.

The Fuwalda, a barkentine of about one hundred tons, was a vessel of the type often seen in coastwise trade in the far southern Atlantic, their crews composed of the scum of the sea—unhanged murderers and cutthroats of every race and every nation.

The Fuwalda was no exception to the rule. Her officers were dark bullies, hating and hated by their crew. The captain, while a competent seaman, was a brute in his treatment of his men.

It was on the morning of the second day that the first link was forged in what was destined to form a chain of circumstances ending in a life for one then unborn such as has never been paralleled in the history of man.

Two sailors were washing down the decks of the Fuwalda, the first mate was on duty, and the captain had stopped to speak with John Clayton and Lady Alice.

The men were working backwards toward the little party who were facing away from the sailors. Closer and closer they came, until one of them was directly behind the captain. In another moment he would have passed by and this strange narrative would never have been recorded.

But just that instant the officer turned to leave Lord and Lady Greystoke, and, as he did so, tripped against the sailor and sprawled headlong upon the deck, overturning the water-pail so that he was drenched in its dirty contents.

For an instant the scene was ludicrous; but only for an instant. With a volley of awful oaths, his face suffused with the scarlet of mortification and rage, the captain regained his feet, and with a terrific blow threw the sailor to the deck.

The man was small and rather old, so that the brutality of the act was thus accentuated. The other seaman, however, was neither old nor small—a huge bear of a man, with fierce black mustachios, and a great bull neck set between massive shoulders.

As he saw his mate go down he crouched, and, with a low roar, sprang upon the captain crushing him to his knees with a single mighty blow… (Adapted from Tarzan of the Apes, de Edgar Rice Burroughs.)

Vocabulary

Scour: to move about quickly especially in search.

Search teams scoured the area for hours but were unable to locate him.

Scour: rastrear algo, registrar.

Magazine Wharf en Freetown

Para saber

Freetown es la capital de Sierra Leona. Fue fundada por John Clarkson en 1.792. La mayoría de la población habla el Krio (una mezcla de inglés y criollo).

El Departamento de Estado de los EEUU aconseja ejercer precaución extrema al viajar a Sierra Leona debido al nivel de crímenes y los disturbios civiles. Crímenes violentos ocurren frecuentemente en Freetown y la policía local no tiene los recursos para lidiar con incidentes criminales serios. Se les prohíbe a los empleados del gobierno norteamericano viajar de noche fuera de Freetown.

Si decide viajar a Sierra Leona se aconseja no resistir un intento de robo, no hacer ostentación de riqueza, siempre llevar una copia del pasaporte dejando el original en lugar seguro, preparar un plan de contingencia para situaciones de emergencia.

Artículos relacionados

… corría el año 1888. John Clayton, junto a su esposa Alice, se dirigen a la costa africana a bordo del Fuwalda. Debe investigar la situación de maltrato de los nativos… Tarzán, el resumen

Escuchaba el programa de radio Chandu the Magician, y todas las noches, cuando el programa dejaba de transmitirse, se sentaba y escribía… Ray Bradbury

En Dixie hay dos mundos, el mundo blanco y el mundo negro, y están físicamente separados. Hay escuelas… Native Son

 

Si visitas Salta puedes alojarte en un departamento completamente amoblado y que alquilamos a los seguidores del blog con un descuento especial… (booking.com)