The height, athletic figure, and gait so
impressed Heywood as being those of Christian, that, quickening
his pace till he came up with the stranger, he said in a tone of
voice only loud enough to be heard by him, 'Fletcher Christian!'
The man turned quickly round, and faced his interrogator, but
little of his countenance was visible; and darting up one of the
small streets, he vanished from the other's sight. Captain Heywood
hesitated for a moment, but decided on giving up the pursuit, and
on not instituting any inquiries. Recognition would have been
painful as well as dangerous to Christian if this were he; and it
seemed scarcely within the bounds of probability that he should be
in England. Remarkable as was the occurrence, Captain Heywood
attached no importance to it, simply considering it a singular
coincidence."
It is of course extremely improbable that Christian managed to leave the
island before the arrival of the _Topaz_ (Folger's ship), and if Heywood's
impression that he had seen Christian had occurred to him anywhere near
the date of the _True Briton_ paragraph, one might easily account for it
on the ground that the _True Briton_ was a sensation-loving modern daily,
born before its time, and Heywood had read the paragraph. But between 1796
and 1809 was a long interval; no news had come to England of the
mutineers to revive memory of the event, and the curious ignorance of the
Pitcairners of the place of Christian's burial are all circumstances which
leave the manner of the mutineer officer's ending by no means settled.
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