Speaker 1: Dramatis persona of Freaks on the Fels. This is the
Speaker 1: Liberfox recording. All Liberfox recordings are in the public domain.
Speaker 1: For more information or the volunteer, please visit librifox dot org.
Speaker 1: Freaks on the Fel's three Months rustication by r. M.
Speaker 1: Valentine Dramatis persona narrator read by Phone and Isabella dent
Speaker 1: Robert Bob Smith read by Jenny Hughes and Tricia G.
Speaker 1: John Jack Brown read by.
Speaker 2: Cory Samuel and Doug Falhardo Edwards read by David Bonds
Speaker 2: and Chuck Williamson.
Speaker 3: The Cook read by David Bonds, Bob's Father read by
Speaker 3: David Bonds, and The Pirate Captain read.
Speaker 4: By David Bonds and Phil.
Speaker 2: She deckhand read by Cary Samuel. Officer read by Cary Samuel, First.
Speaker 4: Mate read by David Bonds.
Speaker 1: Voice from Down.
Speaker 2: Below read by Cary Samuel.
Speaker 5: Slave read by Chuck Williamson.
Speaker 3: Slave Owner read by Lynette, Slave Owner two read by
Speaker 3: Phil Sheaver.
Speaker 1: End of Termatus persona.
Speaker 6: Story two Chapters one and two of Freaks on the Fells.
Speaker 6: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
Speaker 6: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
Speaker 6: visit LibriVox dot org. Freaks on the Fells by R. M. Valentine,
Speaker 6: Story two, Chapter one, Why I did not become a sailor.
Speaker 6: There is a mystery connected with the incidents which I'm
Speaker 6: about to relate. Looked at from one point of view,
Speaker 6: the whole affair is mysterious, eminently so. Yet regarded from
Speaker 6: another point of view, it is not so mysterious as
Speaker 6: it seems. Whatever my reader may think about it as
Speaker 6: he goes along, I entreat him to suspend his judgment
Speaker 6: until he has reached the conclusion of my narrative. My
Speaker 6: only reason for bringing this mysterious matter before the public
Speaker 6: is that, in addition to filling me with unutterable surprise,
Speaker 6: it had the effect of quenching one of my strongest
Speaker 6: desires and effectually prevented my becoming a sailor. This, I
Speaker 6: freely admit, is not in itself a sufficient reason to
Speaker 6: justify my rushing into print. But when I regard the
Speaker 6: matter from what may be termed a negative point of view,
Speaker 6: I do not feel that it is not absolutely presumptuous
Speaker 6: in me to claim public attention. Suppose that Sir John
Speaker 6: Franklin had never gone to see. What a life of
Speaker 6: adventure and discovery would have been lost to the world,
Speaker 6: What deeds of heroism undone and therefore untold. I venture
Speaker 6: to think that if that great navigator had not gone
Speaker 6: to see, it would have been a matter of interest,
Speaker 6: knowing what we know now, to have been told that
Speaker 6: such was the case. In this view of the matter,
Speaker 6: I repeat it as being of possible future interest that
Speaker 6: the incident I am about to relate prevented my becoming
Speaker 6: a sailor. I am said to be a soft boy.
Speaker 6: That is to say, I was said to be soft.
Speaker 6: I'm a man now, but of course I was a
Speaker 6: boy once. I merely mention this to prove that I
Speaker 6: make no pretension whatever to unusual wisdom. Quite the reverse.
Speaker 6: I hate sailing under false colors, not that I ever
Speaker 6: did sail under any colors, never having become a sailor.
Speaker 6: And yet I shouldn't say that either, for that's the
Speaker 6: very point round which all the mystery hangs I did
Speaker 6: go to see. I'm rather apt to wander, I find
Speaker 6: from my point, and to confuse my own mind, I
Speaker 6: trust not the readers. Perhaps the shortest way to let
Speaker 6: you understand how it was is to tell you all
Speaker 6: about it. My name is Robert Smith, not an unusual
Speaker 6: name I am given to understand. It was of little
Speaker 6: use to me during the period of my boyhood, for
Speaker 6: I never got any other name than Bob. Sometimes soft
Speaker 6: was added. I had a father. He loved me. As
Speaker 6: a natural consequence I loved him. He was old, partially bald,
Speaker 6: silver haired, kind, affectionate, good, five feet six and more spectacles.
Speaker 6: I at the time I ride of, was young, stout,
Speaker 6: well grown, active, and had a long nose, much too
Speaker 6: long a nose. It was the only point in regard
Speaker 6: to which I was sensitive. It was owing to the
Speaker 6: length of this member. I believe that I once went
Speaker 6: by the name of Mozambique. You see, I conceal nothing
Speaker 6: the remarkable, the mysterious, the every way astonishing. Instance I
Speaker 6: am about to relate require that I should be more
Speaker 6: than usually careful and particular in stating things precisely as
Speaker 6: I saw them and understood them at the time. In
Speaker 6: this view of the matter, I should remark that the
Speaker 6: softness with which I was charged did not refer to
Speaker 6: my muscles, they were hard and well developed, but to
Speaker 6: my intellect. I take this opportunity of stating that I
Speaker 6: think the charge unjust. But to conclude my description of myself,
Speaker 6: I am romantic. One of my dearest companions used to
Speaker 6: say that my nose was the same minus the tick.
Speaker 6: What he meant by that I could never make out.
Speaker 6: I doubt if he himself knew. My chief delight in
Speaker 6: my leisure hours was to retire to my bedroom and
Speaker 6: immerse myself in books of travel and adventure. This was
Speaker 6: my mania. No one can conceive the delight I experienced
Speaker 6: in following heroes of every name over the pathless steep
Speaker 6: and through the trackless forests of every clime. My heart
Speaker 6: swelled within me, and the blood rushed through my veins
Speaker 6: like liquid fire. As I read of chasing lions, tigers,
Speaker 6: elephants in Africa, white bears and walrus in the Polar regions,
Speaker 6: and deer and bisons on the American prairies. I struggled
Speaker 6: long to suppress the flame that consumed me, but I
Speaker 6: could not. It grew hotter and hotter. At last it
Speaker 6: burst forth. And this brings me to the point I thought.
Speaker 6: One dark, dismal night in the middle of November, I thought, mind,
Speaker 6: I don't say, I determined no. But I thought of
Speaker 6: running away from home and going to sea. I confess
Speaker 6: it with shame. The image of my dear father rose
Speaker 6: before me with a kind and sorrowful look. I repented,
Speaker 6: started to my feet and seized the book I was reading,
Speaker 6: with the intention of tossing it into the fire. In
Speaker 6: doing so, I accidentally turned over a leaf. There was
Speaker 6: an illustration on the page. I looked at it, an
Speaker 6: African savage firing the whole contents of a six barreled
Speaker 6: revolver down the throat of a Bengal tiger, without apparently
Speaker 6: doing it any harm. I thought not of the incongruous combination.
Speaker 6: My soul was fired anew. Once again, I thought of
Speaker 6: running away from home and going to sea, not by
Speaker 6: any means, with the intention of remaining at sea, but
Speaker 6: for the purpose of reaching foreign, if possible, unknown lands.
Speaker 6: Having conceived the thought, I rose calmly, shut the book carefully,
Speaker 6: but with decision, thrust my hands firmly into my pockets,
Speaker 6: knitted my brows, and went out in search of my
Speaker 6: bosom friend. John Brown, also a commonplace name, I believe,
Speaker 6: at least so it is, said Jack, as I used
Speaker 6: to call him had a mother but no father. His
Speaker 6: father died when Jack was an infant. I've often fancied
Speaker 6: that there was a delicate bond of union between us here.
Speaker 6: He had a mother but no father. I had a
Speaker 6: father but no mother. Strange coincident. I think the fact
Speaker 6: helped draws together. I may be wrong, but I think so.
Speaker 6: Jack was on a visit to us at the time,
Speaker 6: so I had only to cross the passage to reach
Speaker 6: his room. Come in, he cried, as I not.
Speaker 7: Jack, Come to my room. It's more comfortable than yours.
Speaker 7: I want your advice.
Speaker 6: He rose, in some surprise and followed me. If John
Speaker 6: Brown's name was commonplace, his person was certainly not.
Speaker 8: So.
Speaker 6: He looked like a young lord. He was a noble
Speaker 6: fellow by nature, if not by birth. A clear, sunny face,
Speaker 6: masculine chin and nose, sweet firm mouth, the eye of
Speaker 6: an eagle, and the soft, curly golden hair of a child. Tall,
Speaker 6: broad shouldered, elegant, bold as a lion, gentle and kind
Speaker 6: as a lamb. Such was my best, my dearest friend, Jack.
Speaker 7: Jack said I I'm going to run away.
Speaker 9: You'll do nothing of the sort, said he, and.
Speaker 6: I continued, Regardless of his remark.
Speaker 7: I mean that you sull run away with me.
Speaker 6: I'll do nothing of the sort, he replied.
Speaker 9: But come, my boy, you're joking. Surely this is not
Speaker 9: the object for which you called me out of my room.
Speaker 7: Indeed, it is Listen to me, Jack.
Speaker 6: I looked at him impressively. He returned. The look for
Speaker 6: Jack was earnest as well as gay.
Speaker 7: You know that my dear father positively refused to let
Speaker 7: me go abroad, although I have entreated him to do
Speaker 7: so again and again. No, I think that's hard. You know,
Speaker 7: I love my dear father very much, but.
Speaker 9: You love yourself better.
Speaker 7: Is that it? We'll put it so if you choose,
Speaker 7: I don't care. I'm going to run away, and if
Speaker 7: you won't go with me, you can stay at home.
Speaker 7: That's all. Come.
Speaker 6: Come, Bob, don't be cross, said Jack kindly.
Speaker 9: You know you don't mean it.
Speaker 7: But I do. And I'm sure I don't see what
Speaker 7: it is that prevents you from going.
Speaker 6: Too, said I testily.
Speaker 9: Hum, Well, there is a small matter, a sort of
Speaker 9: moral idea, so to speak, that prevents.
Speaker 7: And what is that?
Speaker 9: Respect from my mother? Bob, my boy, I've been too
Speaker 9: deeply imbued with that in my babyhood to shake it
Speaker 9: off now, even if I wish to do so. But
Speaker 9: I don't, Bob, I don't. I'm proud of my mother,
Speaker 9: and moreover, I remember her teachings. There's one little verse
Speaker 9: I used to repeat to her every Sunday night, along
Speaker 9: with the rest of the ten commandments, Honor thy father
Speaker 9: and thy mother, et cetera. It seems to me that
Speaker 9: running away is rather flying in the face of that.
Speaker 9: Doesn't it strike you in that light?
Speaker 6: Bob? I was silent. I felt that I had no
Speaker 6: argument against such reasoning. Jack rose, it's late, Bob.
Speaker 9: We are to start on our fishing expedition tomorrow morning
Speaker 9: at six, so it behooves us to get into bed
Speaker 9: good night and think over it.
Speaker 6: I seized his hand and pressed it warmly. Good night, Jack,
Speaker 6: I will End of story two, Chapter one, Story two,
Speaker 6: Chapter two. My bedroom was a small one with little
Speaker 6: furniture in it. A small iron stove in the fireplace
Speaker 6: acted instead of a and as I was accustomed to
Speaker 6: read late, my father allowed me to light it in
Speaker 6: cold weather. It was blazing cheerfully when Jack left me,
Speaker 6: and the bright gleams of ruddy light that darted through
Speaker 6: the chinks of the door and fell on the opposite
Speaker 6: wall through the light of my solitary candle, quite into
Speaker 6: the shade. I have already remarked that the night was
Speaker 6: dark and dismal, in addition to that it was stormy.
Speaker 6: The wind moaned drearily among the venerable elms that surrounded
Speaker 6: our quiet country residence, and ever and anon came in sharp,
Speaker 6: fitful gusts that caused the window frames to rattle, and
Speaker 6: even shook the house at times to its foundation. Heavy
Speaker 6: drops of rain fell occasionally on the window panes, and
Speaker 6: in a few minutes the storm broke forth in full violence.
Speaker 6: As the old house had stood many such and years
Speaker 6: gone by. I did not give myself much concern about
Speaker 6: the gale, but pulled down the blind, placed my little
Speaker 6: table in books near the stove, and, drawing in my chair,
Speaker 6: sat down to think. How long I remained in this
Speaker 6: condition I cannot tell, but my reveries were broken by
Speaker 6: the large clock on the stairs, striking twelve. I started up, and,
Speaker 6: clenching my hands, exclaimed aloud.
Speaker 7: No, I've made up my mind. I won't run away.
Speaker 6: Under the impulse of the feeling, I threw open the
Speaker 6: door of the stove and heaped on fresh coals, muttering
Speaker 6: to myself as I did so.
Speaker 7: No, I won't run away. I won't run away. No, no, no,
Speaker 7: I won't run.
Speaker 6: I was checked suddenly by my eye falling a second
Speaker 6: time on that terrific African savage, sending from his revolver
Speaker 6: a charge down the throat of that magnificent Bengal tiger
Speaker 6: that would have blown the inside entirely out of any
Speaker 6: living creature smaller than an elephant. I sat down, I
Speaker 6: gazed at the picture. I read the account. I followed
Speaker 6: up the adventurous savage. My head reeled with excitement. A strange,
Speaker 6: terrible heat seemed to dart like lightning through my veins,
Speaker 6: and the book began to flicker before my eyes. I
Speaker 6: became alarmed.
Speaker 7: Surely some terrible fevers seizing on me.
Speaker 6: I exclaimed, and in the terror of thought, I started
Speaker 6: up and paced my room rapidly. But the fire increased
Speaker 6: and my head swam. I meditated ringing the bell and
Speaker 6: alarming the household. But the thought of this quieted me,
Speaker 6: and gradually I became calmer. It was at this moment
Speaker 6: that my former resolution turned upon me with tenfold violence.
Speaker 7: I'll submit to this no longer.
Speaker 6: I growled between my teeth, I will run away. The
Speaker 6: instant I said that, I felt as if I were
Speaker 6: imbued with the determination that nothing could shake Jack's reasoning
Speaker 6: never once came into my mind. I took down the
Speaker 6: knapsack that hung on a nail, ready packed for the
Speaker 6: intended fishing expedition of the morrow. I buckled it on,
Speaker 6: put on my thickest shoes, and, seizing a stout cudgel,
Speaker 6: issued softly from my apartment and tapped gently at Jack's door.
Speaker 6: Come in. I entered, and was overwhelmed with surprise at
Speaker 6: finding my friend standing in the middle of the room,
Speaker 6: accoutered for the road, just like myself. He put his
Speaker 6: finger to his lips.
Speaker 7: Hush, Bob.
Speaker 9: I was on the point of going to your room
Speaker 9: to say that I've made up my mind to run
Speaker 9: away with you.
Speaker 6: I was staggered. I did not relish this unaccountable change.
Speaker 6: If I had persuaded him to go, it would have
Speaker 6: been all right. But to find him thus ready and
Speaker 6: eager was unnatural. I felt as if I were accountable
Speaker 6: for this change in his opinions and actions, and immediately
Speaker 6: strange to say experienced a tendency to dissuade him.
Speaker 7: But Jack, you forget what you said to me some
Speaker 7: hours ago.
Speaker 6: No I don't, he answered gloomily.
Speaker 7: Perhaps you'd better think it over again.
Speaker 9: No, he won't come, Bob, don't show the white feather. Now,
Speaker 9: don't waste time. It's about dawn. It's too late to reason.
Speaker 9: You have tempted me, and I have given.
Speaker 6: In saying this. He seized me by the collar and
Speaker 6: pushed me before him. And now the mysterious events which
Speaker 6: I am about to relate began. The conduct of my
Speaker 6: friend Jack on this occasion was in itself a mastery.
Speaker 6: He was, by nature the gentlest and most inoffensive of
Speaker 6: human beings, except when circumstances required him to act vigorously.
Speaker 6: Then he was a lion, irresistible. Since the commencement of
Speaker 6: our acquaintance, which was of many years standing, he had never,
Speaker 6: by word or look, given me the slightest cause for anger.
Speaker 6: And yet here he was grasping me violently by the
Speaker 6: collar and pushing me forcibly before him. I did not
Speaker 6: get angry. My conscience smote me.
Speaker 9: I said to myself, Ah, this is the result of
Speaker 9: evil conduct.
Speaker 7: I have tempted Jack to act against his judgment. He
Speaker 7: is no longer what he was.
Speaker 6: Instead of melting under this feeling, I became hardened. I
Speaker 6: stepped out, and so dragged my friend after me down
Speaker 6: the back stairs, which led to the lower part of
Speaker 6: the house where the servants slept. Jack whispered, all right,
Speaker 6: and let go his hold. Now we must be cautious,
Speaker 6: I said, in a low tone, as we proceeded to
Speaker 6: traverse the passage, on each side of which were the
Speaker 6: rooms occupied by the servants. We took off our shoes
Speaker 6: and advanced on tiptoe. At the far end of the passage,
Speaker 6: we heard a sound like a trombone. That was the butler.
Speaker 6: We knew of his snoring propensities, and so were not alarmed.
Speaker 6: His door was open, so was his mouth. I could
Speaker 6: see that plainly as I passed by the dim light
Speaker 6: a candle which he always burned at night. The butler
Speaker 6: was excessively fat. I merely mention this because it accounts
Speaker 6: for the fact of his not awaking when we unlocked
Speaker 6: the street door. Fat people are not easily wakened. The
Speaker 6: lock of the door was an old fashioned large one.
Speaker 6: It grated slightly as Jack turned the key. Then at
Speaker 6: a certain point the key lost control over it, and
Speaker 6: it shot back with a report like a pistol shot.
Speaker 6: My heart flew to my mouth and almost choked me.
Speaker 6: The butler gave a double snort and turned in his bed,
Speaker 6: as Jack and I darted round an angle of the
Speaker 6: wall and hid in a dark corner. The butler soon
Speaker 6: gave an unquestionable evidence that he had not been thoroughly aroused,
Speaker 6: and we were about to issue from our place of
Speaker 6: concealment when the door of our manservants room opened and
Speaker 6: he peeped out edwards. That was his name, was a
Speaker 6: stout young fellow, and we felt certain that he would
Speaker 6: not rest satisfied until he had found out the cause
Speaker 6: of the noise.
Speaker 10: We were right.
Speaker 6: He stepped cautiously into the passage with a poker in
Speaker 6: his hand. My heart sank within me. Just at that moment,
Speaker 6: a cat darted across the passage, with its back and
Speaker 6: tail up and its eyes glaring Edwards. Flung the poker
Speaker 6: at it, missed the cat and knocked over an old
Speaker 6: tin umbrella stand, with which the poker made a hideous
Speaker 6: clatter on the stone floor of the passage.
Speaker 4: Hi, you brute.
Speaker 11: What is it you making all that?
Speaker 4: Row?
Speaker 10: Is it?
Speaker 4: Oh, dear Edwards, what's happened?
Speaker 6: Cried a shrill voice from the other end of the passage.
Speaker 9: It was the cook.
Speaker 4: Oh nothing, only the cat.
Speaker 6: Replied the man, as he sauntered into the butler's room.
Speaker 6: The butler seemed at that moment to have been smitten
Speaker 6: with a fit of apoplexy. We could see him from
Speaker 6: our dark corner. He grew purple in the face, gasped
Speaker 6: once or twice, choked awfully, and then sat up in bed,
Speaker 6: staring like a maniac. Oh, Jack, I whispered in horror.
Speaker 9: Don't be alarmed. It's only his usual way of waking up.
Speaker 9: I've seen him do it often.
Speaker 4: What noise is that? What's going on down there?
Speaker 6: Cried a deep bass voice in the distance. It was
Speaker 6: my father, no one replied, presently my father's bedroom. With
Speaker 6: extreme violence, Edwards rushed out of the butler's room. The
Speaker 6: butler fell back, opened his mouth, and pretended to be asleep,
Speaker 6: snoring moderately. This of itself would have undeceived any one,
Speaker 6: for when the old hypocrite was really asleep, he never
Speaker 6: snored moderately. The cook and housemaid uttered two little shrieks
Speaker 6: and slammed their respective doors, while the bell rang violently
Speaker 6: a second time. Now for it, whispered Jack. He opened
Speaker 6: the back door softly, and we darted out. A streak
Speaker 6: of pale light on the horizon indicated the approach of day.
Speaker 6: We tried to close the door behind us, but we
Speaker 6: heard the butler choke, gasped, and shout at the top
Speaker 6: of his voice, Hey Hello. At the same instant, the
Speaker 6: old dinner gong sent a peal of horrible sound through
Speaker 6: the house, and we took to flight, filled with unutterable terror.
Speaker 6: Oh how we did run. We had scarcely cleared the
Speaker 6: offices and got fairly into the avenue when we heard
Speaker 6: Edward shout as he started in pursuit. We were both
Speaker 6: good runners, but Jack soon took the lead and kept
Speaker 6: it by about five yards our feet scarcely touched. I
Speaker 6: felt as if I had wings, so great was my terror.
Speaker 6: We reached the end of the avenue, the gate was
Speaker 6: full five feet high. To my inexpressible amazement, Jack went
Speaker 6: clear over it with one bound. I have never been
Speaker 6: able to analyze my feelings and impulses on that occasion.
Speaker 6: I am and always was rather a poor jumper, yet
Speaker 6: without hesitation, without even a doubt as to my ability
Speaker 6: to clear it, I went at that gate like an
Speaker 6: Irish hunter at a stone wall, and leapt fairly over it.
Speaker 6: The leap did not even check my pace for an instant.
Speaker 6: I remember, in the whirl and confusion of the moment
Speaker 6: that I attributed my almost superhuman powers to terror, But
Speaker 6: the feeling that we were pursued again absorbed all my faculties.
Speaker 6: We dashed on at a killing pace, and, strange to say,
Speaker 6: without feeling the slightest fatigue. Having cleared the avenue, we
Speaker 6: mounted the high ground in the neighborhood, passed the church,
Speaker 6: entered the village, and went through it like a railway train.
Speaker 6: Came out upon the road beyond, and reached a wooded
Speaker 6: part of the country where several roads and by paths
Speaker 6: diverged from the highway. All this time towards kept close
Speaker 6: on our heels. He did not gain on us, but
Speaker 6: we felt that we did not distance him down Here,
Speaker 6: cried Jack, doubling suddenly into a lane. We passed a
Speaker 6: small bridge that crossed a mill lake. Beyond there was
Speaker 6: a farm yard. The pathway was high, and we could
Speaker 6: look down on the tops of the stacks. One of these,
Speaker 6: a hay stack, stood about ten feet from the low
Speaker 6: wall that skirted the road. It had been half pulled down,
Speaker 6: and the hay was loose. Without a word or warning,
Speaker 6: Jack sprang completely across this space, turned right over, and
Speaker 6: plunged head first into the hay. I followed instantly and disappeared.
Speaker 6: We lay for a few seconds perfectly still, and heard
Speaker 6: Edwards pass at full speed. Then we struggled out and
Speaker 6: watched him out of sight, sliding down. We regained the lane,
Speaker 6: returned to the high road, and continued our flight. We
Speaker 6: saw no more be Edwards. About eight miles from my
Speaker 6: father's house there was a small seaport town. We made
Speaker 6: for this and reached it just as the sun rose
Speaker 6: in all his golden glory on the distant edge of
Speaker 6: the sleeping sea. End of Story I, Chapter two, Story two,
Speaker 6: Chapters three and four of Freaks on the Fells. This
Speaker 6: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
Speaker 6: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
Speaker 6: LibriVox dot org. Freaks on the Fells by R. M. Ballantine.
Speaker 6: Story two, Chapter three on entering the village, we found
Speaker 6: it in a state of unusual bustle. I had often
Speaker 6: been there before, and had thought it a rather quiet
Speaker 6: place for a seaport. But now there was a sort
Speaker 6: of bustling activity, and an air of mystery about it
Speaker 6: that I could not understand. I mentioned my feelings to Jack,
Speaker 6: but he did not answer me, which was a piece
Speaker 6: of rudeness so unusual that I could only suppose that
Speaker 6: his mind was so deeply affected with the circumstances in
Speaker 6: which we had placed ourselves as to render him somewhat absent.
Speaker 6: On arriving at the chief, indeed the only end of
Speaker 6: the place, we discovered the reason of all the bustle.
Speaker 6: A strange ship had arrived the night before, a large
Speaker 6: ship fitted out for an expedition to some distant part
Speaker 6: of the world. She had come to complete her supply
Speaker 6: of provisions and to engage a few extra hands. Here, then,
Speaker 6: was a fortunate opportunity. We asked at once where we
Speaker 6: could find the captain. He was in the bar room
Speaker 6: of the inn. We entered it and found him there,
Speaker 6: standing with his back to the fire and a coat
Speaker 6: tail under each arm. He was a big, fat man
Speaker 6: with a savage expression of countenance, and a ragged head
Speaker 6: and beard and a red nose.
Speaker 9: Suh, said Jack, we wish to ship with you.
Speaker 6: The captain stared, took a pencil case out of his pocket,
Speaker 6: picked his teeth, therewith, and surveyed us from head to foot.
Speaker 4: Oh you do do you you wish to ship with me?
Speaker 6: Yes?
Speaker 4: Suppose I don't want you, then we shall.
Speaker 2: Have to try elsewhere.
Speaker 6: The captain smiled grimly, shut up the pencil case, and said.
Speaker 4: What can ye do?
Speaker 7: We can read and write and count.
Speaker 6: Said I take the words out of Jack's mouth, for
Speaker 6: I felt that his brusque manner of replying was not
Speaker 6: calculated to command us to the captain.
Speaker 4: Oh you can read and write and count, can ye?
Speaker 6: Repeated the captain with deep sarcasm.
Speaker 4: If you'd said you could feed and fight and shout,
Speaker 4: it would have been more to the purpose.
Speaker 9: Perhaps we can do a little of that sort of thing.
Speaker 6: Too, suggested Jack, with a broad grin ha ejaculated the captain.
Speaker 4: What else can you do?
Speaker 10: Oh?
Speaker 6: Anything, said Jack?
Speaker 4: He generally find.
Speaker 6: Observed the captain.
Speaker 4: When a boy says he can do anything, he very
Speaker 4: soon proves that he can do nothing.
Speaker 6: Well, I don't mean that exactly, rejoined Jack.
Speaker 9: I mean we can try anything.
Speaker 4: Ah, that's more than the pint. Where do you come from?
Speaker 6: We looked at each other that said.
Speaker 7: I is a matter of no importance to anyone but ourselves.
Speaker 7: We've run away from home, and we want to go
Speaker 7: to See as fast as possible. If you're willing to
Speaker 7: take us, we're willing to go.
Speaker 4: What say you run away?
Speaker 8: Ho?
Speaker 4: Ho, run away?
Speaker 6: Said the captain, chuckling, you're just the lads.
Speaker 4: I want nothing like runaway boys for me. I wouldn't
Speaker 4: give a pinch of snuffy or good boys that do
Speaker 4: what their bid. Commend me to the high spirited fellers
Speaker 4: that runs away and that focus so wicked as to
Speaker 4: call bad boys. That's the sort of stuff that suits
Speaker 4: our service.
Speaker 6: I did not, by any means, relish the manner and
Speaker 6: tone in which all this was said, So I asked
Speaker 6: him what particular service he belonged to.
Speaker 4: You'll know that time enough.
Speaker 6: He replied, laughing.
Speaker 4: But after all, why shouldn't I tell you? There's nothing
Speaker 4: to conceal. We're a discovery ship. We're going to look
Speaker 4: for Sir John Franklin's expedition, and after we've found it.
Speaker 4: We're going to try the North Pole and then go
Speaker 4: right through the Northwest Passage down by bearing straits across
Speaker 4: the Pacific, touching at the Cannibal Islands in passing, and
Speaker 4: so on the China. Having revictualled there, we'll bear away
Speaker 4: for Japan, Hoss, Tralia, Cape of good Oap and the
Speaker 4: West Indies, and come tearing across the Atlantic with the
Speaker 4: Gulf Stream to England. Will that suit e?
Speaker 6: It may seem strange, and the reader will hardly believe
Speaker 6: me when I say that transparently absurd. Though this statement
Speaker 6: was nevertheless, I believed every word of it, and so
Speaker 6: did Jack. I saw that by his glowing eye and
Speaker 6: heightened color.
Speaker 7: And when do you sail?
Speaker 6: I inquired joyfully, in.
Speaker 4: Half an hour. So get a board, boys, and don't
Speaker 4: give so much tongue. I have other matters to mine. Now,
Speaker 4: come on, be off.
Speaker 6: We retreated precipitately to the door.
Speaker 9: What's her name?
Speaker 6: Inquired Jack? Looking back. The ringtailed smasher cried the captain fiercely.
Speaker 4: What the ringtailed smasher.
Speaker 6: Roared the captain, seizing the poe okre, we vanished. In
Speaker 6: five minutes we were on board the ship. To this hour,
Speaker 6: I have no remembrance of how we got on board.
Speaker 6: My brain swam with intense excitement. I felt as if
Speaker 6: I were flying, not walking, as I ran about the
Speaker 6: deck and clambered up the rigging. Shortly after the captain
Speaker 6: came aboard, the rope that attached the vessel to the
Speaker 6: quay was cast off. The sails flew out as if
Speaker 6: by magic, and the shore began to fall rapidly astern.
Speaker 6: It was now, for the first time that a full
Speaker 6: sense of what I had done came over me. I
Speaker 6: leaned over the stern of the ship and gazed at
Speaker 6: my native shores as it grew fainter in the distance,
Speaker 6: until the familiar hills became a mere line of blue
Speaker 6: on the horizon, and were finally blotted from my view
Speaker 6: by the blinding tears that sprang suddenly to my eyes.
Speaker 6: Oh the agony of that moment. I shall never forget.
Speaker 6: The words that Jack had quoted to me the night before.
Speaker 6: Honor thy father and thy mother seemed to be stamped
Speaker 6: in letters of fire within my brain. I felt keenly that,
Speaker 6: in a moment of passionate self will, I had done
Speaker 6: that which would cause me the deepest sorrow all my life.
Speaker 6: In that dark hour, I forgot all my romantic notions
Speaker 6: of travel in foreign lands. I cared not a straw
Speaker 6: for hunting, or fighting or wild adventures. I would have
Speaker 6: cheerfully given worlds had I possessed them, to be permitted
Speaker 6: to undo the past, to hasten to my dear father's
Speaker 6: feet and implore forgiveness of the evil that I had done.
Speaker 6: But regret was now unavailing. The land soon sank below
Speaker 6: the horizon, and ere many hours had passed our ship
Speaker 6: was scuttling before a stiff breeze and leaping wildly over
Speaker 6: the waves of the Atlantic. End of Story two, Chapter three,
Speaker 6: Story two, Chapter four. Ho tumble up there, tumble up,
Speaker 6: all hands, ahoy, tumble up. Look alive, lads, there's work
Speaker 6: to do, my hearties. Such were the words uttered in
Speaker 6: the most terrifically violent base tones that awoke me on
Speaker 6: the first morning after I went to sea. Instantly, all
Speaker 6: the men around me leaped out of their hammocks. They
Speaker 6: were all half dressed, and I noticed that the greater
Speaker 6: part of them completed their toilet in the short interval
Speaker 6: between quitting their hammocks and gaining the deck, Jack and
Speaker 6: I had lain down in our clothes, so we were
Speaker 6: on deck almost as soon as the others. Here the
Speaker 6: most unexpected sites assailed us. It seemed to me as
Speaker 6: if a miraculous change had taken place on everybody and
Speaker 6: everything during the night. The ship, when she had set sail,
Speaker 6: was as untidy and lumbered about the decks as a
Speaker 6: merchantman usually is on quitting port. Now everything was clean
Speaker 6: in its place, snugly fastened and in order. The sails
Speaker 6: appeared to have undergone some modification. I fancied too, that
Speaker 6: the masks raked aft a good deal more than they
Speaker 6: had done, and round the foot of them were ranged muskets, pistols, cutlasses,
Speaker 6: and boarding pikes. Where masses of cordage and handspikes had
Speaker 6: been before the hen coops had vanished, and in their
Speaker 6: place were rows of brass carronades, while in the center
Speaker 6: of the deck an enormous swivel gun occupied the place
Speaker 6: on which the longboat had formerly rested. Even the captain
Speaker 6: seemed to have changed. His costume was somewhat eastern in
Speaker 6: its character, and his whole aspect was much more ferrocle
Speaker 6: than when I first saw him. Vague and terrible suspicions
Speaker 6: crossed my mind as I viewed these wonderful transformations, but
Speaker 6: I had no time to indulge them, for the men
Speaker 6: had hastened, with the promptitude of men of war's men
Speaker 6: to their stations, leaving Jack and me alone in the
Speaker 6: middle of the deck. Hello, boys, shouted the captain.
Speaker 4: No idlers allowed aboard this ship. Here, stand by this
Speaker 4: gun and lend a hand with the ropes. When you're
Speaker 4: told to obey orders, That's the only duty I've got
Speaker 4: to lay on you.
Speaker 6: We hastened to the gun pointed out, and while I
Speaker 6: was standing there waiting for orders, I looked over the
Speaker 6: side and for the first time became aware of the
Speaker 6: cause of these proceedings. About two miles to leeward of us,
Speaker 6: just off our larboard bow, I saw a large ship
Speaker 6: running under a pressive canvas. She was a huge, clumsy
Speaker 6: looking merchantman, and I heard our first mate say she
Speaker 6: was an East Indiaman.
Speaker 7: Then why Chasa, thought I, and why these warlike preparations?
Speaker 6: It struck me at the time. I remember that the
Speaker 6: captain must have guessed my thoughts, for he glanced at
Speaker 6: me quickly and then turning to the mate, with a
Speaker 6: sarcastic smile, said, I.
Speaker 4: Thought you had better sight than you seemed to have.
Speaker 4: In my judgment, that's a Russian merchantman, and as we
Speaker 4: happened to be at war with Russia just now, I'll
Speaker 4: take the liberty of overhaul in her.
Speaker 6: Instead of replying to this, the mate burst into a
Speaker 6: loud laugh, in which, strangely enough, he was joined by
Speaker 6: the Captain and all the men who were within hearing.
Speaker 6: I felt uneasy at this, and expressed my feelings in
Speaker 6: a whisper to Jack, who shook his head and looked
Speaker 6: at me mysteriously, but said nothing. I felt that even
Speaker 6: though we were at war with Russia, we as a
Speaker 6: discovery ship, had no right whatever to interfere in the
Speaker 6: capacity of a warship, and I was about to remonstrate
Speaker 6: with the Captain at all hazards when my thoughts were
Speaker 6: suddenly changed by the order being given to fire a
Speaker 6: shot across the stranger's bows. The gun at which I
Speaker 6: was stationed was run out stand by, cried the Captain.
Speaker 6: Fire in the excitement of the moment, and without knowing
Speaker 6: what I had to do, Though deeply impressed with the
Speaker 6: feeling that something ought to be done. When an order
Speaker 6: was given, I pulled violently at the rope which I
Speaker 6: had in my hand, the effect of which was to
Speaker 6: move the gun very slightly when it exploded. The result
Speaker 6: was that the ball, instead of passing well ahead of
Speaker 6: the strange vessel, passed close to its bow and carried
Speaker 6: away half of the bowsprit The captain turned on me
Speaker 6: with a face absolutely blazing with wroth. He seized a handspike,
Speaker 6: and I thought he was about to dash out my
Speaker 6: brains on the spot. He hissed at me between his
Speaker 6: clenched teeth, then suddenly bursting into a shout of fiendish laughter,
Speaker 6: he cried.
Speaker 4: Well, well, after all, there's no harm done. It will
Speaker 4: make him understand that we don't want the trifle with him.
Speaker 4: Clear the boarding pikes. There are the grappling irons ready,
Speaker 4: oy oy sah.
Speaker 6: By this time the stranger had hoved too, and we
Speaker 6: were bearing down on her so rapidly that a few
Speaker 6: minutes more would bring us alongside. Our men stood ready
Speaker 6: for action. They were the worst looking set of scoundrels
Speaker 6: I ever behad. Ship aheyh shouted our captain as we
Speaker 6: drew near what ship'sat A smart young officer leaped on
Speaker 6: the bulwarks and cried.
Speaker 9: Come alongside, and I'll tell you show your colors.
Speaker 6: At the word, our colors went up, as colors are
Speaker 6: usually hoisted, rolled up like a ball. I watched with
Speaker 6: intense interest, for I felt that now, at last I
Speaker 6: should know our true character. The ball of what seemed
Speaker 6: to be dark blue bunting reached the mast head and
Speaker 6: hung for one instant. Then its folds fell heavily and
Speaker 6: were swept out by the breeze. The flag was black,
Speaker 6: and in the center were a white skull and cross bones.
Speaker 6: I almost fainted at the sight. I looked at Jack,
Speaker 6: who stood beside me. He was as white as a sheet,
Speaker 6: but his lips were firmly compressed and his brows knitted.
Speaker 9: Do we deserve what we have got?
Speaker 6: He muttered in a deep sad voice. I did not reply,
Speaker 6: but my conscience answered.
Speaker 7: We do, at least I do.
Speaker 6: We were now hove to about a pistol sh to
Speaker 6: leeward of the ship, and our captain, leaping on the bulwark,
Speaker 6: cried with a dreadful.
Speaker 4: Oath, send your gig alongside instantly with your captain and papers.
Speaker 4: If you don't look sharp, I'll blow you out of
Speaker 4: the water.
Speaker 6: He had scarcely finished speaking when a loud shout rent
Speaker 6: the air and the bulwarks of the strange vessel swarmed
Speaker 6: with soldiers. At the same time, twenty concealed ports flew open,
Speaker 6: and twenty heavy guns were run out. Our captain gave
Speaker 6: the word fire as he leaped on the deck and
Speaker 6: rushed to the wheel. The word must have been given
Speaker 6: at the same moment on board. The chase for both
Speaker 6: broadsides burst simultaneously from the vessel's sides with a deafening
Speaker 6: crash that sounded ten times louder and more terrible than
Speaker 6: the loudest thunder I ever heard. We were so near
Speaker 6: that the combined volumes of smoke completely blinded and almost
Speaker 6: suffocated me. I fancied for a moment that our powder
Speaker 6: magazine had blown up. The thunder of the broadsides was
Speaker 6: followed by the most appalling shrieks I ever heard, and
Speaker 6: by the ceaseless rattle of musketry as the soldiers opened
Speaker 6: on us with deadly precision. Through the smoke, I saw
Speaker 6: men falling around me, and the decks were immediately covered
Speaker 6: with blood. While bullets and splinters of wood whistled round
Speaker 6: my head like hail. I was stunned. I felt like
Speaker 6: one in a horrid dream. Gradually the smoke cleared away,
Speaker 6: and then I saw that our captain had put down
Speaker 6: the helm, and our vessel was sheering off to leeward
Speaker 6: under full sail. The rapidity with which everything was done
Speaker 6: quite took away my breath. Before we were out of gunshot,
Speaker 6: the decks had been cleared, the dead thrown in the water,
Speaker 6: the wounded carried below, and the decks washed with buckets
Speaker 6: of water. Just then I thought of Jack, and looked
Speaker 6: round in haste. He was not there. I rushed below.
Speaker 6: He was not in his hammock. In an agony of anxiety,
Speaker 6: I went down into the horrible den of blood, where
Speaker 6: our surgeon was attending to the wounded. Here, amid groaning
Speaker 6: and dying men, I found my friends stretched in a
Speaker 6: cot with a blanket over him. His handsome face was
Speaker 6: very pale, and his eyes were closed. When I approached,
Speaker 6: Going down on my knees beside him, while my heart
Speaker 6: fluttered with an inexpressible feeling of dread, I whispered his name.
Speaker 6: He opened his eyes slowly, and a sweet, sad smile
Speaker 6: lit up his face for one moment as he took
Speaker 6: me by the hand.
Speaker 7: Jack, Jack, my friend, my brother. You wounded, I.
Speaker 6: Asked, yes, he replied in a faint voice.
Speaker 7: I'm badly hurt. I fear. Has the doctor dressed your wound?
Speaker 9: He finished that the operation just before you came down.
Speaker 6: Operation, I whispered, while a feeling of deadly sickness came
Speaker 6: over me. Where what I could not go further? Poor
Speaker 6: Jack knew what I wished to ask. He gently lifted
Speaker 6: part of the blanket, and I felt as if I
Speaker 6: had been stunned by an electric shock, on observing that
Speaker 6: his right leg had been amputated above the knee. For
Speaker 6: some moments, I could not speak, I could not move.
Speaker 6: It was with difficulty that I could draw my laboring breath.
Speaker 6: Suddenly I clasped my hands.
Speaker 7: Oh, Jack, my beloved Mike.
Speaker 6: I gasped. My throat was parched. For one moment I
Speaker 6: thought I was dying. Suddenly I started up, uttered a
Speaker 6: great agonizing cry, and fell down on the deck. Then
Speaker 6: a flood of tears sprang into my burning eyes, and
Speaker 6: I sobbed as if my heart would burst asunder I
Speaker 6: did not try to check this. It was too precious
Speaker 6: a relief to my insupportable agony. I crept close to
Speaker 6: my friend's cot, took his hand gently, and, laying my
Speaker 6: cheek upon it, wept there as I never wept before.
Speaker 6: Jack's former advice now came back to me vividly, and
Speaker 6: his words of caution.
Speaker 2: Honor thy father and thy mother.
Speaker 6: Burned deep into my throbbing brain, while my accusing conscience
Speaker 6: whispered unceasingly.
Speaker 7: You brought him to this, You brought him to this.
Speaker 6: My sorrow was broken in upon rudely by the first mate.
Speaker 4: What are you doing here, young blaggard.
Speaker 6: He cried, seizing me by the collar and dragging me
Speaker 6: to the foot of the ladder that led out of
Speaker 6: this bloody den.
Speaker 4: Skulkinnay, I'll teach you to skulk. I'll cure your that,
Speaker 4: my lad, I'll turn your skin for you.
Speaker 6: And at each emphatic word, he gave a blow with
Speaker 6: a rope's end that raised a bar of livid flesh
Speaker 6: across my back. There he cried, giving me a final cut,
Speaker 6: and hurling me up the first few steps of the ladder.
Speaker 4: On deck with you.
Speaker 6: I did not hesitate to comply. I gained the deck
Speaker 6: with unusual rapidity, smarting with pain and burning with indignation.
Speaker 6: But what I saw going on there made me almost
Speaker 6: forget my pain. The great swivel gun amidst ships was
Speaker 6: being cleared for action, and our captain was giving orders
Speaker 6: beside it, as coolly and quietly, as if nothing unusual
Speaker 6: had occurred that day. I was deeply impressed for a
Speaker 6: few minutes with this cool, calm indifference, which characterized the
Speaker 6: men as well as the captain. But when I had
Speaker 6: considered a little, I came to understand that they were
Speaker 6: used to battle and bloodshed, and that therefore it was
Speaker 6: quite natural. After that I ceased to wonder at anything. Indeed,
Speaker 6: the power to be astonished seemed to leave my breast altogether,
Speaker 6: and from that moment I regarded everything that happened on
Speaker 6: the pirate vessel as being quite what might be expected.
Speaker 6: Matter of course, I now observed that we had not
Speaker 6: yet done with the supposed Russian. We had merely run
Speaker 6: astern out of range of her guns, but not beyond
Speaker 6: the range of our large swivel. In a few minutes
Speaker 6: it was ready. The captain sighted the gun and gave.
Speaker 10: The word fire.
Speaker 6: The ship quivered with the shock, and so large was
Speaker 6: the ball that I could distinctly trace its flight. It
Speaker 6: fell short a few yards.
Speaker 5: So, so muttered the captain.
Speaker 4: The next wildoy's work.
Speaker 6: He was right. The next ball struck the rails that
Speaker 6: ran round the poop, carried away the binnacle, and raked
Speaker 6: the upper deck from stern to stern. I could see
Speaker 6: it quite plainly with the glass. Hurrah, shouted some of
Speaker 6: the crew.
Speaker 4: Silence.
Speaker 6: Shoe babies, growled the captain.
Speaker 4: Time enough to crow, when our work's done.
Speaker 6: The men who had cheered fell back, abashed. I noticed
Speaker 6: that they were chiefly the younger men of the crew,
Speaker 6: whose countenances were not yet utterly unhumanized by crime.
Speaker 4: Load ready fire again, The.
Speaker 6: Huge iron mass sprang from the cannon's mouth and rushed
Speaker 6: along its deadly track. It struck the top of a wave, and,
Speaker 6: bounding up, passed through the sails and cordage of the Russian,
Speaker 6: cutting one or two of the lighter spars and also
Speaker 6: the main topsail halliards, which caused the yard to come
Speaker 6: rattling down and rendered the sail useless. Seeing this, the
Speaker 6: pirate captain ordered sail to be reduced in order to
Speaker 6: keep it a sufficient distance astern to render the guns
Speaker 6: of the chase useless. Every shot from our gun now
Speaker 6: told with terrible effect. We could see the splinters fly
Speaker 6: as every ball entered the ship's stern, or swept her deck,
Speaker 6: or crashed through her rigging. Presently she turned her broadside
Speaker 6: to us.
Speaker 4: She don't mean to waste our ammunition, surely.
Speaker 6: Remarked the captain, with a sneer. She did not mean
Speaker 6: to do so. She evidently meant to turn the tables
Speaker 6: by bearing suddenly down on us, and if possible, give
Speaker 6: us a broadside before we could get out of range.
Speaker 6: The captain saw the intention instantly and thwarted it up.
Speaker 4: Your helm square the yards look alive.
Speaker 6: There We fell off, and were soon running before the wind,
Speaker 6: with a swivel gun thundering over our stern as it
Speaker 6: had formerly thundered over our bows. The Russian fired a
Speaker 6: broadside and lay to. Every ball fell short of us,
Speaker 6: we also lay to, And now the fire was kept
Speaker 6: up steadily. The ship's fate was sealed. Those on board
Speaker 6: evidently thought so, for the colors which had hitherto been
Speaker 6: flying from the mast, were presently lowered. Upon this we
Speaker 6: ceased firing and ranged up alongside.
Speaker 4: Oh you've had enough, have you.
Speaker 6: Cried our captain.
Speaker 4: Perhaps you'll condescend to let your captain and papers come aboard. Now.
Speaker 6: The Russian did not reply, but a boat was lowered.
Speaker 6: It was evident they meant to obey. Here, you boy,
Speaker 6: cried our captain, as he paced the deck awaiting their arrival.
Speaker 4: Here's a letter for you, letters, sir.
Speaker 6: I exclaimed, stepping forward and touching my cap Aye.
Speaker 4: Your father gave it to me just before we set sail.
Speaker 4: He told me not to give it to you and
Speaker 4: till you'd seen a little rough work. You've seen some now,
Speaker 4: I think.
Speaker 6: He accompanied this remark with a horrible leer.
Speaker 4: So there's the letter. Go below and read it. I'll
Speaker 4: want you in half an hour for some still rougher work.
Speaker 6: There seemed to me something very unaccountable and mysterious in this.
Speaker 6: I knew that the captain did not know my father.
Speaker 6: I had not even told him that I had a father.
Speaker 6: It seemed to me impossible that in the course of
Speaker 6: the short half hour that intervened between the time of
Speaker 6: my engaging to serve in the ring tailed smasher and
Speaker 6: the time of my setting sail. My father could have
Speaker 6: found out where I had run to, have met and
Speaker 6: conversed with the captain, and have written a letter to me.
Speaker 6: Yet it seemed that such was the case. I recognized
Speaker 6: the handwriting.
Speaker 7: Whom did you get the letter from? Did you see
Speaker 7: my father?
Speaker 4: Come, youngster, don't you go for a question me? Go
Speaker 4: below directly and stop there till you're wanted.
Speaker 6: The captain seized the end of a rope as he spoke.
Speaker 6: So I retreated at once to the bedside of my
Speaker 6: poor friend Jem, only too glad to escape from the
Speaker 6: presence of the men whom I now abhorred with all
Speaker 6: my heart. Jack said I eagerly, here's.
Speaker 7: A letter from my father.
Speaker 6: He evinced no surprise, but looking up, solemnly said, in
Speaker 6: a faint voice, read it. Breaking the seal, I read
Speaker 6: as follows.
Speaker 11: My beloved son, I forgive you. You have sinned deeply
Speaker 11: in thus leaving me, But I know that you have repented.
Speaker 11: I know that your own conscience has rebuked you more
Speaker 11: sternly than any earthly parent could do. You cannot now
Speaker 11: recall the past, You cannot undone what you have done.
Speaker 11: You must now continue your voyage. And in order to
Speaker 11: relieve your oppressed heart, I give you my blessing. I
Speaker 11: commend you, my dear boy, to him who is the
Speaker 11: savior of sinners. Beware of the captain. Obey him in
Speaker 11: all that is right, but do not serve him again.
Speaker 11: I say, beware of him. There are secrets concerning him
Speaker 11: that I cannot unfold. I have just been to see
Speaker 11: Jack's mother. She sends her forgiveness and blessing to her son.
Speaker 11: God bless you boy, your loving father John Smith.
Speaker 6: My father understood human nature. No reproaches that he could
Speaker 6: have heaped upon me would have cut half so deeply
Speaker 6: into my heart as did this kind forgiving letter. My
Speaker 6: heart was full, yet I felt a deep undercurrent of
Speaker 6: joy at knowing that my father loved me. Still, I
Speaker 6: looked at Jack. He seemed to be asleep, but he
Speaker 6: was not. A single tear coursed over his pale cheek
Speaker 6: as he looked up and whispered.
Speaker 9: We don't deserve this, Bob.
Speaker 6: Before I could reply, the ship was shaken by a
Speaker 6: tremendous explosion, and immediately after I heard the most appalling
Speaker 6: shrieks and yells on deck, accompanied by the clashing of
Speaker 6: swords and the scuffling of men in deadly conflict. I
Speaker 6: looked at Jack. He lay motionless with his eyes closed.
Speaker 6: For a moment I feared that he was dead.
Speaker 9: Bob Smith, Hello, tumble up there, you Skulka.
Speaker 6: Shouted a voice down the hatchway. At the same moment,
Speaker 6: two wounded men were carried into the place, and the
Speaker 6: surgeon appeared with his horrible instruments, glittering cold and sharp
Speaker 6: on a wooden tray, seizing my cutlass and thrusting a
Speaker 6: brace of pistols in my belt, I rushed on deck.
Speaker 6: End of story two, chapter.
Speaker 1: Four, Story two, chapters five and six of Freaks on
Speaker 1: the Fells. This is a librifox recording. All librifox accordings
Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Freaks on the Phils by R. M. Valentine,
Speaker 1: Story two, chapter five. On reaching the deck, I saw
Speaker 1: at once how matters stood. The Russian had allowed us
Speaker 1: to come alongside, and then, throwing out grappling irons, had
Speaker 1: fired a broadside into us and attempted to board. They
Speaker 1: were soon overcome, however, by the pirates and driven back
Speaker 1: into their ship, whether they were immediately followed. I resolved,
Speaker 1: come what might, that I would take no part in
Speaker 1: the fray. But I was carried in spite of myself
Speaker 1: on board the strange vessel in the rush that our
Speaker 1: men made when they drove their opponents back. There was
Speaker 1: a short, sharp skirmish on the deck of the Russian,
Speaker 1: and then the crew were driven below and the hatches
Speaker 1: put on. I remembered having seen a number of soldiers
Speaker 1: on board when we first came up with this vessel.
Speaker 1: There were none.
Speaker 12: Now.
Speaker 1: Their mysterious disappearance struck me at first, but I soon
Speaker 1: forgot it and the thrilling scenes that followed. In the
Speaker 1: middle of the vessel's main deck there was a cage
Speaker 1: of wild beasts. How they had got there, of course,
Speaker 1: I knew not, but at once concluded the ship must
Speaker 1: have been in southern climes, and these animals were being
Speaker 1: brought home to represent it to some menagerie or zoological garden.
Speaker 1: There were several fire specimens of lions and tigers, and
Speaker 1: the sight of blood, which flowed plentifully on the decks,
Speaker 1: had so excited these creatures that they were now filling
Speaker 1: the air with deafening roars, bounding against the sides of
Speaker 1: their cage, which I expected every moment to see broken
Speaker 1: to pieces by their united strength, and glaring at us
Speaker 1: with the most awful expressions of ferocity I ever beheld.
Speaker 1: Our captain, who looked almost as fierce as the wild brutes,
Speaker 1: could not make his voice heard for their roaring. In
Speaker 1: savage fury, he rushed at the cage and made a
Speaker 1: desperate cut with his sword at the lion nearest the bars.
Speaker 1: The blood flowed from the wound freely, and the savage animal,
Speaker 1: being unable to wreak its vengeance on his cowardly assailant,
Speaker 1: attacked one of its comrades. This and the blood now
Speaker 1: flowing in the cage quite maddened them all. An indiscriminate
Speaker 1: fight ensued. The wooden partition that separated the tigers from
Speaker 1: the lions was smashed in, and a strong cage shook
Speaker 1: as if it were made of card.
Speaker 13: Turn a gun in board.
Speaker 1: Yelled the captain, who seemed to have actually gone mad
Speaker 1: with passion. The order was instantly obeyed.
Speaker 14: Load to the muzzle, great canister chain shot in with it.
Speaker 1: He assisted in the operation rammed home the extraordinary charge,
Speaker 1: pointed the gun at the cage and applied the match. Instantly,
Speaker 1: the gun leaped backwards as if it had been a
Speaker 1: living thing, broke down the bulwarks of the ship, and
Speaker 1: plunged overboard. The effect of the shot was terrific. The
Speaker 1: cage was blown to atoms, and the mangled remains of
Speaker 1: the wild beasts were strewn about the deck. One animal, however,
Speaker 1: a magnificent Bengal tiger, had apparently escaped unhurt. It sprang
Speaker 1: at the captain with a hideous roar. He pointed the
Speaker 1: pistol at its open throat. At that moment, the wood
Speaker 1: cut in my book of Travels flashed vividly before me.
Speaker 1: But they had no time to think. The pistol exploded,
Speaker 1: sending its contents down the creature's throat. The tiger fell
Speaker 1: short in his sleep. Blood poured from its mouth and nose.
Speaker 1: With another bound, it cleared the bulwarks and fell into
Speaker 1: the sea. The calm that succeeded this thrilling incident was
Speaker 1: like a sudden lull in the midst of a furious storm.
Speaker 1: Even the pirates seemed to be solemnized. Though it had
Speaker 1: passed now to work, cried the captain, wiping his sword
Speaker 1: and laying it with a brace of loaded pistols on
Speaker 1: the capsain.
Speaker 13: What are you staring at, you fools? Have you lost
Speaker 13: your senses?
Speaker 14: Open the after hatch and bring them up one at
Speaker 14: a time.
Speaker 13: Get the plank ready.
Speaker 1: The first who was led bound before the captain was
Speaker 1: the steward of the ship. He was deadly, pale, and
Speaker 1: trembled very much. Now, my man, said the captain.
Speaker 13: Answer my questions the truth. Mind else.
Speaker 1: He touched the butt of a pistol significantly.
Speaker 13: Where did you last sail from?
Speaker 1: To my amazement, the man gave the name of the
Speaker 1: port from which we ourselves had sailed. I felt certain
Speaker 1: that this was a falsehood, and that the poor man's
Speaker 1: life would be forfeited. Judge. Then my surprise when the
Speaker 1: captain said.
Speaker 13: I know that as well as you.
Speaker 14: I saw you sneak out just the day before we did.
Speaker 13: But you didn't escape me. You are too good to live.
Speaker 14: My man, stand aside here till I call someone who's
Speaker 14: not quite so frightened.
Speaker 13: Here, hold him one of you, bring another.
Speaker 1: I started, my heart almost ceased to beat when the
Speaker 1: next man was led forward. He was my father's man,
Speaker 1: servant Edwards. In the confusion and horror of that hour,
Speaker 1: I could not reason, but a vague sense of some
Speaker 1: mysterious impossibility having actually taken place oppressed me in the
Speaker 1: way that I cannot explain. The ship had sailed the
Speaker 1: day before ours? Did I left Edwards behind me in
Speaker 1: the race from home? How then did I see him
Speaker 1: before me? Then the cage of wild beasts? How was
Speaker 1: it possible that a vessel leaving an English port could
Speaker 1: have such creatures on board? Then my father's letter. It
Speaker 1: seemed more than ever mysterious, how that letter could reach me,
Speaker 1: and through such a channel, and without a word of
Speaker 1: reference to Edwards. He did not observe me as he paused.
Speaker 1: I tried to utter his name, but my tongue was tied.
Speaker 1: I could not speak, I could not move.
Speaker 13: Where did you last sail from?
Speaker 1: Began the captain.
Speaker 5: You'll get nothing out of.
Speaker 1: Me, replied Edwards, stoutly.
Speaker 5: Do your moust torture me if you like, I defy
Speaker 5: you to your teeth, do you, my fine fellow.
Speaker 1: Said the captain with a bitter sneer.
Speaker 14: Then I'll just send you overboard at once. I've no
Speaker 14: time to torture you. And as I shall find plenty
Speaker 14: of your comrades willing enough to tell me all they know,
Speaker 14: I'll not trouble you any further.
Speaker 13: Ho run out the plank there.
Speaker 1: I knew what that meant, and a cold shiver passed
Speaker 1: through my frame. As the men obeyed and blindfolded Edward's
Speaker 1: preparatory to make him walk the plank, I could restrain
Speaker 1: myself no longer. Darting up to the captain, I shouted,
Speaker 1: in a voice of indignation.
Speaker 10: Do you mean to murder an innocent man, you dastardly villain.
Speaker 1: He looked at me for a moment in surprise, then,
Speaker 1: snatching a pistol, felt me with it to the deck.
Speaker 1: I was not rendered quite insensible. I heard a shriek
Speaker 1: of agony uttered by poor Edwards as he fell off
Speaker 1: the end of the plank into the sea. Then I fainted.
Speaker 1: How long I lay I know not, probably not long,
Speaker 1: for I was restored to a state of consciousness by
Speaker 1: being plunged into the sea. I had no doubt that
Speaker 1: the captain had ordered me to be thrown overboard just
Speaker 1: after I fell under brutal blow. Being a good swimmer,
Speaker 1: I struck out at once and made for the side
Speaker 1: of the pirate vessel, where I caught the end of
Speaker 1: a rope and soon clambered on board. I was much
Speaker 1: exhausted and sat down on the breach of a caranad
Speaker 1: to rest and recover my stunt and scattered faculties. The
Speaker 1: crew of the pirate were so busily engaged with the
Speaker 1: captured ship that I found myself quite alone on the deck.
Speaker 1: Not a man remained in the ship, and ideas suddenly
Speaker 1: occurred to me. Just then I glanced up at the sails.
Speaker 1: They were all flapping in the wind except the fore topsail.
Speaker 1: That sail had slewed round and was drawing so that
Speaker 1: the vessel strained their ropes and grappling irons that held
Speaker 1: her to the captured ship. I sprang up, burning with
Speaker 1: eager excitement. I heard the shrieks of the ill fated
Speaker 1: victims as one by one they walked the plank, which,
Speaker 1: fortunately for the success of my design, was thrust out
Speaker 1: on the other side of the ship. A crow bar
Speaker 1: enabled me to wrench you off the grappling irons. Two
Speaker 1: cuts of a large axe severed the cable that had
Speaker 1: been fastened to the bow, and the vessel's head fell
Speaker 1: slowly off. As it did so, all the sails filled
Speaker 1: with a sudden clap. This was observed. I heard a
Speaker 1: shout and saw the pirate spring on the bulwarks of
Speaker 1: the Prize. I flew, rather than ran, to the stern,
Speaker 1: where the cable that held the vessel was rigid as
Speaker 1: a bar of iron. One blow cut it, and the
Speaker 1: rope recoiled violently in the faces of the men who
Speaker 1: laid hold of it. Next moment, the pirate ship was
Speaker 1: heading away before a stiff breeze, which was quickly freshening
Speaker 1: to a gale. As I sprang to the helm, a
Speaker 1: shower of musket and pistol bullets tore up the deck
Speaker 1: around me, and I heard the captain's voice give the
Speaker 1: order to load the guns. It was a few minutes
Speaker 1: before the vist inechie of the ship was overcome, so
Speaker 1: that I was within close range when a whole broadside
Speaker 1: was fired at me, but not a shot struck. They
Speaker 1: tore up the water all round and ricocheted over me.
Speaker 1: Before they could reload. I was almost beyond range, for
Speaker 1: the gale was freshening every moment, and the canvas spread
Speaker 1: was enough almost to tear the masts out of the ship.
Speaker 1: The water hissed as she flew over the heaving waves,
Speaker 1: and in a few minutes I felt that I was free.
Speaker 1: Oh the feeling of wild delight that filled me. When
Speaker 1: I realized this, I lashed the helm amidships and ran
Speaker 1: down below to tell Jack what I had done. He
Speaker 1: was asleep by a powerful effort. I restrained myself and
Speaker 1: did not disturb him. Then I rushed on deck. My
Speaker 1: brain seemed on fire. I shouted, laughed, and sang, and
Speaker 1: wept until I began to feel a terrible sensation of
Speaker 1: dread lest they should go mad. But this, instead of
Speaker 1: calming me, caused me to dance and sing and shout.
Speaker 1: The more a burning thirst came upon me. I ran
Speaker 1: to the water cask and drank till I could drink
Speaker 1: no more. I was refreshed, but soon the fever returned,
Speaker 1: fiercer than ever.
Speaker 6: I was mad.
Speaker 1: I knew it, I felt it, but I did not care.
Speaker 1: I saw that the storm increased. This caused me to
Speaker 1: shout again with joy at the thought that I was
Speaker 1: so quickly borne away from the scene of butchery and
Speaker 1: from the fiends in human form with whom I had
Speaker 1: so lately associated. The gale burst in all its fury
Speaker 1: upon us. The sails were new and strong. The ship
Speaker 1: plunged into the waves. A green billow swept inboard and
Speaker 1: burst in fury on the deck, carrying away boats and
Speaker 1: loose spars. I yelled with delight and plunged into the
Speaker 1: brine that lashed the deck from stem to stern. I
Speaker 1: heard a noise overhead, but was so confused that I
Speaker 1: could not understand what it was. As I gazed, there
Speaker 1: came a terrific blast. The mainsail split from top to bottom.
Speaker 1: The topsails burst and were blown to ribbons. At the
Speaker 1: same moment, I received a violent blow on the head.
Speaker 1: After that, all was darkness and oblivion. End of Story two,
Speaker 1: Chapter five. Story two, Chapter six. When consciousness returned to me,
Speaker 1: I found myself lying on my back on the deck
Speaker 1: of a vessel, surrounded and propped out by pillows, and
Speaker 1: Jack Brown sitting beside me reading a book. I felt
Speaker 1: a curious sensation of weakness and emptiness in my head,
Speaker 1: as if it were hollow, and a strange disinclination, almost
Speaker 1: inability to speak or think. Suddenly this passed away, and
Speaker 1: the events which I have related in the previous chapters
Speaker 1: rushed back upon my memory with vivid power.
Speaker 10: It must have been a dream, I thought, or I
Speaker 10: must have been ill and delirious, and these things have
Speaker 10: passed through my fevered brain.
Speaker 1: At that moment, the thought of Jack's amputated leg came
Speaker 1: into my head.
Speaker 10: That will prove it.
Speaker 1: Thought I, and turned quickly to look at my friend.
Speaker 1: One glance was sufficient. A wooden stump occupied a place
Speaker 1: of his right leg. I groaned aloud and burst into tears. Come, Bob,
Speaker 1: said Jack in a soft, kind tone, laying down his
Speaker 1: book and bending over me.
Speaker 12: Come, my poor fellow. Keep quiet. It's about time you
Speaker 12: had your dinner. Lie still and I'll fetch it to you.
Speaker 1: I laid my hand on his arm and attained him.
Speaker 10: Then it's all true.
Speaker 1: Said I, in a tone of the deepest despondency.
Speaker 12: It's what all true?
Speaker 10: This this horrible your leg? Your leg?
Speaker 1: Jack suddenly stooped and gazed earnestly into my face.
Speaker 12: Do you know me, Bob?
Speaker 1: He trembled as he spoke.
Speaker 10: Know you, Jack? Why should I not know you? When
Speaker 10: did I ever forget you?
Speaker 12: Thank God?
Speaker 1: He exclaimed, fervently, taking my hand and pressing it to
Speaker 1: his breast.
Speaker 12: You're all right again, Oh, how I have longed and
Speaker 12: prayed for this?
Speaker 10: All right? Jack? Have I been wrong then that you
Speaker 10: have just said?
Speaker 1: Jack, smiling sadly.
Speaker 12: You've been as mad as a march hare. That's all.
Speaker 1: I fell flat down and gazed at him. In a
Speaker 1: minute more, I raised myself on one elbow, and, looking
Speaker 1: at him earnestly, said how.
Speaker 10: Long, Jack?
Speaker 12: Just three weeks today?
Speaker 1: I fell flat down again, in which position Jack left
Speaker 1: me to go and fetch me some dinner. He returned
Speaker 1: quickly with a plate of soup. Before commencing to eat it.
Speaker 1: I pressed my hand on my forehead and said.
Speaker 10: Jack, I am surrounded by mysteries. How got you so soon? Well?
Speaker 10: Where got you that wooden leg? How are we here alone?
Speaker 10: Where are we going? Clear up my faculties? Jack? While
Speaker 10: I eat this soup, do like a good fellow.
Speaker 12: I can easily do that. Bob. First, I got well
Speaker 12: because you took care of me. What I yes you
Speaker 12: at the commencement of your madness. You tended me and
Speaker 12: cared for me as if you had been my mother.
Speaker 12: When you got to lose all method in your madness,
Speaker 12: I was well enough to take care of myself and
Speaker 12: you too. Secondly, I found this wooden leg in the
Speaker 12: carpenter's berth and gladly availed myself of its services, though
Speaker 12: it is three inches too short and caused me to
Speaker 12: hobble in a most undignified manner. Thirdly, we are here
Speaker 12: alone because there is no one else with us. You
Speaker 12: took good care of that by cutting the ropes before
Speaker 12: any of our crew could get aboard. So you told
Speaker 12: me just before you went mad.
Speaker 10: Oh I remember, now I recollect it all.
Speaker 4: Go on.
Speaker 12: Fourthly, as to where we are going, I don't know.
Speaker 12: Our compass was smashed to pieces in the fight, and
Speaker 12: I've been running for the last three weeks, right before
Speaker 12: the wind. So now you know all. And as you've
Speaker 12: finished your soup, I'll go and get you a lump
Speaker 12: of boiled junk, don't.
Speaker 1: Said I, rising and cheeking myself.
Speaker 10: I've dined. I feel quite strong. I don't feel a
Speaker 10: bit as if I had been ill. Hallo, what land
Speaker 10: is that?
Speaker 1: Jack started and gazed at it with surprise. He had
Speaker 1: evidently not known that we were in the neighborhood of Land.
Speaker 1: A dense fog bank had concealed it from us. Now
Speaker 1: that it cleared away, it revealed to our gaze a
Speaker 1: stretch of yellow sand, backed by the lofty blue hills
Speaker 1: of the interior, and from the palm trees that it
Speaker 1: could make out distinctly. I judged that we must have
Speaker 1: been making for the tropical regions during the last three weeks.
Speaker 1: Yet here again mystery surrounded me. How was it possible
Speaker 1: that we should have reached the tropics and so short
Speaker 1: a time. While I was puzzling over this question, the
Speaker 1: greatest mystery of all occurred to us. If I were
Speaker 1: not conscientiously relating events exactly as they occurred, I should
Speaker 1: expect my readers to doubt my veracity. Here, as we
Speaker 1: were sailing smoothly along, our ship without any apparent cause,
Speaker 1: began to sink. She went down gradually but quickly, inch
Speaker 1: by inch, until the water was on the level with
Speaker 1: the decks. We struck no rock. We did not cease
Speaker 1: to advance toward the shore. I fancied that we must
Speaker 1: certainly have sprung a leak, But there had been no
Speaker 1: sound of a plank starting, and there was no noise
Speaker 1: of water rushing into the hold. I could not imagine
Speaker 1: what had occurred, but I had not much time for thought.
Speaker 1: We could do nothing to avert the catastrophe. It occurred
Speaker 1: so suddenly that we were both rendered mute and helpless.
Speaker 1: We stood gazing at the water as it crept over
Speaker 1: the deck, without making the slightest effort to save ourselves.
Speaker 1: At length, the water reached the hatchway and poured in
Speaker 1: a roaring cataract into the hold. The vessel filled gave
Speaker 1: a heavy lurch to port. A species of tremor passed
Speaker 1: through her frame as if she was a living thing,
Speaker 1: and knew that her hour had come. Then she went
Speaker 1: down in a whirlpool, leaving Jack and me struggling in
Speaker 1: the sea. We were both good swimmers, so that we
Speaker 1: did not experience much alarm, especially when we felt that
Speaker 1: the sea was comparatively warm. We struck out for the shore,
Speaker 1: and being in the better swimmer of the two, I
Speaker 1: took the lead. But now, to our horror, we found
Speaker 1: that we were followed by sharks. No sooner than we
Speaker 1: observed this than we struck out with all the energy
Speaker 1: of terror. We never swam as we did on that occasion.
Speaker 1: It seemed to me quite miraculous. The water burst from
Speaker 1: our breasts in foam, and we left long white tracks
Speaker 1: behind us as we clove our way through the water
Speaker 1: like two boats. It was awful. I shall never forget
Speaker 1: my feelings on that occasion. They were indescribable, inconceivable. We
Speaker 1: were about a quarter of a mile from a point
Speaker 1: of rocks when our ship sank in an incredibly short
Speaker 1: space of time. We were close on the rocks, being
Speaker 1: several yards ahead of Jack. I was the first to
Speaker 1: clamber up. My heart fluttering with fear, yet filled with
Speaker 1: deep gratitude for my deliverance. I turned to help Jack.
Speaker 1: He was yet six yards from shore when a dreadful
Speaker 1: shark made a rush at him.
Speaker 10: Oh quick, quick.
Speaker 1: I screamed. He was panting and straining like a lion.
Speaker 1: Another moment and his hand would have been in mine.
Speaker 1: But at that moment I beheld the double rows of
Speaker 1: horrid teeth close upon him. He uttered a piercing shriek,
Speaker 1: and there was an indescribably horrible scrunch as he went down.
Speaker 1: In a moment after he reappeared and making a lost,
Speaker 1: frightful effort to gain the rocks, caught my hand. I
Speaker 1: dragged him out of danger instantly, and then I found
Speaker 1: to my unutterable joy that the shark had only bitten
Speaker 1: off the half of his wooden leg. Embracing each other fervently,
Speaker 1: we sat down in the rocks to rest and collect
Speaker 1: our thoughts. End of Story two, chapter six.
Speaker 8: Story two, Chapter seven and eight of Freaks on the Fells.
Speaker 8: This is a librifox according all LibriVox accordings are in
Speaker 8: the public domain. For more information or the volunteer, please
Speaker 8: visit librifox dot org. Freaks on the Fells by R. M. Valentine,
Speaker 8: Story two, chapter seven. I have often found from experience
Speaker 8: that the more one tries to collect one's thoughts, the
Speaker 8: more one's thoughts pertinaciously scatter themselves abroad, almost beyond the
Speaker 8: possibility of discovery. Such was the case with me after
Speaker 8: escaping from the sea and the sharks, as related circumstantially
Speaker 8: in the last chapter. Perhaps the truth of this may
Speaker 8: be best illustrated by laying before my readers the dialogue
Speaker 8: that ensued between me and Jack on the momentous occasion,
Speaker 8: refer to as follows.
Speaker 12: I say, Bob, where in all the world if we got.
Speaker 10: To upon my word, I don't.
Speaker 12: Know, it's very mysterious.
Speaker 10: What's very mysterious.
Speaker 12: Where do we've got to? Can't you guess?
Speaker 10: Certainly? Suppose I say Lapland.
Speaker 8: Jack, shaking his head, won't do why.
Speaker 12: Because there are no palm trees in Lapland.
Speaker 10: Dear me, that's true. How confused my head is. I'll
Speaker 10: tell you what it is, Jack, I can't think that's it.
Speaker 10: That's the cause of the mystery that seems to be
Speaker 10: set me. I can't tell how. And then I've been ill.
Speaker 10: That's it too.
Speaker 12: How can there be two causes for one effect? Bob,
Speaker 12: you're talking stuff? Man. If I couldn't talk better sinse
Speaker 12: than that, I'd not talk at all?
Speaker 10: Then why don't you hold your tongue? I tell you
Speaker 10: what it is? Jack, we're bewitched. You said I was
Speaker 10: mad some time ago. You were right, so I am,
Speaker 10: so are you. There are too many mysteries here for
Speaker 10: any two sane men here.
Speaker 8: Jack murmured, we weren't men but boys.
Speaker 10: There's the running away and not being caught, the ship
Speaker 10: ready to sail the moment we arrive. There's your joining
Speaker 10: me after all your good advice. There's that horrible fight
Speaker 10: and the lions and Edwards and the sinking of our
Speaker 10: ship and the the In short, I feel that I'm
Speaker 10: mad still, I'm not recovered yet. Here Jack, take care
Speaker 10: of me.
Speaker 8: Instead of replying to this, Jack busied himself and fitting
Speaker 8: a piece of wood he had picked up to his
Speaker 8: wooden leg and lashing it firmly to the old stump.
Speaker 8: When he had accomplished his task, he turned gravely to
Speaker 8: me and said, Bob.
Speaker 12: Your faculties are wandering pretty wildly today, but you've not
Speaker 12: yet hit upon the cause of all our misfortunes. The
Speaker 12: true cause is that you have disobeyed your father, and
Speaker 12: I my mother.
Speaker 8: I hung my head. I had now no longer difficulty
Speaker 8: in collecting my thoughts. They circled round that point until
Speaker 8: I thought the remorse would have killed me. Then suddenly
Speaker 8: I turned, with a look of gladness to my friend.
Speaker 10: But you forget the letter. We are forgiven.
Speaker 8: True, cried Jack, with a cheerful expression.
Speaker 12: We can face our fate without assurance. Come, let us
Speaker 12: strike into the country and discover where we are. I'll
Speaker 12: manage to hop along pretty well with my wooden leg.
Speaker 12: We'll get home as soon as we can by land,
Speaker 12: if not by water, And then we'll remain at home,
Speaker 12: won't we Bob.
Speaker 10: Remain at home. I cried, Ay, that will we. I've
Speaker 10: had more than enough of foreign experiences already. Oh, Jack, Jack,
Speaker 10: it's little I care for the sufferings I have endured.
Speaker 10: But your leg, Jack, Jack willingly, most willingly, my dear friend,
Speaker 10: would I part with my own if by so doing
Speaker 10: I could replace yours?
Speaker 8: Jack took my hand and squeezed it.
Speaker 12: Oh it's gone now, Bob, he said, sadly, I must
Speaker 12: just make the most of the one that's left. Tis
Speaker 12: a pity that the one that's left is only the
Speaker 12: left one.
Speaker 8: So saying, he turned us back to the sea, and,
Speaker 8: still retaining my hand in his, led me into the forest.
Speaker 8: But here, unthought of trouble awaited us at the very
Speaker 8: outset of our wonderings. The ground which we first encountered
Speaker 8: was soft and swampy, so that I sank above the
Speaker 8: ankles at every step. In these circumstances, as might have
Speaker 8: been expected, poor Jack's wooden leg was totally useless. The
Speaker 8: first step he took after entering the jungle, his leg
Speaker 8: penetrated the soft ground to the depth of nine or
Speaker 8: ten inches, and at the second step it disappeared altogether,
Speaker 8: insomuch that he could by no means put it out,
Speaker 8: I say, Bob, said he, with a rueful expression of countenance.
Speaker 12: I'm in a real fix now, and no mistake come
Speaker 12: to anchor. Prematurely, I resolved to stick at nothing, and
Speaker 12: here I have stuck in the first step. What is
Speaker 12: to be done?
Speaker 8: Jack's right leg being deep in the ground, it followed
Speaker 8: as a physical consequence that his left leg was bent
Speaker 8: as if he were in a sitting posture. Observing this fact,
Speaker 8: just as he made the above remark, he places both
Speaker 8: hands on his left knee, rested his chin on his hands,
Speaker 8: and gazed meditatively at the ground. The action tickled me
Speaker 8: so much that I gave a short laugh. Jack looked
Speaker 8: up and laughed too, whereupon we both burst incontinently in
Speaker 8: an uproarious fit of laughter, which might have continued ever
Speaker 8: so long had not Jack, in the fullness of his mirth,
Speaker 8: given his fixed leg a twist that caused it to crack. Hello, Bob,
Speaker 8: he cried, suddenly, becoming very grave.
Speaker 12: I say, this won't do. You know? If I break
Speaker 12: it off short, you'll have to carry me, my boy.
Speaker 12: So it behooves me to be careful. What is to
Speaker 12: be done?
Speaker 10: Come I'll help you pull it out.
Speaker 12: Oh, that's not what troubles me. But after we get
Speaker 12: it out, what's to be done?
Speaker 10: Jack said, I seriously, one thing at a time. When
Speaker 10: we get you out, then it will be time enough
Speaker 10: to inquire what to do next.
Speaker 12: That sound philosophy, Bob, where did you pick it up?
Speaker 12: I suspect you must have been studying Shakespeare of late
Speaker 12: on the sly. But come get behind me and put
Speaker 12: your hands under my arms and heave. I'll shove with
Speaker 12: my sound limb. Now let us act together. Stay, Bob,
Speaker 12: We've been long enough aboard ship to know the value
Speaker 12: of a song in producing a unity of action. Take
Speaker 12: the tune from me.
Speaker 8: Suiting the action to the word. Jack gave forth at
Speaker 8: the top of his voice, one or two of those
Speaker 8: peculiarly nautical howls, where with seamen are wont to constrain
Speaker 8: windlasses and capstans to creak, and anchors to let go
Speaker 8: their hold.
Speaker 12: Now, then heave away, my hearties, yo, heave yo, hoy.
Speaker 8: At the last word, we both strained with all our might.
Speaker 8: I heard Jack's braces burst with the effort. We both
Speaker 8: became purple in the face. But the leg remained immovable.
Speaker 8: With a loud, simultaneous sigh, we relaxed, and, looking at
Speaker 8: each other, groan slightly.
Speaker 12: Come, come, Bob, never say die. One trial more. It
Speaker 12: was the braces that spoiled at that time. Now, then, cheerly,
Speaker 12: ho my hearties, heave yo, heave hoy.
Speaker 8: The united force applied this time was so great that
Speaker 8: we tore asunder all the fastenings of the leg at
Speaker 8: one wrench, and Jack and I suddenly shot straight out,
Speaker 8: as if we had been discharged from a hole in
Speaker 8: the ground. Losing our balance, we fell over each other
Speaker 8: on our backs, the wooden leg remaining hard and fast
Speaker 8: in the ground. Ah, Jack, said I sorrowfully, as I
Speaker 8: rubbed the mud of my garments.
Speaker 10: If we had remained at home, this would not have happened.
Speaker 1: If we had remained at home, returned Jack rather gruffly,
Speaker 1: as he hopped towards.
Speaker 12: His leg, nothing would have happened. Come, Bob, lay hold
Speaker 12: of it. Out it shall come, if the inside of
Speaker 12: the world should come along with it. There now heave.
Speaker 8: This time we gave en to no shout, but we
Speaker 8: have with such a will that Jack split his jacket
Speaker 8: from the waist to the neck. And the leg came
Speaker 8: out with a crack that resembled the drawing of the
Speaker 8: largest possible cork out of the biggest conceivable bottle. Having
Speaker 8: accomplished his feet, we congratulated each other and then sat
Speaker 8: down to repair damages. This was not an easy matter.
Speaker 8: It caused us no little thought to invent some contrivance
Speaker 8: that would prevent the leg from sinking. But at last
Speaker 8: we thought of a plan. We cut a square piece
Speaker 8: of bark off a tree, the outer end of which
Speaker 8: was peculiarly tough and thick. In the center of this
Speaker 8: we scooped a hole and inserted therein the end of
Speaker 8: the leg, fastening it there too with pieces of twine
Speaker 8: that we chanced to have in our pockets. Thus we made,
Speaker 8: as it were, an artificial foot, which, when Jack tried it,
Speaker 8: served its purpose admirably. Indeed, it acted too well for
Speaker 8: being a broad bass. It did not permit the wooden
Speaker 8: leg to sink at all, while the natural leg did
Speaker 8: sink more or less. And as the wooden limb had
Speaker 8: known knee, it was stiff from hip to heel and
Speaker 8: could not bend, so that I had to walk behind
Speaker 8: my poor comrade. And when I observed him get somewhat
Speaker 8: into the possession of the leaning tower of Pisa. I
Speaker 8: sprang forward and supported him. Thus we proceeded slowly through
Speaker 8: the forest, stumbling frequently, tumbling occasionally, and staggering oft but
Speaker 8: strange to say, without either of us having any very
Speaker 8: definite idea where we were going, or what we expected
Speaker 8: to find, or why we went in one direction more
Speaker 8: than another. In fact, we proceeded on that eminently simple
Speaker 8: principle which is couched in the well known and time
Speaker 8: honored phrase follow your nose true. Once I ventured to
Speaker 8: ask my companion where he thought we were going to,
Speaker 8: which he replied, much to my surprise, that he didn't
Speaker 8: know and didn't care. That it was quite certain if
Speaker 8: we did not go forward we could not expect to
Speaker 8: get on, and that in the ordinary course of things,
Speaker 8: if we proceeded, we should undoubtedly come to something. To this,
Speaker 8: I replied, in a meditative tone, that there was much
Speaker 8: truth in the observation, and that at any rate, if
Speaker 8: we did not come to something, something would certainly come
Speaker 8: to us. But we did not pursue the subject. In fact,
Speaker 8: we were too much taken up with the interesting and
Speaker 8: amusing sights that met our gaze in that singular forest,
Speaker 8: insomuch that on several occasions I neglected my peculiar duty
Speaker 8: of watching Jack, and was only made aware of my
Speaker 8: carelessness by hearing him.
Speaker 12: Shout, Hello, Bob, look alive, I'm over.
Speaker 8: When I would suddenly drop my eyes from the contemplation
Speaker 8: of the plumage of a parrot or the antics of
Speaker 8: a monkey, to behold my friend leaning over at an
Speaker 8: angle of forty five, to leap forward and catch him
Speaker 8: in my arms was the work of an instant on
Speaker 8: each of these occasions. After setting him upright, I used
Speaker 8: to give him a tender hug to indicate my regret
Speaker 8: at having been so inattentive, and my sympathy with him
Speaker 8: in his calamitous circumstances. Poor Jack was very gentle and uncomplaining.
Speaker 8: He even made light of his misfortune and laughed a
Speaker 8: good deal at himself. But I could see, nevertheless, that
Speaker 8: his spirits were at times deeply affected, in spite of
Speaker 8: his brave efforts to bear up and appear gay and cheerful.
Speaker 8: End of Story two, Chapter seven. Story two, Chapter eight.
Speaker 8: It was evening when we were acrost ashore in this
Speaker 8: new country, so that we had not advanced far into
Speaker 8: the forest before night closed in and compelled us to halt,
Speaker 8: For had we continued our journey in the dark, we
Speaker 8: should certainly have been drowned in one of the many
Speaker 8: deep morasses which abounded there, and which we had found
Speaker 8: it difficult to steer clear of even in daylight. As
Speaker 8: the moon arose and the stars began to glimmer in
Speaker 8: the sky, I observed, to my dismay, that all kinds
Speaker 8: of noxious creatures and creeping things began to move about,
Speaker 8: and strange hissing sounds and low, dismal hootings and whales
Speaker 8: were heard, at times indistinctly, as if the place were
Speaker 8: the abode of evil spirits who were about to wake
Speaker 8: up to indulge in their midnight orgies. Oh Jack, said I,
Speaker 8: shuddering violently, as I stopped and seized my companion by
Speaker 8: the arm.
Speaker 10: I can't tell what it is that fills me with
Speaker 10: an unaccountable sensation of dread. I I feel as if
Speaker 10: we should never more get out of this horrible swamp,
Speaker 10: or see again the blessed light of day. See see
Speaker 10: what horrid creature is that.
Speaker 8: Pooh Man, interrupted Jack with a degree of levity in
Speaker 8: his tone, which surprised me much.
Speaker 12: It's only a serpent. All these kinds of things are
Speaker 12: regular cowards. Only let them alone, and they're sure to
Speaker 12: let you alone. I should like, above all things to
Speaker 12: tickle up one of these brutes and let him have
Speaker 12: a bite at my wooden toe. It would be rare fun,
Speaker 12: wouldn't it. Bob Eh, Come, let us push on and
Speaker 12: see that you keep me straight, old fellow.
Speaker 8: I made no reply for some time. I was horrified
Speaker 8: at my comrade's levity in such circumstances. Then, as I
Speaker 8: heard him continue to chuckle and remark in an undertone
Speaker 8: on the surprise the serpent would get on discovering the
Speaker 8: exceeding toughness of his toe, and for the first time
Speaker 8: flashed across my mind that his sufferings had deranged my
Speaker 8: dear Panion's intellect. The bare probability of such a dreadful
Speaker 8: calamity was sufficient to put to flight all my previous terrors.
Speaker 8: I now cared nothing whatever for the lowesome reptiles that
Speaker 8: wallowed in the swamps around me, and the quiet glidings
Speaker 8: and swelterings of whose hideous forms were distinctly audible in
Speaker 8: the stillness of approaching night. My whole anxiety was centered
Speaker 8: on Jack. I thought that if I could prevail on
Speaker 8: him to rest, he might recover, and proposed that we
Speaker 8: should encamp. But he would not hear of this. He
Speaker 8: kept plunging on, staggering through break and swamp, reedy pond,
Speaker 8: and quaking morass, until I felt myself utterly unable to
Speaker 8: follow him a step farther. Just at this point, Jack
Speaker 8: stopped abruptly and said.
Speaker 12: Bob, my boy, we'll camp here.
Speaker 8: It was a fearful spot, dark, dismal, and not a
Speaker 8: square foot of dry ground here.
Speaker 10: Jack, Ay, here, but it's it's all wet. Excuse me,
Speaker 10: my dear, I've not yet acquired the habit of sleeping
Speaker 10: in water.
Speaker 12: No more have I, Bob, we shall sleep on a
Speaker 12: fallen tree, My boy. Did you never hear of men
Speaker 12: sleeping in a swamp on the top of a log.
Speaker 12: It's often done, I assure you, and I mean to
Speaker 12: do it tonight. See here is a good, large one,
Speaker 12: three feet broad by twenty feet long, with lots of
Speaker 12: stumps of broken branches to keep us from rolling off. Come,
Speaker 12: let's begin.
Speaker 8: We immediately began to make our arrangements for the night.
Speaker 8: With the aid of our clasp knives, we cut a
Speaker 8: quantity of leafy branches and spread them on the trunk
Speaker 8: of a huge, prustrated tree, the half of which was
Speaker 8: sunk in the swamp, but the other half was sufficiently
Speaker 8: elevated to raise us well out of the water. The
Speaker 8: bed was more comfortable than one would suppose, and, being
Speaker 8: very tired, we lay down on it as soon as
Speaker 8: it was made and tried to sleep. Having nothing to eat,
Speaker 8: we thought it well to endeavor to obtain all the
Speaker 8: refreshment we could out of sleep. We had not lain
Speaker 8: long when I started up in a fright and cried.
Speaker 10: Hello, Jack, what's that See through the reeds? It creeps slowly, Oh, horror,
Speaker 10: it comes towards us.
Speaker 8: Jack looked at it sleepily.
Speaker 12: It's an alligator, said he. If it approaches too close,
Speaker 12: just wake me, But pray, don't keep howling at everything
Speaker 12: that comes to peep at us.
Speaker 8: Just at that moment, the hideous reptile drew near, and,
Speaker 8: opening its jaws, let him come together with a snap.
Speaker 8: Even Jack was not proof against us. He started up
Speaker 8: and looked about for a defensive weapon. We have nothing
Speaker 8: but our clasp knives. The alligator wallowed towards us. Oh
Speaker 8: for an axe gasped Jack. The brute was within a
Speaker 8: few yards of us. Now I was transfixed with horror.
Speaker 8: Suddenly an idea occurred.
Speaker 10: To me, your leg, Jack, your leg.
Speaker 8: He understood me. One sweep of his class knife cut
Speaker 8: all the fastenings. The next moment, he grasped a toe
Speaker 8: in both hands, and, swaying the heavy butt of the
Speaker 8: limb in the air, brought it down with all his
Speaker 8: force on the skull of the alligator. It rang like
Speaker 8: the sound of a blow on an empty cask. Again,
Speaker 8: the limb was swayed aloft, and descended with extraordinary violence.
Speaker 8: On the extreme point of the alligator's snout. There was
Speaker 8: a loud crash, as if of small bones being driven in.
Speaker 8: The animal pause, put its head on one side, and,
Speaker 8: turning slowly round, waddled away into the noisome recesses of
Speaker 8: its native swamp. Scarcely had we recovered from the effects
Speaker 8: of this when we heard in the distance shouting, yells
Speaker 8: and the barking of dogs. Crouching in our nest. We
Speaker 8: listened intently. The sounds approached, but while those who made
Speaker 8: them were yet at some distance we were startled by
Speaker 8: the sudden approach of a dark object running at full speed.
Speaker 8: It seemed like a man, or rather a huge ape,
Speaker 8: for it was black, and as it came tearing to
Speaker 8: towards us, running on its hind legs, he could see
Speaker 8: its eyes glaring in the moonlight, and could hear its
Speaker 8: laboring breath. It was evidently hard pressed by its pursuers,
Speaker 8: for it did not see what lay before it, and
Speaker 8: had well nigh run over our couch. Ere it observed
Speaker 8: Jack standing on one leg, but the other limb raised
Speaker 8: in a threatening attitude above his head. It was too
Speaker 8: late to turn to avoid the blow. Uttering a terrible cry,
Speaker 8: the creature fell on its knees and, trembling violently, cried.
Speaker 5: Oh Massa, Oh Massa, spare me mean no run away again.
Speaker 12: Mercy Massa, mercy, silence you, No easy villain.
Speaker 8: Cried Jack, seizing the negro by the hair of the head. Yes, Massa,
Speaker 8: gasped the man, while his teeth chattered and the whites
Speaker 8: of his eyes rolled fearfully.
Speaker 12: What are you? Where do you come from? Who's after? Ye?
Speaker 8: To these abrupt questions, the poor negro replied, as briefly
Speaker 8: that he was a runaway slave, and that his master
Speaker 8: and bloodhounds were after him. We had guessed as much,
Speaker 8: and the deep baying of the hounds convinced us of
Speaker 8: the truth of his statement. Quick cried Jack, dragging the
Speaker 8: black to the edge of our log.
Speaker 12: Get under there, life blot, keep still.
Speaker 8: So, saying, he thrust the negro under the branches that
Speaker 8: formed our couch. We covered him well up, and then
Speaker 8: sat down on him. Before we had well finished our tasks,
Speaker 8: the foremost of the bloodhounds came bounding towards us, with
Speaker 8: its eyeballs glaring and its white fangs glittering in the
Speaker 8: dim light, like glow worms in a blood red cavern.
Speaker 8: It made straight for the spot where the negro was concealed,
Speaker 8: and would have seized him in another instance, had not Jack,
Speaker 8: with one blow of his leg, beaten.
Speaker 12: Its skull show him out of sight.
Speaker 8: Bob I seized the deadhound and obeyed, while my comrade
Speaker 8: prepared to receive the second dog. But that animal's more timid.
Speaker 8: It swerved as the blow was delivered, received on his haunches,
Speaker 8: and fled away, howling in another direction. Jack at once
Speaker 8: laid down his leg and sat down on the negro,
Speaker 8: motioning me to do the same. Then pulling an old
Speaker 8: tobacco pipe out of his pocket, he affected to be
Speaker 8: calmly employed in filling it. When the pursuers came up,
Speaker 8: there were two of them in straw hats and nineteen pantaloons,
Speaker 8: armed with cudgels, and a more ruffianly pair of villains
Speaker 8: and never saw before or since. Hello, strangers, pried one
Speaker 8: as they halted for a few moments.
Speaker 6: On observing us quare place to camp.
Speaker 10: Fond of water and dirt.
Speaker 12: I guess you seemed fond of dirt and not a water,
Speaker 12: to judge from your faces.
Speaker 8: Replied Jack, calmly, attempting to light his pip, which was
Speaker 8: rather a difficult operation, seeing that it was empty and
Speaker 8: he had no fire.
Speaker 12: Oh my right side. Could you lend us a match? Friend?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 6: Oh, we can't, no time, ain't got none.
Speaker 10: Did you see a nigger pass this way?
Speaker 13: Ah?
Speaker 12: You're after him, are you?
Speaker 8: Cried Jack indignantly.
Speaker 12: Do you suppose I'd tell you if I did go
Speaker 12: and find him yourselves.
Speaker 8: The two men frowned fiercely at this and appeared about
Speaker 8: to attack us, but they changed their minds, and said.
Speaker 13: May app you'll tell us if you saw two.
Speaker 12: Ounds, then yes, I did.
Speaker 13: Which way did they pass?
Speaker 12: They haven't passed yet.
Speaker 8: Replied Jack with deep sarcasm, at the same time quietly
Speaker 8: lifting his leg and swaying it gently to and fro.
Speaker 12: Whether they'll pass without a licking remains to be seen.
Speaker 8: Looky, lads, we'll pay you for this, shouted the men
Speaker 8: as they turned away.
Speaker 10: We've not time to waste, but will come back.
Speaker 8: I've remonstrated with my friend, you're too rash.
Speaker 12: Jack, Why I don't need to fear two men?
Speaker 10: Aye? But there may be more in the woods.
Speaker 8: My surmise was correct. Half an hour after the hound
Speaker 8: was heard returning, it came straight at us, followed by
Speaker 8: at least a dozen men. Jack killed the dog with
Speaker 8: one blow and felt the first man that came up
Speaker 8: that we were overwhelmed by numbers, and in a much
Speaker 8: shorter time than it takes to tell it, both of
Speaker 8: us were knocked into the mud and rendered insensible. End
Speaker 8: of Story two, Chapter eight.
Speaker 1: Story two, chapters nine to ten of Freaks on the Fells.
Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All libervox accordings are in
Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
Speaker 1: visit librifox dot org. Freaks on the Fells by R. M. Valentine,
Speaker 1: Story two, Chapter nine, on recovering from the stunning effects
Speaker 1: of the blow that have felt me. I found myself
Speaker 1: lying on a hard urden floor, surround it by deep,
Speaker 1: impenetrable darkness. Are you there, Jack, I sighed faintly.
Speaker 12: Aye, Bob, I'm here, at least all I made it's left.
Speaker 12: I confess to you that I do feel a queer sensation,
Speaker 12: as if one half of my head were absent and
Speaker 12: the other half a wanting while the brain lies exposed
Speaker 12: to the atmosphere. But I suppose that's impossible.
Speaker 10: Where are we, Jack, We're in.
Speaker 12: An outhouse, in the hands of planters. So I made
Speaker 12: out by what I heard them say when I got
Speaker 12: my senses back. But I've no notion of what part
Speaker 12: of the world we're in. Moreover, I don't care. A
Speaker 12: man with only one leg, no head, and an exposed
Speaker 12: brain isn't worth caring about. I don't care for him.
Speaker 10: Not a button, Oh Jack, dear, don't speak like that.
Speaker 10: I can't stand it.
Speaker 12: You're lying down, ain't you?
Speaker 1: Inquired? Jack?
Speaker 12: Yeah, then, how do you know whether you can stand
Speaker 12: it or not?
Speaker 1: I was so overcome and to say the truth, surprised
Speaker 1: at my companion's recklessness, that I could not reply. I
Speaker 1: lay motionless on the hard ground, meditating on our forlorn situation.
Speaker 1: When my thoughts were interrupted by the grating sound of
Speaker 1: a key turning in a lock. The door of the
Speaker 1: hut opened and four men entered, each bearing a torch,
Speaker 1: which cast a brilliant glare over the huddle in which
Speaker 1: we were confined. There was almost nothing to be seen
Speaker 1: in the place. It was quite empty. The only peculiar
Speaker 1: thing that I observed about it was a thick post
Speaker 1: with iron hooks fixed in it, which rose from the
Speaker 1: center of the floor to the rafters against which it
Speaker 1: was nailed. There were also a few strange looking implements
Speaker 1: hanging round the walls, but I could not at first
Speaker 1: make out what these were intended for. I now perceived
Speaker 1: that Jack and I were chained to the wall. Go
Speaker 1: into the four corners of the apartment. The four men
Speaker 1: placed the four torches in four stands that seemed made
Speaker 1: for the purpose, and then, approaching us, ranged themselves in
Speaker 1: a row. Before us. Two of them I recognized as
Speaker 1: being the men we had first seen in the swamp.
Speaker 1: The other two were strangers, So my bocks began. One
Speaker 1: of the former, a hideous looking man whose personal appearance
Speaker 1: was by no means improved by a closed eye, a
Speaker 1: flattened nose, and a swell cheek, the result of Jack's
Speaker 1: first flourish of his wooden leg.
Speaker 13: So we've got you, have we? The hounds have got you, eh,
Speaker 13: so it appears.
Speaker 1: Replied Jack in a tone of quiet contempt, as he
Speaker 1: sat on the ground with his back leaning against the wall,
Speaker 1: his hands clasped above his solitary knee and his stumbs
Speaker 1: revolving round each other. Slowly, I say, continued Jack. An
Speaker 1: expression of concern crossed his handsome countenance.
Speaker 12: I'm afraid you're damaged. Rather about your head, peace. Your
Speaker 12: eyes seems a little out of order, and pardon me,
Speaker 12: but your noses a little too flat, just a little,
Speaker 12: my poor fellow. I'm quite sorry for you, I really am,
Speaker 12: though you are a dog.
Speaker 1: The man opened his solitary eye and stared with amazement
Speaker 1: at Jack, who smiled, and, putting his head a little
Speaker 1: to the other side, returned to stare with interest.
Speaker 13: You're a bold fellow.
Speaker 1: Said the man, unrecovering a little from his surprise.
Speaker 12: I'm sorry, retorted Jack that I cannot return you the compliment.
Speaker 1: I was horrified. I saw that my poor friend, probably
Speaker 1: under the influence of madness, had made up his mind
Speaker 1: to insult and defy your captors to their teeth, regardless
Speaker 1: of consequences. I tried to speak, but my lips refused
Speaker 1: their office. The man grinned horribly and gnashed his teeth,
Speaker 1: while the others made as though they would rush upon
Speaker 1: us and tear us limb from limb. But their chief
Speaker 1: for such, the spokesman, seemed to be restrained them.
Speaker 8: Ha.
Speaker 1: He gasped, looking fiercely at Jack and at the same
Speaker 1: time pointing to the implements on the wall.
Speaker 12: You see these things, not being quite so blind as
Speaker 12: you are, I do.
Speaker 10: Do you know what they're for?
Speaker 12: Not being a demon, which you seem to be. I don't.
Speaker 1: Ha, these are he spoke very slowly and hissed out
Speaker 1: the words between his teeth. Tortus, what, inquired Jack, putting
Speaker 1: his head a little more to one side and revolving
Speaker 1: his thumbs in a contrary direction. By way of variety.
Speaker 14: Tortures man tortures what You twirl your thumbs like that for.
Speaker 12: Eh, because it reminds me how easily if I were
Speaker 12: unchained and had my wooden leg, I could twirl you
Speaker 12: around your own neck and cram your heels into your
Speaker 12: own mouth, ram you down your own throat. There is
Speaker 12: nothing left to you but extreme ends of your shirt
Speaker 12: collar sticking out of your eyes.
Speaker 1: The mention of this peculiarly complicated operation seemed to be
Speaker 1: too much for the men. Setting up a loud yell,
Speaker 1: they rushed upon Jack and seized him quick.
Speaker 10: The screws cried.
Speaker 1: The man with the flattened nose. A small iron instrument
Speaker 1: was broad Jack's thumbs inserted her in, and the handle turned.
Speaker 1: I heard a harsh grating sound and observed my poor
Speaker 1: companion's face grow deadly pale, and his lips turned blue.
Speaker 1: But he uttered no cry, and to my surprise, he
Speaker 1: did not even struggle. Stop, I shouted, in a voice
Speaker 1: of thunder. The men looked round in surprise. At that moment,
Speaker 1: a great idea seemed to fill my soul. I cannot
Speaker 1: explain what it was. To this day, I do not
Speaker 1: know what it was. It was a mystery, an indescribable mystery.
Speaker 1: I felt as one might be supposed to feel whose
Speaker 1: spirit were capable of eating material food and had eaten
Speaker 1: too much. It was awful. Under the impulse of disensation,
Speaker 1: I again shouted.
Speaker 10: Stop why. I cannot tell you why until you unscrew
Speaker 10: that machine quick. It is of the deepest, the most
Speaker 10: vital importance to yourselves.
Speaker 1: The extreme earnestness of my voice and manner induced the
Speaker 1: men to comply, almost, I might say, in spite of themselves.
Speaker 10: Now, lad, what is it mind? Your turn is coming,
Speaker 10: So don't trifle with us.
Speaker 1: Trifle with you, I said, in a voice so deep
Speaker 1: and slow and solemn. With it looks so preternaturally awful
Speaker 1: that the foe men were visibly impressed.
Speaker 10: Listen, I have a secret to tell you, a secret
Speaker 10: that intimately concerns yourselves. It is a fearful one. You
Speaker 10: would give all you possess, your wealth, your very lives
Speaker 10: rather than not know it. I can tell it to you,
Speaker 10: but not now. All the tortures of the inquisition could
Speaker 10: not drag it out of me. Nay, you need not smile.
Speaker 10: If you did torture me before I told you this secret,
Speaker 10: that would have the effect of rendering my information useless
Speaker 10: to you. Nothing could then save you. I must be
Speaker 10: left alone with my friend for an hour. Go you
Speaker 10: may leave us chained. You may lock and bar your door,
Speaker 10: you may watch and guard the house. But go leave us.
Speaker 10: Much too much valuable time has been already lost. Come
Speaker 10: back in one.
Speaker 1: Hour here I pulled out my watch.
Speaker 10: In one hour and three minutes and five seconds exactly,
Speaker 10: not sooner. Go quick, as you value your lives, your families,
Speaker 10: your property, and hark in your.
Speaker 1: Ear here I glared at him like a maniac and
Speaker 1: sank my voice to a deep, hoarse whisper.
Speaker 10: As you value the very existence of your slaves, Go
Speaker 10: leave us instantly and return at the our name.
Speaker 1: The men were evidently overawed by the vehemence of my
Speaker 1: manner and the mysterious nature of my remarks. Without uttering
Speaker 1: a word, they withdrew and locked the door behind them.
Speaker 1: Happily they left the torches. As soon as they were gone.
Speaker 1: I threw my arms around my comrade's neck, and, resting
Speaker 1: my head on his shoulder, bemoaned or sat lot, dear
Speaker 1: dear Jack, have they hurt you?
Speaker 12: Oh? Nothing to speak of. But I say, Bob, my boy,
Speaker 12: what on earth? Can this monstrous secret be? There must
Speaker 12: be something very tremendous, My poor.
Speaker 1: Jack said I, regardless of his question.
Speaker 10: Your thumbs are bruised and bleeding. Oh that I should
Speaker 10: have lived to bring you to this.
Speaker 12: Come, come, Bob, enough of that. They are a little soreish,
Speaker 12: but nothing to what they would have been had you
Speaker 12: not stopped them. But I say, what is the secret?
Speaker 12: I'm dying. No, my dear boy, you've no idea how
Speaker 12: you looked when you were spouting like that. You made
Speaker 12: my flesh creep. I assure you come out with it.
Speaker 12: What's the secret?
Speaker 1: I felt, and, no doubt looked somewhat confused?
Speaker 10: Do you know? Jack said I solemnly, I have no
Speaker 10: secret whatever.
Speaker 1: Jack Guston stared.
Speaker 10: No secret, Bob, not the most distant shadow of one.
Speaker 1: Jack pulled out his watch and said, in a low voice.
Speaker 12: Bob, my boy, we have just got about three quarters
Speaker 12: of an hour to live. When these villains come back
Speaker 12: and find that you've been humbugging them, they'll brain us
Speaker 12: on the spot. Sure as my name is John Brown
Speaker 12: and yours is Robert Smith. Romantic names, both of em,
Speaker 12: especially when associated with a little romance in which we
Speaker 12: are now involved.
Speaker 1: I shrank back from my friend with the terrible dread
Speaker 1: which had more than once crossed my mind that he
Speaker 1: was going mad.
Speaker 10: Oh, Jack, don't laugh. Pray, could we not invent some
Speaker 10: secret to tell them?
Speaker 1: Not a bad idea, returned my friend gravely.
Speaker 10: Well, let us think what could we say?
Speaker 12: Ay, that's the rub. Suppose we tell them seriously that
Speaker 12: my wooden leg is a ghost, and that it haunts
Speaker 12: those who ill treat its master, giving them perpetual bangs
Speaker 12: on the nose and otherwise rendering their lives miserable.
Speaker 1: I shook my head.
Speaker 12: Well, then suppose we say we've been sent by the
Speaker 12: Queen of England to treat with them about the liberation
Speaker 12: of the Niggers at one thousand pounds a head, one
Speaker 12: hundred paid down in gold, the rest in American chin plasters.
Speaker 10: That would be a lie, you know, Jack.
Speaker 12: Oh come, that's good. You're wonderfully particular about the truth
Speaker 12: for a man who's just told such tre medous falsehoods
Speaker 12: about a secret that doesn't exist, True.
Speaker 10: Jack, I replied seriously, I confess that I have lied,
Speaker 10: but I did not mean to. I assure you I
Speaker 10: had no notion of what I was saying. I think
Speaker 10: I was bewitched. All your nonsense rolled out as it
Speaker 10: were without my will. Indeed, I did not mean to
Speaker 10: tell lies, yet I confess to my shame that I did.
Speaker 10: There is some mystery here which I can by no
Speaker 10: means fathom.
Speaker 12: Fathom or not fathom.
Speaker 1: Rejoined my friend, looking at his watch again.
Speaker 12: You got me into this scrape, so I request you
Speaker 12: get me out of it. We have exactly twenty five
Speaker 12: minutes and a half before us. Now.
Speaker 1: Jack and I now set to work in real earnest
Speaker 1: to devise some plan of escape or to invent some
Speaker 1: plausible secret. But we utterly failed. Minutes after minute paused,
Speaker 1: and as the end of her time drew near, we
Speaker 1: felt less and less able to think of any scheme,
Speaker 1: until our brains became confused with the terror of approaching
Speaker 1: an inevitable death aggravated by previous torture. I trembled violently,
Speaker 1: and Jack became again uproarious and sarcastic. Suddenly he grew quiet,
Speaker 1: and I observed that he began to collect a quantity
Speaker 1: of straw that was scattered about the place, making a
Speaker 1: large pile of it. He placed it before us and
Speaker 1: then loosened one of the torches in its stand. There,
Speaker 1: said he, with a sigh of satisfaction. When all was arranged.
Speaker 12: We shall give our amiable friends a warm reception when
Speaker 12: they come.
Speaker 1: But they will escape by the door, said I, in
Speaker 1: much anxiety, and we only shall perish.
Speaker 12: Oh, never mind that, Bob, what can only die once? Besides,
Speaker 12: they shan't escape, trust me for that.
Speaker 1: As he spoke, we heard approaching footsteps. Presently, the key
Speaker 1: turned in the lock, and the door opened. End of
Speaker 1: Story two, Chapter ninety, Chapter ten. Punctually to a minute,
Speaker 1: our jailer's returned and once again drew up in a
Speaker 1: row before us.
Speaker 13: Now, lads, what have you got to say my friends?
Speaker 1: Began Jack, standing up and balancing himself on one leg
Speaker 1: as well as he could, at the same time speaking
Speaker 1: with the utmost gravity and candor of expression.
Speaker 12: My companion here in temporary distress, for I feel that
Speaker 12: it will be but temporary. Has devolved upon me the
Speaker 12: interesting duty of making known to you the secret which
Speaker 12: has burdened his own mind for some time, and which
Speaker 12: has had so impressive and appropriate an effect on yours.
Speaker 12: But first I must request you lock the door and
Speaker 12: hang the key. On this nail at my elblow you hesitate,
Speaker 12: Why I am in chains and so is my comrade.
Speaker 12: We are two, you are four. It is merely a
Speaker 12: per to prevent the possibility of anyone entering by stealth.
Speaker 12: And Overhearing what I say.
Speaker 1: The man with the battered face locked the door and
Speaker 1: hung up the key, as directed, merely remarking with a
Speaker 1: laugh that we were safe enough anyhow, and that if
Speaker 1: we were humbugging him, it would be worse for us
Speaker 1: in the long run.
Speaker 10: Come now out with your secret.
Speaker 1: He added, impatiently. Certainly, answered Jack with increased urbanity, at
Speaker 1: the same time taking down the key, which caused the
Speaker 1: four men to start and gazing at it in a
Speaker 1: pensive manner.
Speaker 12: The secret, Ah, yes, well, it's a wonderful one, do
Speaker 12: you know, my lads? There would not be the most
Speaker 12: distant chance of your guests in it if you were
Speaker 12: to try ever so much.
Speaker 13: Well, but what is it?
Speaker 1: Cried one of the men, whose curiosity was now excited
Speaker 1: beyond endurance. It is this, rejoined Jack, with slow.
Speaker 12: Deliberation, that you four men are.
Speaker 1: They whispered, leaning forward eagerly.
Speaker 12: The most outrageous, unmitigated asses we ever saw ha. I
Speaker 12: thought it would surprise you. Bob and I are quite
Speaker 12: agreed upon it. Pray don't open your eyes too wide,
Speaker 12: in case you should find it difficult to shut them again. Now,
Speaker 12: in proof of this great and to you important truth,
Speaker 12: let me show you a thing. Do you see this.
Speaker 1: Torch taking it down, and that straw lifting up a handful?
Speaker 12: Well, you have no idea what an astonishing result will
Speaker 12: follow the application of the former to the latter.
Speaker 1: See to my horror, and evidently to the dismay of
Speaker 1: the men, who did not seem to believe that he
Speaker 1: was in earnest. Jack Brown thrust the blazing torch into
Speaker 1: the center of the heap of straw. The men uttered
Speaker 1: a yell, and, rushing forward, threw themselves on the smoking
Speaker 1: heap the hope of smuttering it at once, But Jack
Speaker 1: applied the torch quickly to various parts. The flames leaped up.
Speaker 1: The men rolled off in agony. Jack, who had somehow
Speaker 1: managed to break his chain, hopped after them, showering the
Speaker 1: blazing straw on their heads and yelling as never mortal
Speaker 1: yelled before. In two seconds, the whole place was in
Speaker 1: a blaze, and I beheld Jack actually throwing somersets with
Speaker 1: his one leg over the fire and through the smoke,
Speaker 1: punching the heads of the four men, most unmercifully, catching
Speaker 1: up blazing handfuls of straw and thrusting them into their
Speaker 1: eyes and mouths in a way that quite overpowered me.
Speaker 1: I could restrain myself no longer. I began to roar
Speaker 1: in abject terror. In the midst of this dreadful scene,
Speaker 1: the roof fell in with a hideous crash, and Jack,
Speaker 1: bounding through the smoking debris, cleared the walls and vanished.
Speaker 1: At the same moment, I received a dreadful blow on
Speaker 1: the side, and awoke to find myself lying on the
Speaker 1: floor of my bedroom and our man servant, Edward's, furiously
Speaker 1: beating the bed curtains, which I had said, on fire
Speaker 1: by upsetting the candle in my fall. Why, mister Robert,
Speaker 1: gasped Edwards, sitting down and panting vehemently, after having extinguished.
Speaker 5: The flames, What have you been a do enough?
Speaker 1: I was standing speechless in the midst of my upset chair,
Speaker 1: table and books, glaring wildly. When the man said this, Edwards,
Speaker 1: I replied with deep solemnity.
Speaker 10: The mysteries cleared up at last, it has all been
Speaker 10: a dream.
Speaker 5: What's been all a dream? You ain't been a bed
Speaker 5: all night, for the clothes has never touched and it's
Speaker 5: broad daylight. What has been up?
Speaker 1: I might have replied that, according to his own statement,
Speaker 1: I had been up, but I did not. I began
Speaker 1: gradually to believe that the dreadful scenes I had witnessed
Speaker 1: were not reality, and an overpowering sense of joy kept
Speaker 1: filling my heart as I continued to glare at the man,
Speaker 1: until I thought my chest would rend asunder. Suddenly, and
Speaker 1: without moving hand to foot or eye, I gave vent
Speaker 1: to a loud shark Hurrah. Edward started, Hey.
Speaker 10: Hurrah, Hurrah, it's a dream.
Speaker 5: Hello, I say, you know, come, this won't hurrah, bless
Speaker 5: my art master wrote again.
Speaker 1: I interrupted him by seizing my cap, swinging it round
Speaker 1: my head in an ecstasy of delight, and uttering cheer
Speaker 1: upon cheer with such outrageous vehemence that Edwards, who thought
Speaker 1: me raving mad, crept towards the door, intending to bolt.
Speaker 1: He was prevented from carrying out his intention, and violently
Speaker 1: overturned by the entrance of my father and Disabelle. I
Speaker 1: sprang forward plucked spectacles off his nose, threw my arms
Speaker 1: round his neck, and kissed him on both eyes.
Speaker 10: I won't run away now, father, No, no, no, it's
Speaker 10: all a dream, A horrid dream. Ha ha ha, Bob, my
Speaker 10: dear boy.
Speaker 1: At this moment, Jack, also in Disabelle, rushed.
Speaker 12: In, Hello, Bob, what's all the row?
Speaker 1: I experienced a different but equally powerful gush of feeling
Speaker 1: on seeing my friend leaving my father. I rushed towards him, and,
Speaker 1: falling on his neck, burst into tears. Yes, I confess
Speaker 1: it without shame. Reader, If he had felt as I did,
Speaker 1: you would have done the same. Jack led me gently
Speaker 1: to my bed, and, seating me on the edge of it,
Speaker 1: sat down beside me. I at once perceived from their
Speaker 1: looks that you all thought me mad and felt the
Speaker 1: necessity of calming me before taking more forcible measures. This
Speaker 1: tickled me so much that I laughed again heartily, insomuch
Speaker 1: that Jack could not help joining me. Suddenly a thought
Speaker 1: flashed into my mind. My heart leaped to my throat,
Speaker 1: and I glanced downwards. It was there I seized Jack's
Speaker 1: right leg, tumbled him back into the bed, and laying
Speaker 1: the limb across my knee grasped it violently. All right,
Speaker 1: I shouted.
Speaker 10: Straight, firm, muscular supple as ever, I squeezed harder.
Speaker 1: Jack roared.
Speaker 12: I say, Bob, gently hold your.
Speaker 1: Tongue, said I, pinching the thigh.
Speaker 10: Do you feel that?
Speaker 12: Oh? Ah, don't? And that stop him? I say, dear boy,
Speaker 12: have mercy.
Speaker 1: Jack tried to raise himself, but I tilted him back, and,
Speaker 1: grasping the limb in both arms, hugged it. After breakfast,
Speaker 1: Jack and I retired to my room, where the weather,
Speaker 1: being unfavorable for our fishing excursion, I went all over
Speaker 1: it again in detail. After that, I sent Jack off
Speaker 1: to amuse himself as he chose, and, seizing a choir
Speaker 1: of foolscap mended a pen, squared my elbows, and began
Speaker 1: to write. This remarkable account of the reason why I
Speaker 1: did not become a sailor. I now presented to the
Speaker 1: juvenile public in the hope that it may prove a
Speaker 1: warning to all boys who ventured to entertain the notion
Speaker 1: of running away from home and going to sea. End
Speaker 1: of story two, Chapter ten, end Freaks on the Fells
Speaker 1: three Months Rustigation Story two by R. M. Balanchine