Inglorious twelfth?


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Posted by Robert Hill on August 12, 1998 at 14:52:38:

Today, August 12th, is the start of the grouse shooting season
in Britain, known to those who enjoy such things (not me!) as
the Glorious Twelfth (though I believe Orangemen in Northern Ireland
use that phrase to refer to July 12th, for reasons connected with
the seventeenth century).

To mark that date I thought I'd mention a minor chronological
puzzle in Swallowdale, which I believe I have not mentioned
previously on Tarboard, though I've discussed it by email with Bill
Wright, author of the highly chronologically oriented Guide to the
novels (accessible via the Literary Pages (except that on my usual
machine I have not been able to follow the link for months)).

On the top of Kanchenjunga the date is given as 11th August.
If I remember correctly just one night intervenes between then
and the return to the island, namely the night spent by Roger
with the charcoal burners. But at any rate it's at least one
night, so the return to the island is probably on 12th August,
and certainly no earlier.

In the last chapter Nancy asks Captain Flint why he (with help
from Mary Swainson and friend) has moved their camp for them,
and he replies something like: "there'll be grouse shooting all
over the moors tomorrow, so I thought it better to get you out
of the way". This would seem to place the return to the island
on the 11th.


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