The Lieutenant: Part 5, Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

Fifty years later, Rooke still spends his time watching the stars. They didn't hang him for his defiance but when they suggested he apologize to Governor Gilbert and continue to serve in the military, he refused. Rooke instead went to Antigua. He found it fitting that he once watched a man hang there for disobeying, and now he's there after disobeying too.

Rooke lies awake in the dark, waiting for sunrise. He knows that death will come for him soon, as he's in great pain. Rooke looks around his room at the broken curtains and dirty floor. He tidies and cleans in his mind, but hasn't actually cleaned anything in weeks. Henrietta, his servant, is too busy caring for Rooke to clean, especially since he hasn't been able to pay her for a year. She stays out of a sense of honor. She told Rooke that he'd been good to her and the other slaves.

Rooke thinks that it's melodramatic to say that he gave his life for the slaves. He thinks that he technically only gave two thirds of his life to them, and wonders how ill he'll have to be before he stops thinking in rational numbers. Rooke's wife, son, and daughter are gone or dead, and now he only has Henrietta. Rooke hears her in the kitchen and knows that she'll soon bring him a slice of mango and some boiled yam. Rooke dreams about eating oatmeal, but in Antigua, oatmeal is a luxury and he has no money.

Rooke bought Henrietta at an auction, along with many other slaves. He began keeping track of how many he'd bought, but soon stopped. Rooke had freed them all, and when he ran out of money to pay them, they all left except for Henrietta.

Rooke wonders if he should regret the decision he made to defy the governor in New South Wales, but he only wishes that he could see his wife and Anne again, and maybe eat oatmeal. He finds he doesn't regret his decision. Rooke hears Henrietta coming up the stairs. She feeds him a bite of the yam and then the mango, even though he doesn't really want to eat anything. When he's finished, he lies back and thinks he can't bear to suffer through another day. Henrietta sits for a while and holds his hands.

Rooke thinks of "putuwa," the word that Tagaran taught him. He thinks that it's dusk in New South Wales, and Tagaran is a grown woman with children and possibly grandchildren. He knows that she remembers him, and that she certainly told her children about him. Rooke thinks that she also certainly knows that he kept the notebooks. The notebooks traveled with him to London, then to Africa, and now sit in his dresser drawer. He takes comfort in knowing that when both he and Tagaran are dead, the notebooks will tell the story of their friendship. Rooke had hoped to return to New South Wales, but he never did. He wonders if he would make the same choice again, knowing that he would end up an ill, old man in a hot room.

On Rooke's last morning in New South Wales, he woke early. It had only been a month since the punitive expedition. Rooke watched the Gorgon, the ship that would take him back to England, sitting in the harbor. He looked at the stars and thought that they'd still be there long after he was gone. The ship left around noon, and Rooke stood at the stern and looked back towards his point. The natives called the point Tarra. Rooke had tried to name it after Dr. Vickery, but the other settlers insisted on naming it after Rooke.

Rooke could see a few natives on the point, including Tagaran. She had come to see him that morning, more subdued than usual. She had gone to the fire, warmed her hands, and sat next to Rooke on his trunk. She took his hands and warmed them, and Rooke closed his eyes. He thought he didn't know whose hands were whose.

Rooke and Tagaran looked at each for a moment when the men arrived to carry Rooke's chest down to the ship. Rooke clenched his hands to hold onto the warmth from Tagaran and boarded the ship. As he stood in the stern and watched her disappear, he noticed that she was as far out on the rocks as she could get without being in the water. Rooke smiled at her until he couldn't see her anymore, but he felt as though she would always be a part of him. He thinks that she'll always be like a distant star, light even if he can't see her.