ATDTDA (15): A counterfeit mission, 406-413 #2

[Paul Nightingale]

>From the opening of the novel Lindsay has attempted to uphold the due
proprieties, usually when provoked by Darby. On 4: ". proceeding to lecture
him on the many evils of looseness in one's expression, not least among them
being the ease with which it may lead to profanity, and worse". In Lindsay's
view, Darby appears to have peaked with "these current manifestations of a
diseased adolescence" (409). In the opening pages Randolph merely pointed
out that "[t]he lad has work to do, and if you frighten him that way, he
sure won't be of much use" (4, surely a dodgy construction from Lindsay's
pov); here, he asks Lindsay to consider the Chums' "public image" (409).
Hence, an indication that, away from the airship, they have to behave
differently. One might suppose this a juxtaposition of the 'fictional' world
of the airship to the 'real' world they encounter when grounded (our first
indication of this aspect of Chumstuff would be the response of Nate's
secretary to Randolph on 24); but we're then informed that Candlebrow has
its own take on reality, one in which "[n]o one, for example, was ever seen
to age", let alone die (409-410). It transpires that "[t]he advantages of
this genial revenance [are] apparent to all ." etc (410), and include the
freedom to ignore anything (eg diet) that might be considered
mortality-threatening: "And all of these diversions and more happened to be
available in profusion down along the river ." etc, where Alonzo Meatman
will be found.

Well, fears for their well-being have motivated the Chums throughout these
most recent Chs29-30. On 398 Randolph makes clear that pursuing Plug is an
alternative to whatever instructions they have been presented with; and
Lindsay has just reminded us that the current mission isn't one sanctioned
by their employers (407). In particular, he cites "ever-more-dangerous
expeditions" and the Chums' "unreflective participation": coming to
Candlebrow is an attempt to forestall their possible/likely "dissolution".
Whatever "dissolution" means, the end of their (operational) unit, or death
perhaps, it signifies a preoccupation with mortality; and the Chums seem to
be at some kind of turning-point in their careers as Part 2 of the novel
concludes. Part 1 concluded with the unsuccessful pursuit of the Vormance
Expedition, just after a "fateful decision to land [that] would immediately
embroil them in the byzantine politics of the region" (117). Cf. at the
beginning of the current chapter reference to "the fatal discovery" (406),
itself an echo of 398, on each occasion the narrator imposing hindsight.