Violent with terror, rough by
nature, and full of beer, these wild young savages were
formidable to themselves and others. Having arrived late, I
had not got further than the cabin door, and was up the
companion ladder at a bound. It was pitch dark, and piteous
screams came up from the surrounding waters. At first it was
impossible to guess what had happened. Were we rammed, or
were we rammers? I pulled off my coats ready for a swim.
But it soon became apparent that we had run into and sunk
another boat.
The next morning the doctor and I went on to England. A week
after I took up the 'Illustrated News.' There was an account
of the accident, with an illustration of the cabin of the
sunken boat. The bodies of passengers were depicted as the
divers had found them.
On the very day the peace was signed I chanced to call on Sir
Anthony Rothschild in New Court. He took me across the court
to see his brother Lionel, the head of the firm. Sir Anthony
bowed before him as though the great man were Plutus himself.
He sat at a table alone, not in his own room, but in the
immense counting-room, surrounded by a brigade of clerks.
This was my first introduction to him. He took no notice of
his brother, but received me as Napoleon received the
emperors and kings at Erfurt - in other words, as he would
have received his slippers from his valet, or as he did
receive the telegrams which were handed to him at the rate of
about one a minute.
