Frobisher's Savage
by Leonard Tourney
In 1576, Sir Martin
Frobisher made the first of three voyages in search of a Northwest
Passage. He got as far as Canada, and brought back to England two
"proofs" that he had reached Cathay: some black stones that he claimed
contained gold, and an Eskimo. Using this factual basis, Leonard Tourney
takes his Elizabethan mystery series to a higher level with a
compelling story about the nature of blind prejudice. Frobisher's Eskimo
is given the name "Adam Nemo" and is set down on the estate of a
wealthy landowner as a servant. He learns the strange language of his
captors, he performs his duties more than conscientiously, and he keeps
to himself. And then everything changes. Visiting his only friend on a
nearby farm, a deaf and mute youth named Nicholas, he finds the boy
cowering in a corner and everywhere signs of a bloody massacre. When the
townsmen whom Adam summons arrive, they discover the mutilated bodies
of the farmer, his wife, and their two youngest children in the well.
Merchant Matthew Stock tries to counteract the town's growing hysteria,
which fastens itself upon those they consider strangers - the "savage"
and the "idiot." Matthew and his forthright wife Joan are firmly
convinced of the pair's innocence, and they are determined that the rule
of law shall prevail. There is more than one hair-raising episode, and a
breathless pursuit through a snowstorm, before Joan Stock finally
unearths the evidence to identify the real murderer.
Frobisher made the first of three voyages in search of a Northwest
Passage. He got as far as Canada, and brought back to England two
"proofs" that he had reached Cathay: some black stones that he claimed
contained gold, and an Eskimo. Using this factual basis, Leonard Tourney
takes his Elizabethan mystery series to a higher level with a
compelling story about the nature of blind prejudice. Frobisher's Eskimo
is given the name "Adam Nemo" and is set down on the estate of a
wealthy landowner as a servant. He learns the strange language of his
captors, he performs his duties more than conscientiously, and he keeps
to himself. And then everything changes. Visiting his only friend on a
nearby farm, a deaf and mute youth named Nicholas, he finds the boy
cowering in a corner and everywhere signs of a bloody massacre. When the
townsmen whom Adam summons arrive, they discover the mutilated bodies
of the farmer, his wife, and their two youngest children in the well.
Merchant Matthew Stock tries to counteract the town's growing hysteria,
which fastens itself upon those they consider strangers - the "savage"
and the "idiot." Matthew and his forthright wife Joan are firmly
convinced of the pair's innocence, and they are determined that the rule
of law shall prevail. There is more than one hair-raising episode, and a
breathless pursuit through a snowstorm, before Joan Stock finally
unearths the evidence to identify the real murderer.