FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   >>  
this retreat of cannibals continued. "The last Frenchman, Pobeguin, was massacred at the side of a well, the very night before the supplies arrived. "Do you understand now what I mean by the horrible?" This was the story told us a few nights ago by General de G----. MADAME PARISSE I was sitting on the pier of the small port of Obernon, near the village of Salis, looking at Antibes, bathed in the setting sun. I had never before seen anything so wonderful and so beautiful. The small town, enclosed by its massive ramparts, built by Monsieur de Vauban, extended into the open sea, in the middle of the immense Gulf of Nice. The great waves, coming in from the ocean, broke at its feet, surrounding it with a wreath of foam; and beyond the ramparts the houses climbed up the hill, one after the other, as far as the two towers, which rose up into the sky, like the peaks of an ancient helmet. And these two towers were outlined against the milky whiteness of the Alps, that enormous distant wall of snow which enclosed the entire horizon. Between the white foam at the foot of the walls and the white snow on the sky-line the little city, dazzling against the bluish background of the nearest mountain ranges, presented to the rays of the setting sun a pyramid of red-roofed houses, whose facades were also white, but so different one from another that they seemed to be of all tints. And the sky above the Alps was itself of a blue that was almost white, as if the snow had tinted it; some silvery clouds were floating just over the pale summits, and on the other side of the gulf Nice, lying close to the water, stretched like a white thread between the sea and the mountain. Two great sails, driven by a strong breeze, seemed to skim over the waves. I looked upon all this, astounded. This view was one of those sweet, rare, delightful things that seem to permeate you and are unforgettable, like the memory of a great happiness. One sees, thinks, suffers, is moved and loves with the eyes. He who can feel with the eye experiences the same keen, exquisite and deep pleasure in looking at men and things as the man with the delicate and sensitive ear, whose soul music overwhelms. I turned to my companion, M. Martini, a pureblooded Southerner. "This is certainly one of the rarest sights which it has been vouchsafed to me to admire. "I have seen Mont Saint-Michel, that monstrous granite jewel, rise out of the sand at sunris
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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:
setting
 

ramparts

 
enclosed
 

things

 
houses
 
towers
 
mountain
 

unforgettable

 

astounded

 

permeate


delightful

 

tinted

 

silvery

 

clouds

 

floating

 

summits

 

memory

 

driven

 

strong

 

breeze


thread

 

stretched

 

looked

 

sights

 
rarest
 
vouchsafed
 

Southerner

 

companion

 

Martini

 

pureblooded


admire

 
sunris
 
granite
 

monstrous

 

Michel

 

turned

 

overwhelms

 

thinks

 

suffers

 
experiences

sensitive
 
delicate
 

exquisite

 

pleasure

 
happiness
 

nearest

 

massive

 

Monsieur

 

Vauban

 
beautiful