A Walk With Unexpected Sightings

Today me and my first mate took advantage of the sunny weather and rose early to take a walk in the Botanic Garden in Hamburg. The first thing we noticed was that it has been recently renamed to Loki-Schmidt-Garten. This was not at all unexpected because the wife of former chancellor Helmut Schmidt was very dedicated to environmental protection - especially concerning the local flora.

The first birds we saw that one might not expect to find in an city were two Eurasian Oyster-catchers. For us it was not that unusual. We had seen one there last year. Also it is not at all unusual to find sea-birds in Hamburg.



During our walk we saw and heard lots of Great Tits and Blue Tits. These little buggers were to evasive for a decent photo. But they are common enough to get other opportunities to catch them on camera.

As we walked on we saw a group of pigeons feeding on the grass when a loud noise startled them. As they flew away we also noticed another bird evading from a patch of grass a little further away. It was green and from the way it landed on the trunk of an nearby tree we were really certain that this mast have been a European Green Woodpecker. But it few further away. Hence we were unable to follow it.

After a little while we heard another bird calling. We knew we had heard this bird before. But we were unable to identify it. But we were lucky. It came towards us and was very cooperative. So we could easily identify it as a Eurasian Nuthatch and take some photos of it.




After having left it to his own business we heard the call that could only be that of a bird of prey. We saw it gliding above us. And it was immediately clear that this was no buzzard, which you see quite often in Hamburg. I was lucky enough to have the camera ready for some in-flight shots. It was a Northern Goshawk. A few years ago I had read that in the last years some had migrated to Hamburg. But this was the first time I had actually seen one here.



The garden became more and more crowded. So we decided to leave for breakfast, as we heard a call that could only belong to the woodpecker we had seen earlier. And a moment later we so it coming down from a tree and landing on a nearby patch of grass. We decided to go after it. And we came close enough that I could take a photo. I tried to get nearer, but then there came two walkers from the opposite side, we couldn't stop. The either hadn't noticed the woodpecker or they didn't care. Anyway, they were closing in to fast and by it scaring it away before I could take a better picture of the Green Woodpecker. But at least the first one was good enough to see that it was a female.



But all in all it was a good yield for a lazy Sunday morning walk.

CoC - Gaslight: A Strange Meeting

After receiving the metal figurine we immediately went of to see Mr Roquefort's friend, whose name was Emily.

We arrived at a tall building which had served as an observatory in previous times. The first curious thing I noticed was the door-knocker which hat the form of a cat's head. Mr Roquefort knocked and a few moments later an intimidatingly large, bearded Arab opened the door and bade us in. He led us upstairs to the top of the tower to a curtain and told us to walk right in. We did.

I don't know what I had expected but certainly not this. A very old, blind, white-haired woman was sitting on a large cushion smoking a sheesha. I was unable to guess her age. But she was certainly old enough to be Mr Roquefort's mother. But they had definitely no family relation. The room itself was circular and must have been the observation room. Models of the planets were hanging from the ceiling and a lot of rather strange objects and apparatuses were standing all over the room. I also noticed some cats strolling around.

As we walked in she greeted us both first Mr Roquefort and then me. And she knew my name and judging by her manners maybe more about me. I was slightly taken aback by this. Where did she get this knowledge? My companion couldn't have told her about me before. At least I wouldn't know how.

After the exchange of the usual pleasantries on catching up with someone one hasn't seen in a while, she wanted to know about his business in Egypt. He told her about the events of the last weeks. And as he mentioned the "Fire of Ra" her face and voice became very serious.

She told us that the Ibis-Dagger could be a potent weapon for us but if used improperly could be the ruin of the one wielding it. She asked me explicitly about my motives concerning the "The Book of Secrets". I told her, I had no desire at all to possess such knowledge and that my main concern was the safe return of Sir Thomas Kincaid to his family. She looked at me with a penetrating stare as if to penetrate into my mind to see if I was being honest.

She was obviously convinced of my motives and continued to tell us that the "Fire of Ra" is capable of storing a vast amount of energy which could be used for good or evil. But ultimately the knowledge in the "Book of Toth", as it was also called,  was not meant to be discovered by any man. She made as vow to destroy the Book, if we ever came to possess it. We both agreed without hesitation. At that moment I realised that this whole affair could be more serious than I had imagined.

She knew a lot about the history of the Book and shared it with us. It was supposed to be hidden in a place called "Toth's Shadow". Nobody knew exactly where it was. Its location was estimated a trip of five days and five nights distant of the "House of Toth". Legend has it that a man called Meheret had once found "Toth's Shadow", and his heirs were looking for the Book. She advised us to start our search at Hermopolis Magna.

Before had left she gave us a vague warning about some danger from the inside. This was not really helping my mood, as we were already suspecting Dr Laydon and the Egyptian League of using us to their own benefit.

We then bade our farewell and left the room. We were both deeply in thought after these informations and dreadful warnings. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, we became suddenly very alert. On the threshold lay the corpse of the large Arab. We heard the flapping of wings and Mr Roquefort was instantly very agitated. I myself was to shocked to do anything for a few moments. Mr Roquefort pushed his revolver into my hands and told me to stand guard at the door. He was running upstairs before I could utter a single word of protest. Finding myself in this unfamiliar situation, I assessed my surroundings.

It was very dark outside and the entrance was lit by several oil-lamps. I suddenly realised that I was quite a target and rushed to put out the lights. Standing guard as had been rudely suggested by Mr Roquefort, I faintly heard him call from upstairs. I shut the door and ran upstairs. I entered the room just in time to dodge a knife that was thrown at me. Without thinking I aimed at the attacker and pulled the trigger. I had never been a very good shot, but I got lucky. He fell backwards and didn't move at all.

After recovering from this shock of actually having taken another human being's life, I looked around and saw Mr Roquefort engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a second assailant. Before I could act he took his knife to the attacker's neck and slit it open. Up until this moment I had never thought of him being capable of such grim behaviour.

But the strangest thing in this whole struggle had been Emely's behaviour during the fight. She had been sitting absolutely still, as if she had known that things were going to happen the way they did. Afterwards she only rushed us to go and not to forget what she had told us. We did as she had asked.

As I looked back at her a last time, I saw lots of cats emerging from the dark corners of the room and starting to feast on the dead bodies of the attackers.

CoC - Gaslight: Ah, Egypt!

We arrived at Alexandria on the 1 December 1890. It was a glorious day and the wind carried with it the first scents of the exotic country we were about to enter. As I disembarked I was immediately fascinated by the smells, the people, and the atmosphere. A few hours later we were to board our train to Cairo. So there was no time to explore the town.

In the evening we entered Cairo and were brought to our accommodations in the Shepheard's Hotel. We were all tired from the journey. Hence we all went to our rooms and retired for the night.

The Shepheard's Hotel (1880)

The next morning we all met for breakfast. Even Dr. Burnside was in an agreeable mood. I guess to have had the opportunity to share his pain with us without being judged had taken a big weight of his shoulders.

We knew we had only one short day in this city, so we accepted Mr Roquefort's proposal to show us a little bit of this amazing place. But he had some urgent business to attend to that morning. So we agreed to meet at 3 pm.

I took the opportunity to walk around a little bit in the near vicinity of the hotel. And I started to like the surroundings. If Cairo has one major flaw, it is its climate. The heat and the absence of even a slight breeze was nearly intolerable. I guess you had to grow up with it, to really get used to it. Nearing noon, I fled the heat and went back to the hotel where I met Sir Jeffrey, who suffered in the same way as I was. We exchanged pleasantries about the weather and the city and distracted ourself with a game of Cribbage. Afterwards I left for my room to change and get ready for our private tour of Cairo.

It is no secret that I sometimes cannot agree with how Mr Roquefort behaves or handles matters. But I have to admit, he showed us parts of Cairo which not many Europeans will ever see. Most of the time we were the only non-Egyptians in the streets. He provided us with very useful insides like not to drink the water but to drink peppermint tea instead. The reason being that the water would almost certainly make you sick. Also warm tea should be better to quench one's thirst in this heat. It took a while getting used to it, but he was absolutely right. For the conclusion of our tour he brought us to the local equivalent of a café. There we had some coffee which is called Mocca here and comes in a rather small cup. But it had to because it was pretty strong stuff. Afterwards my transpiration increased and I felt my heart pounding in my chest. But overall it was not an unpleasant experience. Then he ordered something called a Sheesha. It is some strange smoking-apparatus, where the tobacco-fumes are bubbling through water before they get inhaled through a long tube. I had never been the smoking before, but I gave it a try. It was not particularly bad but I guess I am just not the smoking type.

We had a vivid discussion about our situation, and who we could trust. Dr Burnside pointed us to the fact that Inspector Fox seems to be rather attached to his bag. I don't remember how brought it up, but in the end we all suspected he might carry the Ibis-dagger with him which was used to kill Higgins, the butler. We also agreed that if push came to shove Fox might be the only person on this whole expedition, who would not be working against us. Unluckily he appeared more and more exhausted during the journey.

Our - in hindsight - rather paranoid conversation was interrupted by a young boy who delivered a small metal figurine of a cat to Mr Roquefort. He was rather upset about seeing it and told us that an old lady-friend of his must be in trouble, and that he had to meet her immediately. Since Mr Roquefort couldn't tell how long this would take, Dr Burnside didn't want to come along. He pointed out he had to attend to Inspector Fox this night, because he had had serious trouble sleeping because of some rather strange dreams. Hence only I accompanied Mr Roquefort to his friend. What I heard and saw there, I will never forget in my life.

CoC - Gaslight: Towards Egypt

The remaining days before our departure were rather event-less. Craig attended to most of the necessary preparations for us. I spent my time mostly at the club more or less enjoying the quiet.

On 20 November 1890 we boarded the steamer Rule Britannia. I was rather surprised to see that inspector Fox was also joining the expedition. Maybe it was to keep an eye on us or some kind of punishment by his superior.

Anyway the journey was a very quiet one until we entered the Bay of Biscay. There we were hit by a heavy storm. This resulted in the tragic death of two seamen. And the ship was so damaged that we had to make an unplanned stop in Gibraltar for necessary repairs. These would take two days.

I took this opportunity to get something of my chest which bothered me since my conversation with Sir Theodore Huntington. I couldn't get the rumours about Dr. Burnside out of my head. And the quiet time at sea had given me a lot of time to ponder about this. On the first afternoon I picked up the courage to talk to Dr. Burnside.

I told him about the gossip that was brought to my attention, and that I had to hear his side of it. I made clear that I do not easily believe such things, but that this was too serious an accusation to ignore. At first he was quiet uneasy about my direct approach. But I thought I saw a hint of relieve as he agreed to tell me about, what happened, but that he wanted to also invite Mr Roquefort lest he couldn't bear to tell this twice. I agreed and we three met later that afternoon in a little café.

There he told us about the pregnancy of his wife. Nearing the end of her term she suffered a severe haemorrhage. He had been unable to save her life. There had been nothing left to do but to fulfil her last wish to save the child. But his child had outlived its mother by only a few hours. I have never before seen a man so heartbroken. At the same time he showed some kind of relieve as if a heavy weight was lifted of his shoulders. He excused himself and retired for the rest of our stay in Gibraltar. Understandably, Mr Roquefort and I were in not in the mood for any kind of conversation. So we also went our separate ways for the remainder of our time ashore.

For me the remainder of the journey went by in some kind of blur. I was thinking about the trust which was put in me by Dr. Burnside to share his darkest memory with me, a young man he had known only for a couple of weeks.

The first thing I clearly remember was our arrival at Alexandria.

CoC - Gaslight: My Last Days in London

I arrived on time at the Egyptian League's House. As did the other two co-investigators. We were ushered in and led through a rather pompous hallway to a room where we were greeted by Sir Jeffrey Hull. He revealed to us that he is also a member of the League. This came as a surprise to us. Amongst other things he told us that an expedition to Egypt was prepared by the League scheduled to start seven days later. He asked us, if we would consider joining in. After a short deliberation we agreed to join. To our surprise Thomas Roquefort was appointed as the scientific leader. He was puzzled by this honour but accepted.

Then Sir Jeffrey introduced us to a Captain Haydon of the 19th Husars who should ensure our safety during our travels through the desert. He looked very keen and was certainly cut out for a career in the military. I disliked him on the spot. And not only because he was military.

After a few pleasantries we concluded our meeting and Sir Jeffrey led us out. On our way down the hall Mr. Roquefort noticed an open door and took a look inside. We followed him. The room was a lecture theatre which was dominated by a replica of Cleopatra's Needle. Mr. Roquefort seemed a little bit disturbed by the room or something in it. He inspected it closely and talked about the obelisk with Sir Jeffrey. After they had finished their small detour, we went out and bid our farewell until the start of the expedition.

I went back to the club hoping Dr. Laydon might be there this evening. This would be the easiest way to start my little surveillance.

And I got lucky. At the time I arrived he was having lunch. We greeted each other and he continued eating while I sat down to have a glass of sherry. After finishing his meal Dr. Laydon came to me to have a little talk.

He seemed genuinely concerned about the recent events. Especially Mrs Kincaid's involvement was troubling him. I assured him of my resolve to do everything in my power to end this madness as he called it. I also told him about my trust in the discretion of my companions. He seemed not entirely sure regarding Dr. Burnside. Which I found a little strange. Something had to have happened between them in the past. I couldn't believe he would give credit to the rumours about Dr. Burnside. But this shouldn't be any concern of mine. Over all, he made the impression of a broken man with something heavy on his conscience.

After he had left, I followed him to his house and waited, if something would happen. And as expected a black coach arrived after a short wile. While the driver was inside the house I hid on the rear foot-board and waited for them to drive to their destination. To cut a long story short, he was driven to a country estate where he was obviously attending to a sick nobleman. So this whole venture was for nothing.

So after our return to London I went home. After a good night's sleep I started my preparations for my departure to Egypt.

No change on the outside

Don't panic. I haven't forgotten about the butterfly. I just haven't got around to post the pictures. Although, there is no visible change. According to various sources the metamorphosis should take two to four weeks. Due to the colder temperatures at the moment my estimate is on the longer duration. Here are the photos of the last few days.

5th September

8th September

todays update

A new photo of the pupa. it seems to be a little bit darker now.