FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95  
96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   >>   >|  
es. I know it's not exactly a fair wind, but we shall lie closehauled most of the way. The glass is falling, and we ought to take this chance.' To argue about winds with Davies was hopeless, and the upshot was that we started lunchless. A pale sun was flickering out of masses of racing vapour, and through delicate vistas between them the fair land of Schleswig now revealed and now withdrew her pretty face, as though smiling _adieux_ to her faithless courtiers. The clank of our chain brought up Bartels to the deck of the 'Johannes', rubbing his eyes and pulling round his throat a grey shawl, which gave him a comical likeness to a lodging-house landlady receiving the milk in morning _deshabille._ 'We're off, Bartels,' said Davies, without looking up from his work. 'See you at Kiel, I hope.' 'You are always in a hurry, captain,' bleated the old man, shaking his head. 'You should wait till to-morrow. The sky is not good, and it will be dark before you are off Eckenfoerde.' Davies laughed, and very soon his mentor's sad little figure was lost in haze. That was a curious evening. Dusk soon fell, and the devil made a determined effort to unman me; first, with the scrambled tea which was the tardy substitute for an orderly lunch, then with the new and nauseous duty of filling the side-lights, which meant squatting in the fo'c'sle to inhale paraffin and dabble in lamp-black; lastly, with an all-round attack on my nerves as the night fell on our frail little vessel, pitching on her precarious way through driving mist. In a sense I think I went through the same sort of mental crisis as when I sat upon my portmanteau at Flensburg. The main issue was not seriously in question, for I had signed on in the 'Dulcibella' for good or ill; but in doing so I had outrun myself, and still wanted an outlook, a mood suited to the enterprise, proof against petty discouragements. Not for the first time a sense of the ludicrous came to my assistance, as I saw myself fretting in London under my burden of self-imposed woes, nicely weighing that insidious invitation, and stepping finally into the snare with the dignity due to my importance; kidnapped as neatly as ever a peaceful clerk was kidnapped by a lawless press-gang, and, in the end, finding as the arch-conspirator a guileless and warm-hearted friend, who called me clever, lodged me in a cell, and blandly invited me to talk German to the purpose, as he was aiming at a little secre
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95  
96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Davies

 

kidnapped

 

Bartels

 

lights

 

Flensburg

 
squatting
 

portmanteau

 

filling

 

nauseous

 

Dulcibella


question
 

signed

 

crisis

 

dabble

 

vessel

 

pitching

 

precarious

 
attack
 

nerves

 

driving


mental

 

lastly

 

inhale

 

paraffin

 

finding

 

guileless

 
conspirator
 
lawless
 

importance

 
neatly

peaceful

 

hearted

 

German

 
purpose
 

aiming

 

invited

 

blandly

 

friend

 
called
 

clever


lodged

 

dignity

 

discouragements

 

ludicrous

 

wanted

 

outlook

 
enterprise
 
suited
 

assistance

 

insidious