"Edward Whittemore - The Jerusalem Quartet 01 - Sinai Tapestry" - читать интересную книгу автора (Whittemore Edward)

thousand separate objects acquired by his family in the course of six hundred and fifty years of doing
nothing.

There and then he decided never to encumber his life with material goods, which was the real reason, not
vanity, that when the time came for him to disappear into the desert at the age of twenty-one, he did so
carrying only his magnifying glass and portable sundial.

But such extreme simplicity was for the future. Now he had to master his profession. Methodically he
sealed off the rest of the manor and moved into the central hall, which he equipped as a long botanical
laboratory. Here he lived austerely for six years, at the age of sixteen writing to the Rector of Trinity
College stating that he was prepared to take up residence at Cambridge to receive a degree in botany.

The letter was brief, attached to it was a summary of his qualifications.

Fluent ability in Early and Middle Persian, hieroglyphics and cuneiform and Aramaic, classical and
modern Arabic, the usual knowledge of Greek and Hebrew and Latin and the European tongues, Hindi
where relevant and all sciences where necessary for his work.

Lastly, as an example of some research already undertaken, he enclosed a short monograph on the ferns
to be found on his estate. The Rector of Trinity had the paper examined by an expert, who declared it the
most definitive study on ferns ever written in Britain. The monograph was published by the Royal Society
as a special bulletin and thus Strongbow's name, one day to be synonymous with rank depravity, made
its first quiet appearance in print.



Almost at once three sensational incidents made Strongbow a legend at Cambridge. The first occurred
on Halloween, the second over a two-week period prior to the Christmas holiday, the third on the night
of the winter solstice.

The Halloween incident was a fistfight with the most vicious brawlers in the university. After drinking
quantities of stout these notorious young men had adjourned to an alley to pummel each other in the
autumn moonlight. A crowd gathered and bets were taken while the sweating fighters stripped to the
waist.

The alley was narrow. Strongbow happened to enter it just as the brawlers went into a crouch. Having
spent a long day in the countryside collecting specimens, the wild flowers he now carried in his hand, he
was too exhausted to turn back. Politely he asked the mass of fighters to stand aside and let him pass.
There was a brief silence in the alley, then a round of raucous laughter. Strongbow's bouquet of flowers
was knocked to the ground.

Wearily he knelt in the moonlight and retrieved his specimens from the chinks in the cobblestones. When
he had them all he moved forward, flowers in one hand and the other arm flailing.

Because of his extraordinary reach not a blow fell on him. In seconds a dozen men lay crumpled on the
pavement, all with broken bones and several with concussions. The stunned onlookers pressed against
the walls as Strongbow carefully dusted off his flowers, rearranged his bouquet and continued down the
alley to his rooms.
The second incident involved England's national fencing tournament, which was to be held at Cambridge
that year. Although unknown as a fencer Strongbow applied to enter the preliminaries to the tournament,