One evening Hugh and I went for a drive to a tank not far away. Whilst I walked on the bund looking out for parrots and monkeys etc. he went down into the paddy fields below to see if there were any snipe to be seen. There weren’t and I watched him walk back slowly along the path in the darkening light , past a small sacred bo tree which had been loosely terraced round to protect its roots. Suddenly out of the terrace, a tic polonga (Russells Viper) dived out at him. Quick as a flash and almost at point blank range he fired once and missed, but the second shot blew its head off. He collected up the four foot hugely thick snake put it in the car and we drove back to Chardon Lodge in triumph. The front end of the snake was then nailed to a coconut tree in front of the house to steady it, whilst Hugh carefully skinned his prize, salted it down well with an ample supply of rock salt, and had it despatched to Colombo to the best curers who some time later had its skin, with its lovely black diamonds on a buff background, fashioned into a necktie. This was a great chatting up entree for Hugh’s countless girlfriends for the next three years or so, until the dog chewed part of it, and then he had to have it permanently knotted and have two cotton ties to attach it around his neck!
Shortly after this I was back at school and about a week later whilst having my supper of spinach and poached eggs, followed by a lovely rosey red apple a terrible thing occurred. I bit into the apple and coughed and blood started pouring liberally from my mouth, almost uncontrollably. I was rushed to the sick room and Doctor Van Royen was called, who was quite non-plussed. Later in the evening I was X-rayed in the hospital, and the diagnosis was that I had an attack of Tuberculosis and had an infected patch on the lung. Mother and Father were up immediately and I was taken back to Luckyland with firm instructions, that I was to lie absolutely quiet, with the minimum of movement, and just hope that the infection would clear itself in the clean unpolluted up-country air, as there was no other cure at that time. Each morning and evening my temperature would be taken, and over the next couple of months, it gradually subsided in the morning but would rise quite severely in the evenings.
As there was no question of school, I was given a liberal supply of children’s books, Arthur Mees Childrens Encylopaedia, Atlases, magazines like the Illustrated London News which were always at least a month late ,and current Ceylon English newspapers. All of them I devoured avidly, reading being the only outlet for my energies, unable as I was to run, swim, climb and do the normal things that children do. But a compensating bonus of this enforced rest which lasted over a year, was that I became far more aware about what was going on in the world, and my general knowledge, and also history and geography also grew by leaps and bounds, far more so in fact than other children years older, who did not have time for such intellectual stimulation. Some of the young planters would befriend me by playing games in the evenings. For example Dennis La Fontaine who had been one of Father’s creepers and was an assistant next door, would come over often in the evenings and play cards, bezique usually, and if there were others pontoon.
After a few months gradually as I improved Father would take me in the evenings out for a drive to the balmier air of Hugoland, to see his new estate develop and then he would end up with a quick drink of whisky with Mac on Downside before heading home in the warm dark soft air. At other times we would go in the evening up to walk round Luckyland Factory and its new overflow factory that had just been built in 1939. Eventually it was decided, partly for health reasons, but also more to do with the ongoing saga of Lilian, that it would be best if I were to be brought up in a cooler and different climate. As travelling to England was quite out of the question, it was decided that Mother and I would go to Australia, and so at the beginning of February 1941 we embarked on the brand spanking new Cunard liner “Mauretania”, the third largest ship in the vast British merchant fleet, on her maiden voyage to Melbourne.
We travelled out in a launch into the middle of Colombo Harbour to board her, her great hulk looming up and dwarfing all the other ships in port. We arrived on board to the strains of “Tea for Two just me and You” and “ A cigarette whose smoke that lingers” to be shown to our stateroom . It had large twin beds and silk brocaded walls with a buff background, overlaid with a pretty pale oriental chinese floral design . An absolute contrast in luxury from the pokey Bibby boat cabins that I had travelled on before.
From the very day we departed with grey north east monsoon skies and an intermittent drizzle, I suddenly felt recovered, my strength was back, and although my fever was checked for a few days, it never re- occurred even through all the later starvation and appalling conditions in Japan. It was my first trip on a ship in wartime. The liner was for a start painted in battleship grey and as it travelled across the Indian Ocean it maintained at all times a Zig- Zag course which would change and alternate every 10 minutes or so. All the time paravanes were set up from the bows towing a steel cable about 20 or 30 yards off the ship to deflect mines that could be loose. On a bright sunny day one could see their winged silvery glint on either side of the vessel. Also on the aft end of the ship was a quite substantial 6” gun plus a couple of Oerlikon pompom anti aircraft guns on the upper deck. The ship had two enormous funnels in contrast to the four of the old Mauretania. Internally there was still a lot of work being carried out in the completion of the vessel, and there were gangs of shipyard workers everywhere finishing off all manner of tasks. The internal swimming pool was only viewable by torchlight, with a complete tangle of wires and conduits lying loosely everywhere waiting for its final finishing touches. There were only about 50 passengers aboard, and we shared the most enormous and glorious open air pool which was far more ideal for the journey through tropical waters. The ship was steaming to Melbourne to embark thousands of Australian “Diggers” (soldiers) for the defence of Egypt and the vital Suez canal.