He
wrote letters to his parents regularly for some years, and in his last
letter told his friends that he was going farther into the bush in
search of gold. For years they waited for further news, which never
arrived; and he was never heard of again, to the great grief of his
father and mother and other members of the family. It was a hazardous
business exploring the wilds of Australia in those days, and it was
quite possible that it was only the numerical strength of Burke's party
and of the search-party itself that saved them from a similar fate.
But many people attributed the misfortunes of the expedition to the
number who took part in it, as there was a great prejudice against the
number thirteen both at home and abroad. We had often, indeed, heard it
said that if thirteen persons sat down to dinner together, one of their
number would die! Some people thought that the legend had some
connection with the Lord's Supper, the twelve Apostles bringing the
number up to thirteen, while others attributed it to a much earlier
period. In Norse mythology, thirteen was considered unlucky, because at
a banquet in Valhalla, the Scandinavian heaven, where twelve had sat
down, Loki intruded and made the number thirteen, and Baldur was killed.
Pages:
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
1051
1052
1053
1054
1055
1056
1057
1058
1059
1060
1061
1062
1063
1064
1065