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“The Vasty Deep”
1. I would refer readers to my account “Felis Ex Machina” for the rather public revelation of the fact that my wife was bearing twin boys.By E.O. Costello Dr. Meffit's Footnotes: 2. The Spontoon natives use crushed coral or crushed seashells to produce certain pigments that they cannot make from vegetable matter. 3. The Uplands are a part of the Main Island in the Spontoons, near the highest elevation point. It’s an area known for taking the native rites quite seriously, with effects that will be noted shortly. 4. Sergeant Brush later on told me about this case, which came relatively early in Inspector Stagg’s career in the Spontoons. I believe he refers to it as “Idol Thoughts.” 5. Tailfast is a native tradition whereby one fur pledges their troth to another by wearing a circlet of fur, or occasionally preserved feathers, attached to one’s tail or equivalent. 6. The restaurant on Meeting Island owned by Miss Baumgartner, who lived above the restaurant. The name was that of the previous owner, who had sold the business to her. 7. Victoria Knox, to use her full name. A former vaudeville knife-thrower-turned-waitress. 8. Lest one get NKVD-type notions, I should note that all non-natives, or “Euros” in the local parlance, are required to register with the Interior Ministry, which notes their residence (Euros are restricted to Casino, Meeting and Eastern Islands) and also has a photograph on file. I was so registered until I was naturalized some years ago. The Inspector, who has no intentions of renouncing his New Haven citizenship, is currently registered. 9. Even more well-known to the Sergeant: she is the Sergeant’s older sister. She practices commercial law for the leading firm in the Spontoons, to avoid clashes with her little brother. 10. That would be Thomas Vison, who handles all of the criminal law work for the firm Kara Karoksdottir works for. He’s quite good, though since the Inspector came, his winning percentage has dropped a bit. 11. The Inspector had obtained, of course, a court order allowing him to seize these materials. 12. I believe Sergeant Brush has told the story of how Inspector Stagg won his trademark walking stick from Colonel Jabez Cougar, in “Knave High.” 13. The New Haven Flying Corps, for which Inspector Stagg had been Chief of Intelligence, and at various times interim commander. A notoriously hard-drinking, riotously-living unit. One of the few sober subordinates of the Inspector’s, a chap named Fleischmann, wrote a book called "The Three Ring Circus" which goes into exhaustive detail; it’s a wonder the unit had any time or energy for fighting as well as it did. 14. The notorious courtesan-turned-spy. Inspector Stagg, during the Great War, trapped the jaguaress by decoding the way she changed her tail spots, the means by which she passed on her messages to the Germans. She met her fate, of course, with a firing squad. (See "Memorandum to File.") 15. That is, Charles Foster Crane, the owner of the Spontoon Mirror and the LYRC radio station, and soon to be owner of a television station, if rumours are to be believed. 16. As "Jane’s Fighting Ships" could tell you, the R-3 is one of a group of four UE-II class submarines purchased from the German Navy in the closing weeks of the Great War at a knock-down price. Evidence of the thrift and sagaciousness of the RINS! The Allies were not best pleased about it. 17. A type of toolbox used by the Detective Bureau to gather evidence at crime scenes. Inspector Stagg introduced its use in the Spontoons. 18. At the risk of pedantry: Henry IV, Part I, Act 3, scene 1, lines 52–54. |