The Last Bookaneer by Pearl Matthew

Author:Pearl, Matthew [Pearl, Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2015-04-28T04:00:00+00:00

IX

Our next visit brought a strange sight never seen at Vailima: the outside boys were standing around doing nothing. Davenport and I exchanged questioning glances. Dismounting before reaching the stables, we approached the cluster of young men. We could see now that they were staring across the property at Charlie. He was naked. Shouting. Swinging an ax. House servants had begun to creep out the front door, keeping a safe distance.

Stevenson came out on the verandah on the upper floor and looked at the scene with grave concern, first at the lunatic and then, angrily, at the rest of us who were standing around, as if to say, “Where are the men in this world?”

“What is he yelling?” Davenport asked.

“Pure nonsense,” said Belial. He had come up from behind and was looking out between the two of us and listening to Charlie. “Something about . . . the devil being among us.”

“Then he is not altogether insane.”

“I never knew you to have a sense of humor, Davenport,” Belial replied cheerfully. “Watch what is about to happen, Mr. Fergins. This is why your master will never win.”

Belial ran toward Charlie. Slowing down at just the right spot, he stepped carefully around the naked native until he saw his opening and tackled him, sending the ax flying out of his hand. The rest of the servants converged on the fallen native and the heroic missionary. I looked up to the verandah and saw a satisfied expression on Stevenson’s face, and, without turning to see, I could feel white rage coming from Davenport.

• • •

IT MAY BE SURPRISING to hear that the very first person in history I would classify as a bookaneer appeared long before the first copyright law, and managed to call down the ire of the most powerful man in the world. In 1514, Pope Leo X, an accomplished book collector, granted exclusive papal permission to a printer named Beroaldo to reproduce the works of Tacitus. The punishment for any who defied this order was excommunication. Hundreds of miles away in Milan, one Alesandro Manuziano began printing the same book of Tacitus before Beroaldo was finished—from what I can learn, probably having bribed one of Beroaldo’s employees for the material. Manuziano only escaped excommunication through the intercession of friends. But the question isn’t his punishment. The question is why Manuziano did it. There was profit to be made, yes, but one must also consider that the prohibition simply ate at his heart. I have not yet found a portrait of Manuziano, and I wonder if it would enlighten us as to what kind of man he was. Until I do, I cannot help but imagine this forerunner with the leathery but handsome face of Belial.

Belial’s choice of roles at Vailima, as usual, resulted from an incisive calculation. By establishing himself as a missionary who traveled among the various Samoan and other South Sea islands, he had reason for leaving the island at regular intervals. At first, I could not understand

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