Droop's Theory In Practice
: The PanchroniconAll were up betimes when the faithful clock announced that it ought to
be morning. As for the sun, as though resenting the liberties about to
be taken by these adventurers with its normal functions, it refused to
set, and was found by the three travellers at the same altitude as the
night before.
Promptly after breakfast Droop proceeded to don a suit of furs which he
drew from a cupboard within the engine
"Ye'd better hev suthin' hot ready when I come in again," he said. "I
'xpect I'll be nigh froze to death."
He drew on a huge cap of bear's fur which extended from his crown to his
shoulders. There was a small hole in front which exposed only his nose
and eyes.
"My, but you do look just like a pictur of Kris Kringle!" laughed
Phoebe. "Don't he, Rebecca?"
Rebecca came to the kitchen door wiping a dish with slow circular
movements of her towel.
"I don't guess you'll freeze very much with all that on," she remarked.
"Thet shows you don't know what seventy or eighty below zero means,"
said a muffled voice from within the fur cap. "You'll hev suthin' hot,
won't ye?" Droop continued, looking appealingly at Phoebe.
"The'll be a pot o' good hot tea," she said. "That'll warm you all
right."
Droop thought of something more stimulating and fragrant, but said
nothing as he returned to the cupboard. Here he drew forth an apparently
endless piece of stout rope. This he wound in a thick coil and hung over
his head.
"Now, then," he said, "when I get down you shet the door at the top of
the stairs tight, coz jest's soon's I open the outside door, thet hall's
goin' to freeze up solid."
"All right!" said Phoebe. "I'll see to it."
Droop descended the stairs with a heavy tread, and as he reached the
foot Phoebe closed the upper door, which she now noticed was provided
with weather-strips.
Then the two women stood at the windows on the right-hand side of the
vessel and watched Droop as he walked toward the pole. He raised the
huge iron ring, snapping over it a special coupling hook fixed to the
end of the rope.
Then he backed toward the vessel, unrolling the coil of rope as he moved
away from the pole. Evidently they were within the forty-foot limit from
the pole, for Droop had some rope to spare when he at length reached
under the machine to attach the end to a ring which the sisters could
not see.
He emerged from beneath the bulging side of the vessel swinging his
arms and blowing a mighty volume of steam, which turned to snow as it
left him. As he made directly for the entrance again, Phoebe ran to
the kitchen.
"Poor man, he'll be perished!" she exclaimed.
As Droop entered the room, bringing with him a bitter atmosphere,
Phoebe appeared with a large cup of hot tea.
"Here, Mr. Droop," she said, "drink this quick!"
Copernicus pulled off his cap and sat down to drink his tea without a
word. When he had finished it, he pulled back his chair with a sigh.
"Whillikins! But 'twas cold!" he exclaimed. "Seems mos' like heaven to
get into a nice warm room like this!"
"An' did ye get every thin' done right?" Rebecca asked.
"I guess I did," he said, emphatically. "I don't want to take no two
bites out o' that kind o' cherry."
He rose and proceeded to remove his fur coverings.
"Goin' to start right now?" said Phoebe.
"Might's well, I guess."
He proceeded to the engine-room, followed by Phoebe, who watched his
actions with the greatest interest.
"What you doin' with that handle?" she asked.
"That sets the airyplane on the uptilt. I'm only settin' it a mite--jest
'nough to keep the machine from sinkin' down when we get to movin'."
"How are you goin' to lift us up?"
"Just let out a mite o' gas below," said Droop. He suited the action to
the word, and, with a tremendous hissing beneath it, the vessel rose
slowly.
Droop pulled the starting lever and they moved forward with increasing
speed. When they had gathered way, he shut off the gas escape and
carefully readjusted the aeroplanes until the machine as a whole moved
horizontally.
There was felt a slight jerk as they reached the end of the rope, and
then they began to move in a circle from east to west.
Phoebe glanced at the clock.
"Just five minutes past eight," she said.
The sun was pouring its beams into the right-hand windows when they
started, but the shafts of light now began to sweep circularly across
the floor, and in a few moments, as they faced the sun, it ceased to
shine in from the right. Immediately afterward it shone in at the
left-hand windows and circled slowly around until again they were in
shadow with the sun behind them.
Droop took out his watch and timed their revolutions by the sun's
progress from window to window.
"'Bout one to the minute," he remarked. "Guess I'll speed her up a
mite."
Carefully he regulated the speed, timing their revolutions accurately.
"There!" he said at length. "I guess that's pretty nigh two to the
minute. D'ye feel any side weight?" he said, addressing his companions.
"No," said Rebecca.
Phoebe shook her head.
"You manage right well, Mr. Droop," she said. "You must have practised a
good deal."
"Oh, not much," he replied, greatly pleased. "The future man showed me
how to work it three--four times. It's simple 'nough when ye understand
the principles."
These remarks brought a new idea to Rebecca's mind.
"Why, Mr. Droop," she exclaimed, "whatever's the use o' you goin' back
to 1876! Why don't ye jest set up as the inventor o' this machine? I'm
sure thet ought to make yer everlastin' fortune!"
"Oh, I thought o' that," he said. "But it's one thing to know how to
work a thing an' it's a sight different to know how it's made an' all
that. The future man tried to explain all the new scientific principles
that was mixed into it--fer makin' power an' all--but I couldn't
understand that part at all."
"An' besides," exclaimed Phoebe, "it's a heap more fun to be the only
ones can use the thing, I think."
"Yes--seems like fun's all we're thinkin' of," said Rebecca, rising and
moving toward the kitchen. "We're jest settin' round doin' nothin'. I'll
finish with the breakfast things if you'll put to rights and dust,
Phoebe. We can't make beds till night with the windows tight shut."
These suggestions were followed by the two women, while Droop, picking
up the newspaper which Rebecca had brought, sat down to read.
After a long term of quiet reading, his attention was distracted by
Rebecca's voice.
"I declare to goodness, Phoebe!" she was saying. "Seems's if every
chance you get, you go to readin' those old letters."
"Well, the's one or two that's spelled so funny and written so badly
that I haven't been able yet to read them," Phoebe replied.
Droop looked over his paper. Phoebe and her sister were seated near
one of the windows on the opposite side.
"P'raps I could help ye, Cousin Phoebe," he said. "I've got mighty
strong eyesight."
"Oh, 'tain't a question of eyesight," Phoebe replied, laughing.
"Oh, I see," said Droop, smiling slyly, "letters from some young feller,
eh?"
He winked knowingly at Rebecca, who drew herself up indignantly and
looked severely down at her knitting.
Phoebe blushed, but replied quite calmly:
"Yes--some of them from a young man, but they weren't any of them
written to me."
"No?" said Droop. "Who was they to--'f I may ask?"
"They were all written to this lady."
Phoebe held something out for Droop's inspection, and he walked over
to take it.
He recognized at once the miniature on ivory which he had seen once
before in Peltonville.
"Well," he said, taking the portrait from her and eying it with his head
on one side, "if ye hadn't said 'twasn't you, I'd certainly a-thought
'twas. I'd mos' sworn 'twas your photygraph, Cousin Phoebe. Who is it,
anyway?"
"It isn't anybody," she replied, "but it was Mistress Mary Burton of
Burton Hall. I'm one of her descendants, an' these are some letters she
had with her in this funny old carved box when she disappeared with her
lover. They fled to Holland and were married there, the story goes, an'
one o' their children came over in the early days o' New England. He
brought the letters an' the picture with him."
"Well, now! I want to know!" exclaimed Droop, in great admiration.
"'Twouldn't be perlite, I s'pose, to ask to hear some o' them letters?"
"Would you like to hear some of them?" Phoebe asked.
"I would fer a fact," he replied.
"Well, bring your chair over here and I'll read you one," she said.
Droop seated himself near the two sisters and Phoebe unfolded a large
and rather rough sheet of paper, yellow with age, on which Droop
perceived a bold scrawl in a faded ink.
"This seems to have been from Mary Burton's father," Phoebe said. "I
don't think he can have been a very nice man. This is what he says:
"'Dear Poll'--horrid nickname, isn't it?"
"Seems so to me," said Droop.
"'Dear Poll--I'm starting behind the grays for London, on my way, as you
know ere this, to be knighted by her Majesty. I send this ahead by
Gregory on Bess--she being fast enow for my purpose--which is to get
thee straight out of the grip of that'----"
Phoebe hesitated.
"He uses a bad word there," she said, in a low tone. "I'll go on and
leave that out."
"Yes, do," said Droop.
"'That ---- aunt of thine,'" she continued, reading. "'I know her tricks
and I learn how she hath suffered that'----"
"There's another," said Phoebe.
"Skip it," said Droop, gravely.
"'That ---- milk-and-water popinjay to come courting my Poll. So see you
follow Gregory, mistress, and without wait or parley come with him to
the Peacock Inn, where I lie to-night. The grays are in fine fettle and
thy black mare grows too fat for want of exercise. Thy mother-in-law
commands thy instant return with Gregory, having much business forward
with preparing gowns and fallals against our presentation to her
Majesty.'"
"It is signed 'Isaac Burton,'" said Phoebe, "and see, the paper was
sealed with a steel gauntlet."
Droop examined the seal carefully and then returned it, saying:
"Looks to me like a bunch of 'sparagus tumbled over on one side."
Phoebe laughed.
"But what always interests me most in this letter is the postscript,"
she said. "It reads: 'Thy mother thinks thou wilt make better speed if I
make thee to know that the players thou wottest of'----"
"What's a 'wottest'?" said Droop, in puzzled tones.
"Wottest means knowest--haven't you read Shakespeare?"
"No," said Droop.
"'The players thou wottest of are to stop at the Peacock, and will be
giving some sport there.'
"Now, those players always interest me," Phoebe continued. "Somehow I
can't help but believe that William Shakespeare----"
"Fiddle ends!" Rebecca interrupted. "I've heard that talk fifty-leven
times an' I'm pinin' fer relief. Mr. Droop, would you mind tellin' us
what the time o' year is now. Seems to me that sun has whirled in an'
out o' that window 'nough times to bring us back to the days o'
creation."
Droop consulted the date indicator and announced that it was now
September 5, 1897.
"Not a year yet!" cried the two women together.
"Why, no," said Copernicus. "Ye see, we are takin' about three hours to
lose a year."
"Fer the lands sakes!" cried Rebecca. "Can't we go a little faster?"
"My gracious, yes!" said Droop. "But I'm 'fraid o' the side weight fer
ye."
"I'd rather hev side weight than wait forever," said Rebecca, with a
grim smile.
"D'ye think ye could stand a little more speed, Cousin Phoebe?" said
Droop.
"We might try," she replied.
"Well, let's try, then," he said, and turned promptly to the
engine-room.
Very soon the difference in speed was felt, and as they found themselves
travelling more rapidly in a circle, the centrifugal force now became
distinctly perceptible.
The two women found themselves obliged to lean somewhat toward the
central pole to counteract this tendency, and as Copernicus emerged from
the engine-room he came toward the others at a decided angle to the
floor.
"There! now ye feel the side weight," he exclaimed.
"My, ain't it funny!" exclaimed Rebecca. "Thet's the way I've felt afore
now when the cars was goin' round a curve--kinder topplin' like."
"Why, that is the centrifugal force," Phoebe said, with dignity.
"It's the side weight--that's what I call it," Droop replied,
obstinately, and for some time there was silence.
"How many years back are we makin' by the hour now, Mr. Droop?" Rebecca
asked at length.
"Jest a little over two hours fer a year now," he replied.
"Well," said Rebecca, in a discontented tone, "I think the old
Panchronicle is rayther a slow actin' concern, considerin' th' amount o'
side weight it makes. I declare I'm mos' tired out leanin' over to one
side, like old man Titus's paralytic cow."
Phoebe laughed and Droop replied:
"If ye can't stand it or set it, why lay, Cousin Rebecca. The's good
settles all 'round."
With manifestly injured feelings Droop hunted up a book and sat down to
read in silence. The Panchronicon was his pet and he did not relish its
being thus contemned.
The remainder of the morning was spent in almost completely silent work
or reading. Droop scarce took his eyes from his book. Phoebe spent
part of the time deep in the Baconian work and part of the time
contemplating the monotonous landscape. Rebecca was dreaming of her
future past--or her past future, while her knitting grew steadily upon
its needles.
The midday meal was duly prepared and disposed of, and, as the afternoon
wore away, the three travellers began to examine the date indicator and
to ask themselves surreptitiously whether or not they actually felt any
younger. They took sly peeps at each other's faces to observe, if
possible, any signs of returning youth.
By supper-time there was certainly a less aged air about each of the
three and the elders inwardly congratulated themselves upon the
unmistakable effects of another twelve hours.
Not long after the supper dishes had been washed, Rebecca took Phoebe
aside and said:
"Phoebe, it seems to me you'd ought to be goin' to bed right soon,
now. You're only 'bout eighteen years old at present, an' you'll
certainly begin to grow smaller again very soon. It wouldn't hardly be
respectable fer ye to do yer shrinkin' out here."
This view of the probabilities had not yet struck Phoebe.
"Why, no!" she exclaimed, rather startled. "I--I don't know's I thought
about it. But I certainly don't want Mr. Droop to see me when my clothes
begin to hang loose."
Then a new problem presented itself.
"Come to think of it, Rebecca," she said, dolefully, "what'll I do all
the time between full-grown and baby size? I didn't bring anything but
the littlest clothes, you know."
"Thet's so," said Rebecca, thoughtfully. Then, after a pause: "I don't
see but ye'll hev to stay abed, Phoebe, till we get to th' end," she
said, sympathetically.
"There it is," said Phoebe, crossly. "Gettin' sent to bed
a'ready--even before I expected it."
"But 'tain't that, Phoebe," said Rebecca, with great concern. "I ain't
sendin' ye to bed--but--but--whatever else can ye do with a man in
the house!"
"Nothin'," Phoebe replied, with a toss of her chin.
She crossed the room and held out her hand to Droop.
"Good-night, Mr. Droop," she said.
Surprised at this sudden demonstration of friendship, he took her hand
and tipped his head to one side as he looked into her face.
"Next time you see me, I don't suppose you'll know me, I'll be so
little," she said, trying to laugh.
"I--I wish't you'd call me Cousin Copernicus," he said, coaxingly.
"Well, p'raps I will when I see ye again," she replied, freeing her hand
with a slight effort.
Rebecca retired shortly after her sister and Copernicus was once more
left alone. He rubbed his hands slowly, with a sense of satisfaction,
and glanced at the date dial.
"July 2, 1892," he said to himself. "I'm only thirty-four years old.
Don't feel any older than that, either."
He walked deliberately to the shutters, closed them and turned on the
electric light. Surrounded thus by the wonted conditions of night, it
was not long before he began to yawn. He removed his coat and shoes and
lay back in an easy chair to meditate at ease. He faced toward the pole
so that the "side weight" would tend to press him gently backward into
his chair and therefore not annoy him by calling for constant opposing
effort.
He soon dozed off and was whisked through a quick succession of
fantastic dreams. Then he awoke suddenly, and as though someone had
spoken to him. Listening intently, he only heard the low murmur of the
machinery below and the ticking of the many clocks and indicators all
about him.
He closed his eyes, intending to take up that last dream where he had
been interrupted. He recollected that he had been on the very point of
some delightful consummation, but just what it was he could not recall.
Sleep evaded him, however. His mind reverted to the all-important
question of the recovered years. He began to plan again.
This time he should not make his former mistakes. No--he would not only
make immense wealth promptly with the great inventions, he would give up
liquor forever. It would be so easy in 1876, for he had never taken up
the unfortunate habit until 1888.
Then--rich, young, sober, he would seek out a charming, rosy,
good-natured girl--something of the type of Phoebe, for instance. They
would be married and----
He got up at this and looked at the clock. It was after midnight. He
looked at the date indicator. It said October 9, 1890.
"Well, come!" he thought. "The old Panchronicon is a steady vessel.
She's keepin' right on."
He put on his shoes again, for something made him nervous and he wished
to walk up and down.
The first thing he did after his shoes were donned was to gaze at
himself in the mirror.
"Don't look any younger," he thought, "but I feel so." He walked across
the room once or twice.
"Shucks!" he exclaimed. "Couldn't expect to look younger in these old
duds, an' at this time o' night, too--tired like I am."
For some time he walked up and down, keeping his eyes resolutely from
the date indicator. Finally he threw himself down in the chair again and
closed his eyes, nervous and exhausted. He did not feel sleepy, but he
must have dozed, for the next time he looked at the clock it was
half-past one.
He put out the light and crossed to a settle. Here he lay at full length
courting sleep. When he awoke, he thought, refreshed and alert, he would
show his youth unmistakably.
But sleep would not return. He tried every position, every trick for
propitiating Morpheus. All in vain.
At length he rose again and turned on the light. It was two-fifteen.
This time he could not resist looking at the date indicator.
It said September 30, 1889.
Again he looked into the glass.
"My, but I'm nervous!" he thought as he turned away, disappointed. "I
look older than ever!"
As he paced the floor there all alone, he began to doubt for the first
time the success of his plan.
"It must work right!" he said aloud. "Didn't I go back five weeks
with that future man? Didn't he----"
A fearful thought struck him. Had he perhaps made a mistake? Had they
been cutting meridians the wrong way?
But no; the indicator could not be wrong, and that registered a
constantly earlier date.
"Ah, I know!" he suddenly exclaimed. "I'll ask Cousin Phoebe."
He reflected a moment. Yes--the idea was a good one. She would be only
fifteen years old by this time, and must certainly have changed to an
extent of which he was at his age incapable. Besides, she had been
asleep, and nervous insomnia could not be responsible for retarding the
evidences of youth in her case. His agony of dread lest this great
experiment fail made him bold.
He walked directly to Phoebe's door and knocked--first softly, then
more loudly.
"Cousin Phoebe--Cousin Phoebe," he said.
After a few calls and knockings, there came a sleepy reply from within.
"Well--what--who is it?"
"It's Cousin Copernicus," he said. "Please tell me. Hev ye shrunk any
yet?"
"What--how?" The tones were very sleepy indeed.
"Hev ye shrunk any yet? Are ye growin' littler in there? Oh, please feel
fer the footboard with yer toe!"
He waited and heard a rustling as of someone moving in bed.
"Did ye feel the footboard?" he asked.
"Yes--kicked it good--now let me sleep." She was ill-natured with much
drowsiness.
Poor Droop staggered away from the door as though he had been struck.
All had failed, then. They were circling uselessly. Those inventions
would never be his. The golden dreams he had been nursing--oh,
impossible! It was unbearable!
He put both hands to his head and walked across the room. He paused
half-consciously before a small closet partly hidden in the wall.
With an instinctive movement, he touched a spring and the door slid
back. He drew from the cupboard thus revealed two bottles and a glass
and returned to seat himself at the table.
A half an hour later the Panchronicon, circling in the outer brightness
and silence, contained three unconscious travellers, and one of them sat
with his arms flung across the table supporting his head, and beside him
an empty bottle.
More
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I had been busy all day trying to swarm the bees and secure my honey. The previous day had been February 29th, a date which doesn't often happen, and which I had especial reason to remember, for it had been the most successful of my business caree... Dr Kemp's Visitor
Dr. Kemp had continued writing in his study until the shots aroused him. Crack, crack, crack, they came one after the other. "Hullo!" said Dr. Kemp, putting his pen into his mouth again and listening. "Who's letting off revolvers in Burdock? Wha... Dragon Worm And Moss Death
For a small eternity--to me at least--we waited. Then as silent as ever the green dwarf returned. "It is well," he said, some of the strain gone from his voice. "Grip hands again, and follow." "Wait a bit, Rador," this was Larry. "Does Lugur kno... Dream
Saturday, 29 February 2572 Odeon was too edgy to sleep, too nervous about Joanie's prospects for recovery even to rest well, and more than a little apprehensive about the Brothers, so not long after midnight he gave up his useless attempt t... Dreary Months
Henceforth, then, with a velocity ever increasing, Gallia would re-approach the sun. Except the thirteen Englishmen who had been left at Gibraltar, every living creature had taken refuge in the dark abyss of the volcano's crater. And with th... Droop's Theory In Practice
All were up betimes when the faithful clock announced that it ought to be morning. As for the sun, as though resenting the liberties about to be taken by these adventurers with its normal functions, it refused to set, and was found by the three tr... Dunark Visits Earth
Martin Crane reclined in a massive chair, the fingers of his right hand lightly touching those of his left, listening attentively. Richard Seaton strode up and down the room before his friend, his unruly brown hair on end, speaking savagely betwee... Duquesne Goes Traveling
In the innermost private office of Steel, Brookings and DuQuesne stared at each other across the massive desk. DuQuesne's voice was cold, his black brows were drawn together. "Get this, Brookings, and get it straight. I'm shoving off at twelve ... Duquesne's Voyage
Far from our solar system a cigar-shaped space-car slackened its terrific acceleration to a point at which human beings could walk, and two men got up, exercised vigorously to restore the circulation to their numbed bodies, and went into the galle... Earthmen Bearing Gifts
Dhar Ry sat alone in his room, meditating. From outside the door he caught a thought wave equivalent to a knock, and, glancing at the door, he willed it to slide open. It opened. "Enter, my friend," he said. He could have projected the idea ... Eberhard Amelungen
On arriving at his office close to the Duke of Wellington Hotel, Heideck found his staff extremely busy. One lieutenant was looking through the French and German newspapers for important information; another was studying the Russian and English jo... Edith's Adventures
It was a long time before the two lovers were sufficiently composed to explain to each other fully the almost fabulous events that had lately occurred. Heideck, of course, wanted to know, first of all, how Edith had contrived to escape without ... Edith's Last Journey
Skipper Brandelaar had given Edith the name of the inn near the harbour, where he expected a message from Heideck in the course of the night; for he felt certain that the Major would be anxious to speak to him as soon as possible. But he was co... Effect Of The President's Communication
It is impossible to describe the effect produced by the last words of the honorable president-- the cries, the shouts, the succession of roars, hurrahs, and all the varied vociferations which the American language is capable of supplying. It was ... Egocentric Orbit
It took a long time for human beings to accept that our little piece of meteoric rubble wasn't the exact and absolute center of the Universe. It does appear that way, doesn't it? It may not take so long for a spaceman to learn ... Nea... Elusive Truth
It was the Chicago Tribune of June 13th, 189-, which contained this paragraph under the head-line: "Big Broker Missing!" "The friends of Isidor Werner, a young man prominent in Board of Trade circles, are much concerned about him, as he ha... Entr'acte
There had been no final understanding between Constans and Piers Major as to the precise line of the attack upon the citadel. That must depend upon the successful carrying of the defences at the boundary and upon the duration of the skirmishing in... Entrapped
Turan the panthan approached the strange city under cover of the darkness. He entertained little hope of finding either food or water outside the wall, but he would try and then, if he failed, he would attempt to make his way into the city, for Tara... Eric Donovan 2031
Eric was glad to get to the office and shut the door. Lately he'd had this feeling whenever he went out, this feeling that people were staring at him. It wasn't just his imagination: they did stare. Every younger person over a yard high got stared... Escape
Dian glanced downward and shuddered. Her tribe were hill people--they were not accustomed to swimming other than in quiet rivers and placid lakelets. It was not the steep that appalled her. It was the ocean--vast, mysterious, terrible. To dive... Escape!
We had little time, however, to waste in endearments, and very little to devote to informing me as to the American plans. The essential thing was that I report the Han plans and resources to the fullest of my ability. And for an hour or two I talk... Essex Maid
The rain and wind lasted for three days, clearing at last on an evening which proved eventful. Mr. Evringham had taken a long ride into the country roundabout, and Jewel had been down at the gate to greet his return. He swung her up into the sadd... Eternity Or Death
He was well in the center of the cavity when the soft ground beneath him gave way suddenly and he catapulted below into the darkness. Through the Stygian gloom he fell in what seemed to be an endless drop. He finally crashed upon something hard. T... Exciting Discussions About An Unparalleled Enterprise
At these words a cold shiver ran through me. Yet I controlled myself; I even resolved to put a good face upon it. Scientific arguments alone could have any weight with Professor Liedenbrock. Now there were good ones against the practicability of suc... Experiments In Intercourse
When at last we had made an end of eating, the Selenites linked our hands closely together again, and then untwisted the chains about our feet and rebound them, so as to give us a limited freedom of movement. Then they unfastened the chains about ou... Exploring
AT Harry's call, James Starr, Madge, and Simon Ford entered through the narrow orifice which put the Dochart pit in communication with the new mine. They found themselves at the beginning of a tolerably wide gallery. One might well believe that it... Fact And Fancy
"Have you ever seen the Moon?" said a teacher ironically one day in class to one of his pupils. "No, sir;" was the pert reply; "but I think I can safely say I've heard it spoken about." Though saying what he considered a smart thing, the pupi... Faithfully Yours
JULY 18, 1949 A.D. The fugitive lay face down in the fetid undergrowth, drawing in spasmodic lungfuls of air through cracked and swollen lips. Long before, his blue workshirt had been ripped to ribbons and his exposed chest showed a spiderwork ... Familiar Scenes And Faces
Silver Cloud was wafted by a gentle breeze to the center of Lower Michigan. For two or three hours after sunrise there was nearly a dead calm. Then a brisk breeze from due east arose, and they started for Lake Michigan at a great speed. "This w... Family
As she experienced, for minutes almost becoming, each of the Sealed men, Cortin's appreciation of them grew. Tony's quiet, unobtrusive competence, Ivan's culture and dry humor, the Prince's devotion to his wife and the Systems, the others' vary... Family Affairs
He continued to watch the child furtively, while she made her arrangements for writing. Finding that no chair in the room would bring her to a proper height for the table, she looked all about, and finally skipped over to the morocco lounge and tugg... Famine Then Victory Followed By Dismay
I had only just time to replace the unfortunate document upon the table. Professor Liedenbrock seemed to be greatly abstracted. The ruling thought gave him no rest. Evidently he had gone deeply into the matter, analytically and with profound sc... Fancy And Reality
"Have you ever seen the moon?" asked a professor, ironically, of one of his pupils. "No, sir!" replied the pupil, still more ironically, "but I must say I have heard it spoken of." In one sense, the pupil's witty answer might be given by a la... Far Into Space
A month passed away. Gallia continued its course, bearing its little population onwards, so far removed from the ordinary influence of human passions that it might almost be said that its sole ostensible vice was represented by the greed and avari... Farewell To Beauty And The Beast
The royal patient slept soundly until eight o'clock the following morning, or six consecutive hours. This was so entirely new and different from anything she had experienced for a very long time, that nothing could exceed her own and the astonishm... Farewell To Earth
The next day I quietly bought in my wheat, and told Flynn I was thinking of taking a little vacation. I said I was worn out fighting the contrary market, and told him to run the office as if it were his own until I returned. At home I said nothing... Farewell To The Baltimore Gun Club
The intense interest of our extraordinary but most veracious history having reached its culmination at the end of the last chapter, our absorbing chronicle might with every propriety have been then and there concluded; but we can't part from our g... Father And Son
When later they were alone, the girl looked at her mother, her eyes luminous. "You see," she began rather breathlessly, "even you must see, he is beginning to drive us away." "I do hope, Eloise, you are not going to indulge in any heroics over ... Fiery Vapours
Felix tried to run, but his feet would not rise from the ground; his limbs were numb as in a nightmare; he could not get there. His body would not obey his will. In reality he did move, but more slowly than when he walked. By degrees approaching t... Fighting
Twice Felix saw the king. Once there was a review of the horse outside the camp, and Felix, having to attend with his master's third charger (a mere show and affectation, for there was not the least chance of his needing it), was now and then very... Figures Don't Lie
The North Pole! That spot upon earth so environed with trackless fields of unbroken snow and mountains of ice; with an atmosphere so cold that none but the bravest and hardiest of mankind can breathe it and live. And yet these apparently insuperab...