Le Premier Pas

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"Le Premier Pas"

Le Premier Pas 01.jpg

1899 illustration by Frank Parker
Author E. W. Hornung
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Series A. J. Raffles
Genre(s) Crime fiction
Publisher Methuen Publishing
Media type Print (Collection)
Publication date August 1899
Preceded by "Gentlemen and Players"
Followed by "Wilful Murder"

"Le Premier Pas" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was first published as the fourth story in the collection The Amateur Cracksman , published by Methuen & Co. Ltd in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1899. [1] This and "Wilful Murder" were the two stories in the collection not published previously in magazine format. [2]

E. W. Hornung British writer

Ernest William Hornung was an English author and poet known for writing the A. J. Raffles series of stories about a gentleman thief in late 19th-century London. Hornung was educated at Uppingham School; as a result of poor health he left the school in December 1883 to travel to Sydney, where he stayed for two years. He drew on his Australian experiences as a background when he began writing, initially short stories and later novels.

Bunny Manders

Harry Manders is a character in the popular series of Raffles novels by E.W. Hornung. He is the faithful companion of Raffles, a cricketer and gentleman thief, who makes a living robbing the rich in late Victorian British High Society.

Contents

Plot

Raffles and Bunny are together at the Albany. Raffles decides to finally tell Bunny the tale of his first crime:

Raffles is in Melbourne for the Test match, and runs into debt. He is removed from play for some days due to a hand injury; the surgeon who attends him mentions there is a man named Raffles who is manager at a bank, recently promoted to a new location in Yea. Raffles supposes the man may be a long-lost relative, and may be of help to him. The doctor loans Raffles his horse. After writing to the other Raffles in spite of his wounded hand, Raffles rides through Whittlesea. Along the way, he comes upon an eerily riderless horse, followed by a horse with a suspicious rider; the rider lies to the naive Raffles about the fastest path to Yea.

Test cricket the longest form of the sport of cricket; so called due to its long, grueling nature

Test cricket is the form of the sport of cricket with the longest duration, and is considered the game's highest standard. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined and conferred by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The term Test stems from the fact of the form's long, gruelling matches being both mentally and physically testing. Two teams of 11 players each play a four-innings match, which may last up to five days. It is generally considered the most complete examination of a team's endurance and ability.

Yea, Victoria Town in Victoria, Australia

Yea is a town in Victoria, Australia 100 kilometres (62 mi) north-east of Melbourne at the junction of the Goulburn Valley Highway and the Melba Highway, in the Shire of Murrindindi local government area. In an area originally inhabited by the Taungurong people, it was first visited by Europeans of the Hume and Hovell expedition in 1824, and within 15 years most of the land in the area had been taken up by graziers. Surveyed in 1855, the township grew as a service centre for grazing, gold-mining and timber-getting in the area.

Whittlesea, Victoria Town in Victoria, Australia


Whittlesea is a town in Victoria, Australia, 40 kilometres (25 mi) north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the City of Whittlesea. At the 2016 census, Whittlesea had a population of 5,611.

Upon arriving late in the township, Raffles is met by a bank manager, who was awaiting him. The man warns him of bushrangers. He leads Raffles to the bank, and presents to him the letter that Raffles wrote his potential relative the previous day. Raffles realizes that he and this man have each mistaken each other for the other Raffles. Raffles maintains the ruse.

"Before I tasted my soup I had decided what to do. I had determined to rob that bank instead of going to bed, and to be back in Melbourne for breakfast if the doctor's mare could do it."

— Raffles, deciding to burgle the bank [3]

Over dinner with the man, named Ewbank, Raffles contemplates robbing the bank. While cleverly maintaining his ruse, Raffles learns the details of the bank from Ewbank. After dinner, Raffles persuades Ewbank to show him around. They retire. When he hears Ewbank snoring, Raffles exits the bank to prepare his horse for a speedy departure. He reenters and uses the secret strong-room keys to enters the strong-room. He takes a couple hundred sovereigns. Suddenly, there is a knocking at the bank's door.

Raffles, who brought a revolver, goes to meet the threat, but retreats at the sound Ewbank's approach. Ewbank lets in the newcomer, who has been abused by bushrangers. He is the real Raffles who Ewbank was expecting. Together they realize that the first Raffles to arrive is an imposter, and probably one of the bushrangers. They search for him. Raffles silently closes the store-room door, just in time to not be seen. Raffles waits for them to move on upstairs, and flees on his horse to a hotel in Melbourne. Raffles's loss of innocence is marked by him shaving off his heavy moustache. He later returns the horse to the doctor.

Adaptations

BBC Radio did not adapt "Le Premier Pas" as part of their radio drama adaptation of the Raffles saga. [4]

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The Spoils of Sacrilege short story by Ernest William Hornung

"A Trap to Catch a Cracksman" is a short story by E. W. Hornung, and features the gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and his companion and biographer, Bunny Manders. The story was published in August 1905 by Pall Mall Magazine in London. The story was also included as the seventh story in the collection A Thief in the Night, published by Chatto & Windus in London, and Charles Scribner's Sons in New York, both in 1905.

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Rowland, page 280.
  2. ↑ Rowland, page 283.
  3. ↑ Hornung, page 130.
  4. ↑ Frank M. Passage (20 May 2004). "Raffles". Old-Time Radio. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
Sources
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