Page 14 - Three Adventures

Voyage of the Pomeranian

side of the tank, observing me silently. I do not trust the man, given
his past antagonism to my purposes, and I immediately perceived that
I dared not reveal my discovery to him or, indeed, to any of the
uneducated members of the crew—Casimir included.

“No,” I replied, “I am testing its strength and reflexes. There is no
danger.”

He appeared satisfied and went away. Even so, I decided to end my
work with Tristan for the day. I reiterated my instructions to the men
responsible for keeping the tank secure and retired to my quarters to
ponder the implications of what had transpired. I must admit I am
quite excited by the prospect of decoding some sort of primitive
invertebrate system of signals.

May 13, 1884. Lat. 8º 51’ S. Long. 15º 49’ W.

I see that three days have elapsed since my last entry. Barely have a
moment to stop and take stock of what is transpiring here on the
Pomeranian. Repeated trips to the tank to expand on the vocabulary
Tristan gives me as fast as I can record it. Still on concrete nouns and
proper names. I have no doubt now a grammar will become evident
as he taps out longer sequences. He has made it clear which sort of
crab he prefers to eat. My scientific notebook is filling rapidly with
“words” built up from four combinations (sometimes in pairs) of two
symbols. Patterns are emerging. More later.

May 15, 1884. Lat. 9º 13’ S. Long. 16º 07’ W.

Octopus language developing rapidly. Years of Latin and Oriental
languages at Oxford giving me basis for learning. Cannot respond
fast enough for Tristan. He is impatient, still excited about
something. Finding another intelligent being with whom to converse?
He has no complaints about the food. Crew under tight control of
Casimir. They continue daily search for kraken, must think me mad
to spend all day with Tristan. But they do not fear an octopus locked
away in a tank. Dr. Lamb, having snubbed me when I asked for his
medical assistance with Isolde, now has no excuse to inquire about
my activities with Tristan. Just as well.
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