AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Like I said,” he countered with a shrug, “it’s only a hunch.”
Still, he left unsaid what he truly believed.
My hunches are seldom wrong.
1:34P.M.
Seichan climbed behind Gray as they followed Professor Darren Kwong, the current head of the museum, up a curving stair to the mezzanine level. The curator was a short Malaysian man with a ready smile and an open manner. He wore a knee-length lab coat over a white shirt and red tie, likely representing the two colors of Singapore’s flag. The man clearly took great pride in his country and this establishment.
“Now we come to our Heritage Gallery,” Kwong exclaimed with a sweep of his arm toward a section of the museum that looked like a turn-of-the-century library. The gallery was lined by tall wood-and-glass cases full of old books, artifacts, and curiosities. “Here we have on display the museum’s earliest history. Feel free to open some of the cases and drawers. We wanted to make it feel as interactive as possible.”
Gray did just that, lingering over each glass case as he walked down the row. From their prior talk, Seichan knew this was an area of special interest to Gray. The same could not be said of her.
Seichan tried not to exhale her impatience as she lagged behind the pair. Their group had spent an hour touring the main floor’s fifteen zones, which hallmarked the region’s biodiversity—from the origin of life through all its branches, stems, and leaves. The span covered millions of years.
And it had felt like it.
Her mother and Zhuang remained below, waiting for a light show that would further highlight the three towering sauropod skeletons, whose long necks and skulls rose beyond the mezzanine level. With everyone’s radio earpieces and throat mikes in place, they could stay in communication. Guan-yin and Zhuang also surreptitiously watched the public entrance, keeping alert for any suspicious visitors.
Gray straightened and faced Kwong. “I see you’ve divided the Heritage Gallery into two sections, covering Sir Stamford Raffles on one side and William Farquhar on the other. The timelines of their contributions and discoveries overlap extensively. Why are they kept separately?”
Kwong’s smile broadened. “Because otherwise we might be haunted by their ghosts. Sir Raffles and Major-General Farquhar both helped found Singapore and were equally avid naturalists. They competed for discoveries, fought over recognition, and disparaged each other at every turn, sometimes quite heatedly, all the way until their deaths. So, we dared not put them into the same cabinet together.”
Gray shifted to the cabinet with FARQUHARstenciled at the top. “How did the two become so embittered? According to his placard, it was Raffles who appointed Farquhar to oversee Singapore after the city was founded?”
“Ah, you see, Raffles wasn’t happy with the lax manner in which his appointee undertook the assignment. Farquhar failed to follow the instructions that Raffles had left. Under Farquhar’s helm, slave-trading flourished in Singapore, along with the spread of opium and other vices. Friction grew between them, worsening with every passing year. Then Farquhar committed an act so heinous that Raffles abruptly dismissed him from his post.”
Gray frowned. “What did he do?”
“Stories vary, but it’s said that their animosity had grown so fierce at the end that Farquhar had sought to dig up some dirt on Sir Raffles, something that would drive his competitor out of the region. Hearsay at the time was that Raffles was harboring some great secret, but no one knew what it was. Rumors abounded of a great treasure or some shameful truth. Farquhar enlisted allies from local criminal elements, mainly among the Chinese who facilitated the opium trade in the city, to root out his secret. When Raffles learned of this ploy, he sacked Farquhar immediately.”
Gray glanced Seichan’s way with a raised brow, as if scolding her for doubting him. He turned back to Kwong. “Did he ever find outwhatthat secret was?”
The curator shrugged. “Not that I know of, but Farquhar continued to have good relations with the Chinese, who awarded him a departing gift, a silver cup that cost seven hundred dollars, an exorbitant sum at the time. It was also the Chinese who assisted him with his naturalist efforts, supplying artists who completed nearly five hundred illustrations for him.” Kwong led Gray down the case on that side. “You can see a few here.”
Gray followed, bending down to study an intricate plate of a brightly colored bird. “If Farquhar had learned Raffles’s secret, then the Chinese would have likely known about it, too.”
“I would imagine so, but nothing ever came of it.”
“At least, not yet,” Gray mumbled.
Kwong glanced his way. “What was that?”
“Nothing.” Gray straightened. “When did this all take place?”
“Back in 1823.”
Gray frowned at the curator. “That’s the same year the museum was founded, when it was called the Singapore Institution.”
“That’s true.”
“Who did Raffles assign to take Farquhar’s place? To oversee the city. And his new museum.”
“A physician, a man named Dr. John Crawfurd.”
“A physician?”
“And fellow budding naturalist. Crawfurd had worked under Raffles when he was the lieutenant-governor of Java.”
