While sailing through the Suez Canal Peter Dreher recounted Otakar the following strange story.
Years ago as an eighteen-year-old
young man he wanted to study machine engineering. One morning – just as he was worrying about how to find money to pay off his first student charges – someone knocked on the door of his room.
His friend Mauritius brought him newspapers.
Dreher turned the key and astounded looked at the red-framed column of the newspapers that his friend put into his hands.
‘Eighteen year old Peter Dreher who lives most probably in Irish Belfast is being searched for. The above-named should report to notary Horatio Berkeley, Cape Town, Long Street 20 with the purpose of taking over an inheritance. The inheritor will obtain money for travel expenses after presenting his personal papers by a Transvaal company in London.’
Dreher’s
father tried tragically, when the boy was only five years old; his mother died when he hardly started attending school. His grandmother then brought up Peter. Yes from time to time she mentioned father’s brother, second-born son Perry who already as an adolescent disappeared years ago somewhere in the world.
Peter Dreher left to go to London to a Transvaal company where the news from the newspapers was confirmed to him and the company’s employees arranged a first class ticket on an overseas ship.
Mauritius accompanied his friend all the way to the Portsmouth Harbour.
Both young men smiled when they noticed high white
letters on the bow of the anchoring ship – MAURITIUS.
During the sail Peter reflected about his future. He now saw everything in the pinkest colours. A few tens of thousands Pounds will never do any harm. Money is key to everything.
An acting officer addressed him once on a promenade deck offering him cigarettes.
But Peter gently pushed away a hand with the offered packet of cigarette with brand …MAURITIUS.
Really, Mauritius is not leaving him! He was amazed. His eagerness for south-African shores and suddenly appearing inheritance was growing from day to day. After three weeks of sail he finally stood in the hall of the villa in Long Street.
Two months ago Peter’s uncle Perry Dreher died and he remembered his nephew in his will. He left him all his belongings. He did not; however leave any cash . After the notary’s brief explanation Peter did not expect any extraordinary riches. When he however entered the shop – he was devastated.
The whole shop was formed from a few shabby shelves with a few dozen old samples of shoes three bags of leather that was not worked. Behind the shop there was a small modestly arranged room, where his uncle apparently lived till his death.
Everything was just a foolish dream, Peter thought. It was getting dark when he opened the only cabinet in the room. A musty smell flew over him. The dark area of the cabinet was full of papers, boxes and business documents with records, letters and accounts. Peter glimpsed handwriting of his father on several pages. Before midnight he gathered all the papers into a big box, which he bound with a thick cord and the following day he announced himself at the notary, telling him he made up his mind to return to Ireland.
The notary would arrange the sale of the inheritance in an auction.
After preliminary calculations it became obvious that the profits from the sale of the property will only by marginally higher than Dreher’s travel expenses. Peter therefore suggested that the notary keeps the proceeds of the auction. If some money was left over he wished it for the improvement of uncle’s tomb.
There are very few to who fate wishes such wonderful holidays, Peter was saying to himself during his return journey.
A dozen stars dominated the sky forming a strange figure.
“That is constellation of River Eridan,” someone said. “Here in the south everyone calls it MAURITIUS.”
A month later Peter Dreher met his friend Mauritius again in his room in Belfast.
He showed Mauritius what he brought back. Dreher opened a huge carton box with father’s letters, uncle’s records, accountant’s books.
Mauritius reached for the envelopes. He got hold of one – his hands started to shake. He got hold of the second, third. What a true and incredible wealth! It was a real sensation! Treasure! Mauritius ran to the window and after a while of careful inspection he shouted out. One of the most precious stamps in the whole world is on these letters. Three times Queen Victoria, twice MAURITIUS even one blue one from 1848!
Peter was shaking his head. He could not believe his luck
In the biggest Belfast philatelist shop Stanley Grohn, Dreher was offered 170,000 for his stamps.
Peter Dreher completed his studies and became a machinery engineer. And when he was recounting Otakar this story while they were sailing through Suez Canal – in his thoughts he was already somewhere else – building several gigantic hydraulic power stations – on the island Mauritius.