ATDDTA (6): Fortune hunter, 168-170 #1

[Paul Nightingale]

Previously, Fleetwood "preferr[ed] to take the title of 'Explorer'
literally, and do nothing but explore" (159). We're informed of this in the
passage that records the profligacy of the Vibe sons: "It did not hurt
Fleetwood's chances that a hefty Vibe trust fund was there to pick up the
bills ..." etc.

We meet Fleetwood with the Vormance expedition (130), which is where the
current section ends, with Fleetwood in Johannesburg: "Word was about that
Alden Vormance was getting up a party to go north and recover a meteorite."
(170) This is, then, a revisionist account: previously, on 130, Fleetwood is
there "at the behest of his father ... effectively bankrolling the
expedition". So at this point one can say that Fleetwood is gainfully
employed on behalf of his father's business concerns. Furthermore, the
implication is that this is an ongoing arrangement: Fleetwood knows he
doesn't have his father's trust, "important data were being withheld ..."
etc (131).

Hence, Fleetwood first appears as an employee, and one less trusted,
perhaps, than Foley Walker. This relationship is replicated in the story
Scarsdale tells Kit, the account of Colfax as gofer (157): SV wishes to test
his sons in the hope that they will demonstrate some of their pa's spirit.
(In passing, cf: Webb introducing his children to dynamite, 90-91). 

If Fleetwood first appears as an employee, this status is inferior: the
Journal notes that "we were ignored, nearly unsensed" by the "delegation
from the Museum" (145). But: inferior to what? To the disinterested pursuit
of science, which the Journal seeks to portray? The current chapter,
reintroducing Fleetwood, notes that he "got out of the house early" and
"kept as clear of political games as of any real scientific inquiry" (159).
A 'disinterested' devotion to exploring--means without an end--precludes any
other attachment, even though the Journal begins with a reference to
"scientific objectivity" (138). The account provided by the Journal, of
course, has as its audience Fleetwood himself and, possibly, posterity.
Either way, in the short term, this is how Fleetwood wishes to present
himself to himself. The subsequent passage summarising the failings ("crazy
as bedbugs") of the "Vibe offspring" might itself be no more
objective/trustworthy than gossip, a possibility is signalled at the outset:
"It had often been commented on ..." (159). The chapter as a whole
prioritises Kit's pov, so this is simply the view he has of Colfax's family.

The scene with Yitzhak Zilberfeld takes the form of reminiscence ("he was no
longer sure where, exactly", 165) and by implication it is an account
Fleetwood gives to Kit: according to this version, Fleetwood rejects
Yitzhak's offer of "a number of investment tips, plus the names of useful
banking contacts ..." (167).

The current section, then, finally identifies Fleetwood as the occupant of
"the haunted floor of the house", where he knows he will be left alone: it
is "the one part of the house ... reserved for any who could not reside
there" (168). Cf: his words earlier when speaking to Kit: "There's home, and
there's home, you know." (165)