During the repast, Captain Reid had to leave the table to see some one in his study, and Mrs Reid quickly made an excuse for going too, fearing she might be eaten!
The parcel contained a story he had written. He had tried to get an audience of some publishers in London, but they would not look at him. His name was Charles Beach, otherwise “Cannibal Charlie.” Mayne Reid told him to leave his manuscript, and he would look at it, at the same time giving the man a sum of money and telling him to get himself a “rig-out,” as no doubt his appearance being so outlandish prejudiced those whom he called upon.
At the “cannibal’s” next appearance, he was looking a little more civilised, and the manuscript in time, through the help of Captain Mayne Reid, developed into a three volume novel, published in 1864, under the title of “Lost Lenore; or the Adventures of a Rolling Stone.”
In the preface Mayne Reid scarcely takes sufficient credit to himself for the part he played; he had recast and nearly rewritten the whole work before it was placed in the publisher’s hands. He says:
“A ‘Rolling Stone’ came tumbling across my track. There was a crystalline sparkle about it, proclaiming it no common pebble. I took it up, and submitted it to examination—it proved to be a diamond! A diamond of the ‘first water,’ slightly encrusted with quartz, needing but the chisel of the lapidary to lay bare its brilliant beauties to the gaze of an admiring world. Charles Beach is the proprietor of this precious gem; I, but the artisan intrusted with its setting. If my share of the task has been attended with labour, it has been a ‘labour of love,’ for which I shall feel amply rewarded in listening to the congratulations which are due—and will certainly be given—to the lucky owner of the ‘Rolling Stone,’ the finder of ‘Lost Lenore.’”
Chapter Twelve.
Bricks and Mortar.
The next novel from his pen was “The White Gauntlett,” an historical romance of the time of Charles the First. Many of the scenes are laid in Buckinghamshire.