chapter_number stringlengths 1 2 | title stringlengths 3 691 | text stringlengths 38 376k | metadata dict |
|---|---|---|---|
22 | SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS | Uncle went out early the next morning to see what kind of a day it was going to be. There was a reddish gold light over the higher peaks; a light breeze springing up and the branches of the fir trees moved gently to and fro the sun was on its way.
The old man stood and watched the green slopes under the higher peaks ... | {
"id": "1448"
} |
23 | "GOOD-BYE TILL WE MEET AGAIN" | Grandmamma wrote the day before her arrival to let the children know that they might expect her without fail. Peter brought up the letter early the following morning. Grandfather and the children were already outside and the goats were awaiting him, shaking their heads frolicsomely in the fresh morning air, while the c... | {
"id": "1448"
} |
1 | FIGHTING SHRIMPLIN | Custer felt it his greatest privilege to sit of a Sunday morning in his mother's clean and burnished kitchen and, while she washed the breakfast dishes, listen to such reflections as his father might care to indulge in.
On these occasions the senior Shrimplin, commonly called Shrimp by his intimates, was the very pic... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
2 | THE PRICE OF FOLLY | John North occupied the front rooms on the first floor of the three-story brick structure that stood at the corner of Main Street and the Square. The only other tenant on the floor with him was Andy Gilmore, who had apartments at the back of the building. Until quite recently Mr. North and Mr. Gilmore had been friends ... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
3 | STRANGE BEDFELLOWS | When North quitted Marshall Langham's office, Gilmore, after a brief instant of irresolution, stepped into the room. He was crudely, handsome, a powerfully-built man of about Langham's own age, swarthy-faced and with ruthless lips showing red under a black waxed mustache. His hat was inclined at a "sporty" angle and th... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
4 | ADVENTURE IN EARNEST | Mr. Shrimplin had made his way through a number of back streets without adventure of any sort, and as the night and the storm closed swiftly in about him, the shapes of himself, his cart and of wild Bill disappeared, and there remained to mark his progress only the hissing sputtering flame, that flared spectrally six f... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
5 | COLONEL GEORGE HARBISON | Terror-stricken as he was, Mr. Shrimplin recognized the man into whose arms he had fallen. There was no mistaking the nose, thin and aquiline, the bristling mustache and white imperial, the soft gray slouch hat, or the military cloak that half concealed the stalwart form of its wearer.
Colonel George Harbison, much a... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
6 | PUTTING ON THE SCREWS | A score of men and boys followed the undertaker's wagon to the small frame cottage that had been Archibald McBride's home for half a century, and a group of these assembled about the gate as the wagon drew up before it. Along the quiet street, windows were raised and doors were opened. It was perhaps the first time, as... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
7 | THE BEAUTY OF ELIZABETH | His interview with Evelyn Langham left North with a sense of moral nausea, yet he felt he had somehow failed in his comprehension of her, that she had not meant him to understand her as he had; that, after all, perhaps the significance he had given to her words was of his own imagining.
He waited in his room until sh... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
8 | A GAMBLER AT HOME | It was morning, and Mr. Gilmore sat by his cheerful open fire in that front room of his, where by night were supposed to flourish those games of chance which were such an offense to the "better element" in Mount Hope. Mr. Gilmore was hardly a person of unexceptional taste, though he had no suspicion of this fact, since... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
9 | THE STAR WITNESS | It was between nine and ten o'clock when Marshall Langham reached his office. He scarcely had time to remove his hat and overcoat when a policeman entered the room and handed him a note. It was a hasty scrawl from Moxlow who wished him to come at once to the court-house.
As Moxlow's messenger quitted the room Langham... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
10 | HUSBAND AND WIFE | Marshall Langham paused on the court-house steps; he was shaking as with an ague. He passed a tremulous hand again and again across his eyes, as though to shut out something, a memory--a fantasy he wanted to forget; but he well knew that at no time could he forget. Gilmore, coming from the building, stepped to his side... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
11 | THE FINGER OF SUSPICION | In Chicago Conklin found an angry young man at police headquarters, and the name of this young man was John North.
"This is a most damnable outrage!" he cried hotly the moment he espied Mount Hope's burly sheriff.
"I am mighty sorry to have interfered with your plans, John--just mighty sorry." The sheriff's tone wa... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
12 | JOE TELLS HIS STORY | The inquest was held late Saturday afternoon in the bleak living-room of the McBride house. The coroner had explained the manner in which the murdered man had come to his death, and as he finished he turned to Moxlow. The prosecuting attorney shifted his position slightly, thrust out his long legs toward the wood-stove... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
13 | LIGHT IN DARKNESS | The expression on General Herbert's face was one of mingled doubt and impatience.
"You must be mistaken, Thompson!" he was saying to his foreman, who had, with the coming of night, returned from an errand in town.
"General, there's no mistake; every one was talking about it! Looks like the police had something to g... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
14 | THE GAMBLER'S THEORY | Gilmore, leaving his apartment, paused to light a cigar, then sauntered down the steps and into the street. As he did so he saw Marshall Langham come from the post-office, half a block distant, and hurry across the Square. Gilmore strode after him.
"Oh, say, Marsh, I want to see you!" he called when he had sufficient... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
15 | LOVE THAT ENDURES | A melancholy wind raked the bare hills which rose beyond the flats, and found its way across half the housetops in Mount Hope to the solitary window that gave light and air to John North's narrow cell. For seven long days, over the intervening housetops, he had been observing those undulating hills, gazing at them unti... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
16 | AT HIS OWN DOOR | Judge Langham sat in his library before a brisk wood fire with the day's papers in a heap on the floor beside him. In repose, the one dominant expression of the judge's face was pride, an austere pride, which manifested itself even in the most casual intercourse. Yet no man in Mount Hope combined fewer intimacies with ... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
17 | AN UNWILLING GUEST | Montgomery told himself he would go home; he had seen the last of the gambler and Marsh Langham, he would look out for his own skin now and they could look out for theirs. He laughed boisterously as he strode along. He had fooled them both; he, Joe Montgomery, had done this, and by a very master stroke of cunning had t... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
18 | FATHER AND SON | While Mr. Gilmore was an exceedingly capable accomplice, at once resourceful, energetic, unsentimental and conscienceless, he yet combined with these solid merits, certain characteristics which rendered uninterrupted intercourse with him a horror and a shame to Marshall Langham who was daily and almost hourly paying th... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
19 | SHRIMPLIN TO THE RESCUE | Beyond the flats and the railroad tracks and over across the new high, iron bridge, was a low-lying region much affected by the drivers of dump-carts, whose activity was visibly attested by the cinders, the ashes, the tin cans, the staved-in barrels and the lidless boxes that everywhere met the eye.
On the verge of t... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
20 | THE CAT AND THE MOUSE | Mr. Gilmore, having yielded once again to temptation, found himself at Marshall Langham's door. He asked for the lawyer, but was informed he was not at home, a fact of which Mr. Gilmore was perfectly well aware, since he had parted from him not twenty minutes before at the court-house steps. Mrs. Langham was at home, h... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
21 | THE HOUSE OF CARDS | The long day had been devoted to the choosing of the twelve men who should say whether John North was innocent or guilty, but at last court adjourned and Marshall Langham, pushing through the crowd that was emptying itself into the street, turned away in the direction of his home.
For no single instant during the day... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
22 | GOOD MEN AND TRUE | The North trial was Mount Hope's one vital sensation. Day after day the courtroom was filled with eager perspiring humanity, while in their homes, on the streets, and in the stores men talked of little else. As for North himself, he was conscious of a curious sense of long acquaintance with the courtroom; its staring w... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
23 | THE LAST APPEAL | One raw morning late in April, Mark Leanard, who worked at Kirby's lumber-yard, drove his team of big grade Percherons up to Kirby's office by the railroad tracks.
"What's doing?" he asked of Kirby's clerk.
The clerk handed him a slip of paper.
"Go round and tell Mitchell to get you out this load!" he said.
Lea... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
24 | THE LAST LONG DAY | A long day, the last of many long days he told himself, was ended, and John North stood by his window. Below in the yard into which he was looking, but within the black shadow cast by the jail, was the gallows. Though indistinguishable in the darkness, its shape was seared on his brain, for he had lived in close fellow... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
25 | ON THE HIGH IRON BRIDGE | As the weeks had passed Marshall Langham had felt his fears lift somewhat, but the days and nights still remained endless cycles of torment. Wherever he turned and with whomsoever he talked the North case was certain sooner or later to be mentioned. There were hideous rumors afloat, too, concerning General Herbert's ac... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
26 | CUSTER'S IDOL FALLS | Early that same night Mr. Shrimplin, taking Custer with him, had driven out into the country. Their destination was a spot far down the river where catfish were supposed to abound, for Izaak Walton's gentle art was the little lamplighter's favorite recreation. After leaving Mount Hope they jogged along the dusty countr... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
27 | FAITH IS RESTORED | "Custer--" began Mr. Shrimplin, and paused to clear his throat. He was walking beside wild Bill's head while Custer in the cart tried to support Langham, for the latter had not regained consciousness. "Custer, I'm mighty well satisfied with you; I may say that while I always been proud of you, I am prouder this moment ... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
28 | THE LAST NIGHT IN JAIL | Whether John North slept during his last night in jail the deputy sheriff did not know, for that kindly little man kept his arms folded across his breast and his face to the wall. The night wore itself out, and at last pale indications of the dawn crept into the room. There was the song of the birds and a little later ... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
29 | AT IDLE HOUR | From her window Elizabeth saw the gray dawn which ushered in that June day steal over the valley below Idle Hour. Swiftly out of the darkness of the long night grew the accustomed shape of things. Wooded pastures and plowed fields came mysteriously into existence as the light spread, then the sun burst through the curt... | {
"id": "14581"
} |
1 | AN OFFER TO OPEN THE RIVER | Considering the state of the imperial city of Frankfort, one would not expect to find such a gathering as was assembled in the Kaiser cellar of the Rheingold drinking tavern. Outside in the streets all was turbulence and disorder; a frenzy on the part of the populace taxing to the utmost the efforts of the city authori... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
2 | THE BARGAIN IS STRUCK | Every epoch seems to have possessed a two-word phrase that contained, as it were, the condensed wisdom of the age, and was universally believed by the people. For instance, the aphorism "Know thyself" rose to popularity when cultured minds turned towards science. In the period to which this recital belongs the adage "B... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
3 | DISSENSION IN THE IRONWORKERS' GUILD | Up to the time of his midnight awakening, Prince Roland had led a care-free, uneventful life. Although he received the general education supposed to be suitable for a youth of his station, he interested himself keenly in only two studies, but as one of these challenged the other, as it were, the result was entirely to ... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
4 | THE DISTURBING JOURNEY OF FATHER AMBROSE | The setting summer sun shone full on the western side of Sayn Castle, sending the shadow of that tenth-century edifice far along the greensward of the upper valley. Upon a balcony, perched like a swallow's nest against the eastern end of Sayn Castle, a lovely girl of eighteen leaned, meditating, with arms resting on th... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
5 | THE COUNTESS VON SAYN AND THE ARCHBISHOP OF COLOGNE | It was high noon when that great Prince of the Church, the Archbishop of Cologne, arrived at Castle Sayn, with a very inconsiderable following, which seemed to indicate that he traveled on no affair of State, for on such occasions he led a small army. The lovely young Countess awaited him at the top of the Castle steps... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
6 | TO BE KEPT SECRET FROM THE COUNTESS | There are few favored spots occupied by blue water and greensward over which a greater splendor is cast by the rising sun on a midsummer morning than that portion of the Rhine near Coblentz, and as our little procession emerged from the valley of the Saynbach every member of it was struck with the beauty of the flat co... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
7 | MUTINY IN THE WILDERNESS | It was a lovely morning in July when Prince Roland walked into the shadow of the handsome tower which to-day is all that survives of the Elector's palace at Hochst, on the river Main. He found Greusel there awaiting him, but none of the others. When the two had greeted one another, the Prince said: "Joseph, I determin... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
8 | THE MISSING LEADER AND THE MISSING GOLD | Probably because of the new responsibility resting upon him, Joseph Greusel was the first to awaken next morning. He let his long cloak fall from his shoulders as he sat up, and gazed about him with astonishment. It seemed as if some powerful wizard of the hills had spirited him away during the night. He had gone to sl... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
9 | A SOLEMN PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE | When Roland wrapped his cloak about him, and lay down on the sward at some distance from the spot where his officers already slept, he found that he could not follow their example. Although, he had remained outwardly calm when the attack was made upon him, his mind was greatly perturbed over the outlook. He reviewed hi... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
10 | A CALAMITOUS CONFERENCE | The prelate and his ward were met at the doors of Stolzenfels by the Archbishop of Treves in person, and the welcome they received left nothing to be desired in point of cordiality. There were many servants, male and female, about the Castle, but no show of armed men.
The Countess was conducted to a room whose outloo... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
11 | GOLD GALORE THAT TAKES TO ITSELF WINGS | In the thick darkness Roland paced up and down the east bank of the Rhine at a spot nearly midway between Assmannshausen and Ehrenfels. The night was intensely silent, its stillness merely accentuated by the gentle ripple of the water current against the barge's blunt nose, which pointed upstream. Standing motionless a... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
12 | THE LAUGHING RED MARGRAVE OF FURSTENBERG | Ebearhard laughed, and took two steps forward. Whenever affairs became serious, one could always depend on a laugh from Ebearhard.
"Excuse me, Commander," he said, "but you placed Greusel and me in charge of this pious and sober party; therefore I, being the least of your officers, must stand the first brunt of our f... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
13 | "A SENTENCE; COME, PREPARE!" | "Captain," said Roland quietly, "bring your crew ashore, and fling these bales on board again as quickly as you can."
An instant later the sailors were at work, undoing their former efforts.
"In mercy's name, Roland," wailed one of the stricken, "get a sword and cut our bonds."
"All in good time," replied Roland.... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
14 | THE PRISONER OF EHRENFELS | There is inspiration in the sight of armed men marching steadily together; men well disciplined, keeping step to the measured clank of their armor. Like a great serpent the soldiers of Cologne issued from the forest, coming down two and two, for the path was narrow. They would march four abreast when they reached the r... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
15 | JOURNEYS END IN LOVERS' MEETING | Roland slept until the sun was about an hour high over the western hills. He found the captain waiting patiently for him to awake, and then that useful martinet instantly set his crew at tying up the bales which had been torn open, placing them once more in the hold. He was about to do the same with the weapons capture... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
16 | MY LADY SCATTERS THE FREEBOOTERS AND CAPTURES THEIR CHIEF | Greusel appeared on one of the balconies, and called down to his leader.
"There are," he said, "a number of women in the western rooms of the Castle. They have bolted their doors, but tell me that the rooms contain the Pfalzgravine von Stahleck and other noble ladies, with their tirewomen. What am I to do?"
"Place ... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
17 | "FOR THE EMPRESS, AND NOT FOR THE EMPIRE" | While the long line of troops stood at salute in single file, the Archbishop turned his horse to the north and rode past his regiments, followed by the Countess and Roland. His Lordship was accompanied to the end of the ranks by his general, who received final instructions regarding the march.
"You will encamp for th... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
18 | THE SWORD MAKER AT BAY | The heir-presumptive to the throne reached Frankfort very quietly in the Archbishop's barge, and was landed after nightfall at the water-steps of the Imperial Palace. The funeral of the Emperor took place almost as if it were a private ceremonial. Grave trouble had been anticipated, and the route of the procession for ... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
19 | THE BETROTHAL IN THE GARDEN | Next morning Prince Roland sent a letter to the Archbishop of Mayence informing him that the Empress had taken up her abode in the Palace of her old friend, the Lord of Cologne, giving the reasons for this move and his own desertion of the Imperial Palace, and asking permission to call upon his mother each day. The mes... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
20 | THE MYSTERY OF THE FOREST | Roland left the palace with a sense of elation he had never before experienced, but this received a check as he saw standing in the middle of the square the Lieutenant of the night before. His first impulse was to avoid the officer, yet almost instinctively he turned and walked directly to him, which apparently nonplus... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
21 | A SECRET MARRIAGE | Blessed is he that expects nothing, for he shall not be disappointed. Roland walked with Greusel across the bridge and through the streets to the entrance of the Rheingold, and there stopped.
"I shall not go down with you," he said. "You have given me much to think of, and I am in no mood for a hilarious meeting. Ind... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
22 | LONG LIVE THEIR MAJESTIES | The most anxious man in all Frankfort was not to be found among the mighty who ruled the Empire, or among the merchants who trafficked therein, or among the people who starved when there was no traffic. The most anxious man was a small, fussy individual of great importance in his own estimation, cringing to those above... | {
"id": "14656"
} |
1 | None | It was always a matter of wonder to Vandover that he was able to recall so little of his past life. With the exception of the most recent events he could remember nothing connectedly. What he at first imagined to be the story of his life, on closer inspection turned out to be but a few disconnected incidents that his m... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
2 | None | There was little of the stubborn or unyielding about Vandover, his personality was not strong, his nature pliable and he rearranged himself to suit his new environment at Harvard very rapidly. Before the end of the first semester he had become to all outward appearances a typical Harvardian. He wore corduroy vests and ... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
3 | None | Vandover had decided at lunch that day that he would not go back to work at his studio in the afternoon, but would stay at home instead and read a very interesting story about two men who had bought a wrecked opium ship for fifty thousand dollars, and had afterward discovered that she contained only a few tins of the d... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
4 | None | The Imperial was a resort not far from the corner of Sutter and Kearney streets, a few doors below a certain well-known drug store, in one window of which was a showcase full of live snakes.
The front of the Imperial was painted white, and there was a cigar-stand in the vestibule of the main entrance. At the right of... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
5 | None | In the afternoons Vandover worked in his studio, which was on Sacramento Street, but in the mornings he was accustomed to study in the life-class at the School of Design.
This was on California Street over the Market, an immense room partitioned by enormous wooden screens into alcoves, where the still-life classes wo... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
6 | None | Everybody in San Francisco knew of the Ravises and always made it a point to speak of them as one of the best families of the city. They were not new and they were not particularly rich. They had lived in the same house on California Street for nearly twenty years and had always been comfortably well off. As things go ... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
7 | None | On a certain evening about four months later Ellis and Vandover had a "date" with Ida Wade and Bessie Laguna at the Mechanics' Fair. Ellis, Bessie, and Ida were to meet Vandover there in the Art Gallery, as he had to make a call with his father, and could not get there until half-past nine. They were all to walk about ... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
8 | None | "We will begin all over again, Van," his father said later that same day. "We will start in again and try to forget all this, not as much as we _can_, but as much as we _ought_, and live it down, and from now on we'll try to do the thing that is right and brave and good."
"Just try me, sir!" cried Vandover.
That wa... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
9 | None | Vandover stayed for two weeks at Coronado Beach and managed to pass the time very pleasantly. He was fortunate enough to find a party at the hotel whom he knew very well. In the morning they bathed or sailed on the bay, and in the afternoon rode out with a pack of greyhounds and coursed jack-rabbits on the lower end of... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
10 | None | About ten o'clock Vandover went ashore in the ship's yawl and landed in the city on a literally perfect day in early November. It seemed many years since he had been there. The drizzly morning upon which the _Santa Rosa_ had cast off was already too long ago to be remembered. The city itself as he walked up Market Stre... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
11 | None | The following days as they began to pass were miserable. Vandover had never known until now how much he loved his father, how large a place he had filled in his life. He felt horribly alone now, and a veritable feminine weakness overcame him, a crying need to be loved as his father had loved him, and also to love some ... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
12 | None | Vandover took formal possession of his rooms on Sutter Street during the first few days of February. For a week previous they had been in the greatest confusion: the studio filled with a great number of trunks, crates, packing cases, and furniture still in its sacking. In the bedroom was stored the furniture that had b... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
13 | None | Just before Lent, and about three months after the death of Vandover's father, Henrietta Vance gave a reception and dance at her house. The affair was one of a series that the girls of the Cotillon had been giving to the men of the same club. Vandover had gone to all but the last, which had occurred while he was at Cor... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
14 | None | The house was crowded to the doors; there was no longer any standing room and many were even sitting on the steps of the aisles. In the boxes the gentlemen were standing up behind the chairs of large plain ladies in showy toilets and diamonds. The atmosphere was heavy with the smell of gas, of plush upholstery, of wilt... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
15 | None | About a week later Hiram Wade, Ida's father, brought suit against Vandover to recover twenty-five thousand dollars, claiming that his daughter had killed herself because she had been ruined by him and that he alone was responsible for her suicide.
Vandover had passed this week in an agony of grief over the loss of hi... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
16 | None | That particular room in the Lick House was well toward the rear of the building, on one of the upper floors, and from its window, one looked out upon a vast reach of roofs that rose little by little to meet the abrupt rise of Telegraph Hill. It was a sordid and grimy wilderness, topped with a gray maze of wires and pie... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
17 | None | On A certain Saturday morning two years later Vandover awoke in his room at the Reno House, the room he had now occupied for fifteen months.
One might almost say that he had been expelled from the Lick House. For a time he had tried to retain his room there with the idea of paying his bills by the money he should win... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
18 | None | That winter passed, then the summer; September and October came and went, and by the middle of November the rains set in. One very wet afternoon toward the end of the month Charlie Geary sat at his desk in his own private office. He was unoccupied for the moment, leaning back in his swivel chair, his feet on the table,... | {
"id": "14712"
} |
1 | MATCHING GREEN. | A quaint old Essex village of single-storied cottages, some ivy mantled, with dormer windows, thatched roofs, and miniature gardens, strewed with picturesque irregularity round as fine a green as you will find in the county. Its normal condition is rustic peace and sleepy beatitude; and it pursues the even tenor of its... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
2 | TICKLE-ME-QUICK. | Being naturally of a retiring disposition, and in no sense the hero of the tale which I am about to tell, I shall say no more concerning myself than is absolutely necessary. At the same time, it is essential to a right comprehension of what follows that I say something about myself, and better that I should say it now ... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
3 | MR. FORTESCUE'S PROPOSAL. | "Where am I?"
I feel as if I were in a strait-jacket. One of my arms is immovable, my head is bandaged, and when I try to turn I suffer excruciating pain.
"Where am I?"
"Oh, you have wakened up!" says somebody with a foreign accent, and a dark face bends over me. The light is dim and my sight weak, and but for hi... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
4 | A RESCUE. | My curiosity was rather long in being gratified, and but for a very strange occurrence, which I shall presently describe, probably never would have been gratified. Even after I had been a member of Mr. Fortescue's household for several months, I knew little more of his antecedents and circumstances than on the day when... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
5 | THEREBY HANGS A TALE. | "You believe now, I hope," said Mr. Fortescue, as we walked homeward.
"Believe what, sir?"
"That I have relentless enemies who seek my life. When I first told you of this you did not believe me. You thought I was the victim of an hallucination, else had I been more frank with you."
"I am really very sorry."
"Do... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
6 | THE TALE BEGINS. | The morning after the battle of Salamanca (through which I passed unscathed) the regiment of dragoons to which I belonged (forming part of Anson's brigade), together with Bock's Germans, was ordered to follow on the traces of the flying French, who had retired across the River Tormes. Though we started at daylight, we ... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
7 | IN QUEST OF FORTUNE. | When the war came to an end my occupation was gone, for both circumstances and my own will compelled me to leave the army. My allowance could no longer be continued. At the best, the life of a lieutenant of dragoons in peace time would have been little to my liking; with no other resource than my pay, it would have bee... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
8 | IN THE KING'S NAME. | I put up at the Posado de los Generales (recommended by the commandant), and the day after my arrival I delivered the letters confided to me by Señor Moreño. This done, I felt safe; for (as I thought) there was nothing else in my possession by which I could possibly be compromised. I did not deliver the letters separat... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
9 | DOOMED TO DIE. | My captors conducted me to a dilapidated building near the Plaza Major, which did duty as a temporary jail, the principal prison of Caracas having been destroyed by the earthquake and left as it fell. Nevertheless, the room to which I was taken seemed quite strong enough to hold anybody unsupplied with housebreaking im... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
10 | SALVADOR. | Now that I knew beyond a doubt what would be my fate unless I could escape before morning, I became decidedly anxious as to the outcome of my approaching interview with the ghostly comforter for whom I had asked. It was my last chance. If it failed me, or the man turned out to be a priest and nothing more, my hours wer... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
11 | OUT OF THE LION'S MOUTH. | As the short sunset of the tropics had now merged into complete darkness, we crossed the _patio_ without being noticed; but near the gateway several soldiers of the guard were seated round a small table, playing at cards by the light of a flickering lamp.
"Hello! Who goes there?" said one of them, looking up. "Pablo,... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
12 | BETWEEN TWO FIRES. | The ravine was filled with shrubs and trees, through which we partly forced, partly threaded our way, until we reached a spot where we were invisible from the road.
"Now off with your _cobija_ and throw it over your horse's head," said Carmen. "If they don't hear they won't neigh, and a single neigh might be our ruin... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
13 | ON THE LLANOS. | Only a moment ago the land had been folded in the mantle of darkness. Now, a flaming eye rises from the ground at some immeasurable distance, like an outburst of volcanic fire. It grows apace, chasing away the night and casting a ruddy glow on, as it seems, a vast and waveless sea, as still as the painted ocean of the ... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
14 | CAUGHT. | A smart gallop of a few minutes brought us near enough to see what was going on, though as we had to make a considerable _détour_ in order to avoid the Spaniards, we were just too late for the charge, greatly to Carmen's disappointment.
In numbers the two sides were pretty equal, the strength of each being about a th... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
15 | AN OLD ENEMY. | Our captors were Spanish soldiers.
"Be good enough to rise and accompany us to San Felipe, señores," said the non-commissioned officer in command of the detachment, "and if you attempt to escape I shall blow your brains out." " _Dios mio! _ It serves us right for not keeping a better lookout," said Carmen, with a la... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
16 | THE AZUFERALES. | "What is General Griscelli's game? Does he really mean to let me go, or is he merely playing with me as a cat plays with a mouse?" I asked Guzman, as we sat at supper.
"That is just the question I have been asking myself. I never knew him let a prisoner go before, and I know of no reason why he should treat you more ... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
17 | A TIMELY WARNING. | The involuntary bath which saved our lives served also to restore our strength. When we entered it we were well-nigh spent; we went out of it free from any sense of fatigue, a result which was probably as much due to the chemical properties of the water as to its high temperature.
But though no longer tired we were b... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
18 | A NEW DEPARTURE. | "We seem always to be escaping, _amigo mio_," said Carmen, as we sat in the shade, eating our _tasajo_. "We got out of one scrape only to get into another. Your experience of the country so far has not been happy."
"Well, I certainly have had rather a lively time of it since I landed at La Guayra, if that is what you... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
19 | DON ESTEBAN'S DAUGHTER. | Ten days after our flight from San Felipe we were on the banks of the Apure. We received a warm welcome from Carmen's friend, Señor Morillones, a Spanish creole of the antique type, grave, courtly, and dignified, the owner of many square miles of fertile land and hundreds of slaves, and as rich in flocks and herds as J... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
20 | THE HAPPY VALLEY. | My gloomy forebodings were only too fully realized. Never was a more miserably monotonous journey. After riding for weeks, through sodden, sunless forests and trackless wastes we had to abandon our mules and take to our feet, spend weeks on nameless rivers, poling and paddling our canoe in the terrible heat, and tormen... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
21 | A FIGHT FOR LIFE. | We have left behind us the _montaño_, with its verdant uplands and waving forests, its blooming valleys, flower-strewed savannas, and sunny waters, and are crawling painfully along a ledge, hardly a yard wide, stern gray rocks all round us, a foaming torrent only faintly visible in the prevailing gloom a thousand feet ... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
22 | THE CACIQUE'S SCHEME. | Shortly before sunset we arrived at our halting-place for the night and point of departure for the morrow--a hollow in the hills, hemmed in by high rocks, almost circular in shape and about a quarter of a mile in diameter. The air was motionless and the temperature mild, the ground covered with grass and shrubs and flo... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
23 | YOU ARE THE MAN. | Early next morning I sent Gahra secretly up to the lake on the bastion for a jar of chalybeate water, which, after being colored with red earth and flavored with wild garlic, was nauseous enough to satisfy the most exacting of physic swallowers. Then the negro sacrificed a cock in the royal presence, and performed an i... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
24 | IN THE TOILS. | Five days after I had been wooed by the irresistible Mamcuna, and as I was beginning to fear that I should have to marry her first and run away afterward, I chanced to be riding in the neighborhood of the village, when a woman darted out of the thicket and, standing before my horse, held up her arms imploringly. I had ... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
25 | THE MAN-KILLER. | I was as helpless as a man in a strait waistcoat. When I tried to rise, my captors tautened the rope and dragged me along the ground. Resistance being futile, I resigned myself to my fate.
On seeing what had happened, the flying brave (a kinsman of Chimu's) returned, and he and the others held a palaver. As Mamcuna's... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
26 | ANGELA. | "_Regardez mon père, regardez! Il va mieux, le pauvre homme. _" "_C'est ça, ma fille chérie, faites le boire. _" I open my eyes with an effort, for the dust of the desert has almost blinded me.
I am in a beautiful garden, leaning against the body of the dead ostrich, a lovely girl is holding a cup of water to my pa... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
27 | ABBÉ BALTHAZAR. | Though my wounds had not ceased their smarting nor my bones their aching my happiness was complete. The splendid prospect before me, the glittering peaks of the Cordillera, the gleaming waters of the far Pacific, the gardens and fountains of San Cristobal, the charm of Angela's presence, and the abbé's conversation mad... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
28 | I BID YOU STAY. | "You have been here a month, Monsieur Nigel, living in close intimacy with Angela and myself," said the abbé, as we sat on the veranda sipping our morning coffee. "You have mixed with our people, seen our country, and inspected the great _azequia_ in its entire length. Tell me, now, frankly, what do you think of us?"
... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
29 | THE ABBÉ'S LEGACY. | Life was easy at Quipai, and we were free from care. On the other hand, we had so much to do that time sped swiftly, and though we were sometimes tired we were never weary. The abbé made me the civil governor of the mission, and gave orders that I should be as implicitly obeyed as himself. My duties in this capacity, t... | {
"id": "14779"
} |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.